Setup, Design & Observations
The size of the Ornata Chroma keyboard is rather compact compared to the larger BlackWidow which features additional macro keys, and looks rather sleek, and attractive even without any backlighting. Though, due to the switch design, it can't quite compare to the aesthetic of the exposed mechanical switch keyboards such as the BlackWidow X.
The Wrist rest connects to the base of the keyboard via magic-tism and provides a decent level of support for comfortable typing. Though considering the apparent amount of effort to include a full-sized wrist rest, and considering the overall price for this produce (granted the non-Chroma version is still £79.99), it would have been nice for Razer to have used cushioning that has slightly more substance to it, like a dense memory foam. After a while of use, all it did was keep my wrists warm. Though that said, its great to have a wrist rest and I did prefer typing with the wrist rest that without due to the steep/box shape edges to the keyboard (no real incline).
The lighting and per-key programmability and backlighting is always a fantastic feature to have, though at this price it would have been great to have had at least a USB pass-through also.
Performance
The switches are surprisingly good, fantastic in fact. They have the lightweight, soft touch to them with a nice, pure tactile click to them. There is no clack clack you get with most mechanical keyboards, often drowning out the noise of the click on CHERRY MX Blue. Though the faint click click click as you type, may actually not be what some people like, in fact, the clicking after a long period of typing is almost hypnotic. However, if you do like clicky style keyboards, you will love the feel of the mecha-membrane switches. Even in gaming they performed exceptionally well.
There is a downside I observed with the mecha-membrane switches, and I noticed it first with the space-bar. That is that the keys are a little wobbly, and they can feel different depending on where you press the keys. The space bar in particular sometimes felt like it required extra force to press resulting in a mis-click, this is likely to do with the distribution bar used in combination with this particular type of construct. I found that this was caused when pressing down on the top-edge part of the spacebar and whenever it happened I found myself conscientiously slowing down my typing speed. Other keys didn't really have a detrimental effect other than having a different click sound. Though it is early days, this is something that could be improved upon.
The size of the Ornata Chroma keyboard is rather compact compared to the larger BlackWidow which features additional macro keys, and looks rather sleek, and attractive even without any backlighting. Though, due to the switch design, it can't quite compare to the aesthetic of the exposed mechanical switch keyboards such as the BlackWidow X.
The Wrist rest connects to the base of the keyboard via magic-tism and provides a decent level of support for comfortable typing. Though considering the apparent amount of effort to include a full-sized wrist rest, and considering the overall price for this produce (granted the non-Chroma version is still £79.99), it would have been nice for Razer to have used cushioning that has slightly more substance to it, like a dense memory foam. After a while of use, all it did was keep my wrists warm. Though that said, its great to have a wrist rest and I did prefer typing with the wrist rest that without due to the steep/box shape edges to the keyboard (no real incline).
The lighting and per-key programmability and backlighting is always a fantastic feature to have, though at this price it would have been great to have had at least a USB pass-through also.
Performance
The switches are surprisingly good, fantastic in fact. They have the lightweight, soft touch to them with a nice, pure tactile click to them. There is no clack clack you get with most mechanical keyboards, often drowning out the noise of the click on CHERRY MX Blue. Though the faint click click click as you type, may actually not be what some people like, in fact, the clicking after a long period of typing is almost hypnotic. However, if you do like clicky style keyboards, you will love the feel of the mecha-membrane switches. Even in gaming they performed exceptionally well.
There is a downside I observed with the mecha-membrane switches, and I noticed it first with the space-bar. That is that the keys are a little wobbly, and they can feel different depending on where you press the keys. The space bar in particular sometimes felt like it required extra force to press resulting in a mis-click, this is likely to do with the distribution bar used in combination with this particular type of construct. I found that this was caused when pressing down on the top-edge part of the spacebar and whenever it happened I found myself conscientiously slowing down my typing speed. Other keys didn't really have a detrimental effect other than having a different click sound. Though it is early days, this is something that could be improved upon.
