Best Razer Keyboards

After you spend a couple of months using your brand new keyboard, most likely than not you’ll soon notice that some loose hairs or crumbs may get stuck in its recesses and even impede your work or play. This is when you’ll need to take out a bit of time out of your day and get your hands dirty. A lot of people acknowledge that when it comes to cleaning a Razer keyboard, even the thought of it makes most of them quite nervous. Of course, when you have such a delicate and expensive accessory, it’s a bit intimidating to think of simply pulling out keys and throwing them in soapy water and yet that’s kind of what you should do.

1) Prepping the Cleanup

While the process is a bit more nuanced than simply ripping out the keys, Razer products can withstand a thorough cleaning and, in fact, they require it to keep serving you well for years. What you need to do first is take out all of the keys without applying much force. It is recommended to use a special tool for that, like a Keycap Puller, for example, but if you don't have it it’s fine to just pull keycaps with your fingers as long as you do it carefully. Oh, and don’t forget to disconnect the keyboard first! When the keys are out, put them in a shallow container filled with water, mixed with a cleaning fluid. Don’t use anything too abrasive as you’re just looking to wash away dust and small stains.

2) While the Keys Are Soaking

Take a small brush with bristles that aren’t too thick and gently move it over each row, collecting and sweeping out dust, hairs, and crumbs that have got stuck in the keyboard. Don’t press on it too hard and if some debris gets caught on the sides, use napkins to clean it up. The same goes for the underside of the device. After you’re done with the insides, take a wet wipe and clean the cord from dust if your model is wired. If you've got a wireless model, simply skip this step. We also recommend using a hair dryer (on a cold setting) to dry the keyboard if it’s wet but it’s not strictly necessary. When the keys have been soaked and dried properly, put them back in the right order and enjoy playing and working.

3) How to Minimize Cleanup Frequency

As you can see, cleaning a Razer keyboard isn’t too time-consuming or tiring but it’s still a chore. To minimize the frequency of cleanups and reduce the effort, you can follow these few simple rules:

• First off, try not to eat or drink anything near your keyboard or, just in general, your PC. Not only do you risk to make it all sticky and unpleasant to use if you don't mop spills immediately but you can actually ruin it if the liquid gets inside its electronics. As they say: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure.
• Second, if you have pets, no matter how cute and cuddly they are, do not let your cat or puppy sit on the keyboard. Felines, in particular, seem to be fond of plopping down on laptops and PC parts, getting thick fur stuck in your rig.
• Third, and most important rule is to dust your room regularly. It is the easiest way to ensure that you won’t have to spend extra time on cleaning your keyboard, mouse, PC cooler, or any other tech in the future. To spend five or ten minutes a week to quickly dust your gadgets is way cheaper and less time taking than cleaning them when they stop function or start to function not as well as before. 

Q: What’s the difference between the three BlackWidow versions that I’ve seen? There seem to be 3 varying colors depending on the model?
A: The BlackWidow and a range of other top of the line Razer periphery is equipped with three variations of switches: Green, Orange, and Yellow. Each of them is adjusted for a different type of gamer. The Green switches offer a tactile bump with each press and a distinct loud click. The reset point on these is at half the distance seen in regular keyboards so the rollover is more efficient and the user won’t ever miss a keystroke.

The Orange switches are quite similar but they lack the click, making them perfect for gamers that dislike the extra sound or find it distracting. In all other aspects, the Orange switches are pretty similar to the Green ones, though they also take less effort to press, sliding smoothly and resetting just as swiftly.

As for the Yellow switches, they are optimized for the fastest work, suitable for competitive online FPS and MOBAs. The keys give off no sound and require no effort to press. The speed with which the commands will be put in depends on your fingers only.

The Green switches are recommended to new users as the Yellow is aimed at skilled gamers and the Orange one may be confusing due to its silent work.

Q: What is Razer Synapse? It seems that most of the high-end Razer keyboards come with it but what can it actually do?
A: Synapse is free software for Razer users that lets you assign new macros, rebind buttons, or change the backlighting on your keys. When coupled with top of the line models, this gives you almost infinite freedom in customizing your periphery as you see fit.

Using the program you can set special macros for the additional keys, present on the best models such as the BlackWidow. This lets you save time by assigning lengthy action sets to one simple keystroke. That way you can perform combos in fighting games or input commands in team chat in multiplayer.

You can also take advantage of Synapse if you’re left handed and would prefer to bind keys differently for your own comfort. It’s easy to do and lets you assign new values to every single key on your periphery though you should be cautious not to mess up the original setup too much, lest you forget what each button does.

And, finally, you can fiddle with the lighting of your Razer device to personalize it and show off the millions of colors available. Newer models like the BlackWidow and the Cynosa have nearly 17 million shades to choose from and you can pick a different one for every single button on the keyboard, customizing it to the max. Whether you want to do a gradient shift from red to green to blue or only light up the keys that are important in-game, the Synapse software lets you go wild with your imagination.

Q: I’ve bought a mechanical keyboard with “clicky” buttons. Is there any way to get rid of the sound?
A: No, mechanical models don’t have a way to disable the clicks from keypresses. If you want a quieter option, we’d recommend a mecha-membrane hybrid or, if it’s complete silence you need, check out the “stealth” models which emit no sound whatsoever.