Razer Blackwidow V4 75% review – modding meets gaming done right

It’s becoming increasingly common to find gaming keyboards exploring the modding scene, and the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% keyboard may be the best example of this. Not only is it capable of bringing quality performance, but the ease with which you can customize it is unreal. 

Having spent time with basic keyboards built with the sole purpose of tearing them apart for modding, the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% is a nice change of pace, offering a far more interesting setup straight out of the box. When the time comes to make changes, the process is simple, meaning even beginners can feel comfortable making keycap or switch changes. Ultimately, this lands the Blackwidow V4 in a difficult spot, towing a fine line between modding and gaming, but makes both work well without compromise and easily being among the best gaming keyboards I’ve used this year.

Razer Blackwidow V4 75% features

The Razer Blackwidow V4 75% is built for gaming and modding, with Doubleshot ABS keycaps, a pre-taped PCB, support for up to 8KHz polling, lubricated stabilizers with GPL 205g0 lubricant, poron gaskets, an FR4 plate with foam padding, and Razer’s orange tactile mechanical gen-3 switches right out of the box.

These can be changed to the green clicky or yellow linear switches but need to be purchased separately. While you are free to deconstruct the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% to a certain extent, Razer does still include a warranty void sticker to ensure you don’t go a step too far, but plenty of freedom is still there to make changes. 

Razer refers to the Blackwidow V4 75% as hot-swappable, and this is entirely true. You aren’t bound to Razer’s products as any three or five-pin switches are compatible. Keycaps aren’t universal, but Razer uses a Cherry MX stem which is among the most common. 

Also included in the top right-hand corner is a multi-function roller – defaulted to volume control – and two media keys. These can be reassigned via Razer Synapse. A magnetic leatherette wrist rest and a two-in-one switch and keycap puller are also included in the box.

Razer Blackwidow V4 75% design

Out of the box, the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% is a very pretty keyboard to look at. The ‘By Gamers, For Gamers’ slogan is embossed across the bottom of the keyboard, which also features dual-level stands for differing levels of elevation. 

The USB-C connection point is hidden well within an enclave, meaning you only need to look at the braided cable trailing off towards your setup, a minimalist approach despite being wired is always appreciated. Speaking of minimalist, when not lit up by the RGB per-key lighting – which also extends to a two-side underglow – the keyboard can be quite hard to read, suggesting that having it lit up, even if only on a dim, static color is an absolute must.

Taking the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% apart to swap components or generally mod couldn’t be easier. Razer is making sure no roadblocks exist to prevent or dissuade tinkering with your new keyboard. As a base example, removing all of the keys, replacing the switches, and replacing the keycaps took around 10 minutes in total, performed leisurely with no time pressure considered. Sometimes new keyboards can be stiff when first making changes, but no such curse resides over the Blackwidow V4 75%.

It has to be said that the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% is also a typist’s dream. The keycaps don’t feel too light, so you can glide over them quite easily with minimum audio feedback, while the actuation point isn’t too high, reducing the number of mistakes made, although this could be a considerable downside when it comes to reaction time in gaming. 

Overall I enjoyed using the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% as part of my setup because its design means it can fit into just about any setup with minimum fuss, but all the better if you are already using other Razer RGB products as you can set your desktop alight using Chroma. 

Razer Blackwidow V4 75% performance

I am happy to report that I had no issues with the performance of the Razer Blackwidow V4 75%. As I’ve already alluded to, typing on this keyboard is a joy, and easily I have made fewer mistakes with this keyboard than any other I’ve tested in recent years.

On the gaming front, anti-ghosting is present to ensure there’s no problem with multi-key inputs and there is a ‘gaming mode’ you can activate in Synapse, but this appears to just disable the use of the Windows key. 

It may seem strange to praise a keyboard for its simplicity, but the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% doesn’t throw meaningless features and buzzwords at you in order to make it seem better than it is. The performance is very solid and super responsive, so it’s hard to ask for more from a gaming keyboard given the lack of optical switches which I tend to prefer for pure gaming performance.

You can play around with the switch type to find the right one for you, which in my case was the green clicky, but this has zero effect on performance and was more of a design/audio feedback choice as I prefer the feel of those switches. 

A function key – referred to by Razer as the Hyperspeed key – is present and allows you to set up a variety of shortcuts. These again are editable in Synapse but the cool feature is that as soon as you hold the function key down, all your assigned keys light up, while all the others turn off. 

Should you buy the Razer Blackwidow V4 75%?

Yes, if you have an interest in keyboard modding, or just want a solid RGB gaming keyboard, the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% fulfills both of these requirements. Priced at $189.99 / £189.99, it’s by no means unreasonable, but once you factor in the cost of extra switches and keycaps, you could be looking at north of $300 / £300.

Despite this, given how you can increase the longevity of the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% with modifications, you may not need to buy a new keyboard for a very long time, making the initial investment more than worth it. 

Verdict

An incredible way to get your keyboard modding journey started, the Razer Blackwidow V4 75% takes a lot of the hassle away and is both a fantastic gaming keyboard and a delight to mod. Performance-wise, it won’t top some elite gaming options for response times, but it’s more than solid and the upside is huge, with little need to consider upgrading when you can just refresh it every so often instead.