Colour your gaming world

SINGAPORE — Most gamers should own at least one Razer product in their lifetime. The company, co-founded by a Singaporean, has been producing some of the world’s best gaming peripherals for years.

Razer’s new BlackWidow Chroma gaming keyboard is an upgrade from last year’s BlackWidow Ultimate. Its dimensions, weight and feel are the same as the Ultimate’s, only that the Chroma comes with “fully customisable, full-spectrum lighting”. In simple speak: It is a lot more colourful.

But Razer co-founder Tan Min-Liang said the additional backlighting is not only an aesthetic choice: “It opens up limitless personalisation options for gamers to play with.”

In our review of the Ultimate, we said the keyboard is one of the best on the market. So should you shell out the additional S$60 to get the Chroma?

First, it must be said that the Chroma is an absolutely gorgeous device. Its backlighting comes with 16.8 million customisable colours, while the Ultimate’s backlighting comes only in neon green and black. All the keys are evenly lit and there is little to no light leakage around the edges. You can customise the colour for each single key and there are pre-loaded lighting templates optimised for different types of games.

The Chroma also has a Reactive mode, where the keys light up or change colours based on when and how fast they are tapped.

But how much of a psychological edge these lighting functions give is debatable. Most gamers are already extremely instinctive when it comes to keys. Still, every advantage, no matter how small, helps when you are in the battle of your life online.

At S$259.90, the Chroma is not cheap and it will not suddenly improve your gaming if you have been using a professional gaming keyboard for a while.

Still, if you are looking to treat yourself, the Chroma is one to get. Otherwise, the Ultimate is fine for a top-of-the-line model.

Read our review of Razer’s BlackWidow Ultimate keyboard at http://tdy.sg/razerblackwidow.