In addition to the rubber feet, the Blackwidow TE also comes with two stands that allow you to raise the keyboard to your liking. Because of the unique design of the cable which allows it to sit flush with the keyboard, replacement cables will most likely have to be purchased through Razer.Īt the bottom of the Blackwidow TE, you will notice five medium sized rubber feet that provide excellent slippage protection during both normal use and gaming.
This is nice as the keyboard will be more portable and more durable.
Here’s how the keyboard looks once the USB connector has been attached. Taking a look at the rear of the keyboard we get a single mini-USB port where the detachable USB cable will connect to the PC. One huge difference here is that Razer is going with a matte finish on the keyboard rather than the fingerprint/dust attracting glossy finish found on the standard BlackWidow. The keyboard feels quite sturdy and will definitely be an eye catcher with its green Razer logo glowing at the center. With this layout choice we thankfully don’t have to deal with any unusually short keys that will throw your game off. Our BlackWidow TE is configured in the standard North American layout with its long shift/enter and back slash keys.
You’ll quickly notice that the tenkeyless design is significantly smaller than full sized designs and is without a doubt much more portable. Here, we get a full view of the keyboard. Included in the packaging, we receive the traditional documentation, a couple Razer stickers as well as the detachable braided, gold plated USB cable. This is an excellent value add that should pique the interest of gamers looking for a keyboard to take on the go. Once you open the secondary box, you will find the keyboard inside an included protective case that not only looks good but also serves to protect the keyboard while you are on the go. I don’t usually do shots of boxes in the box, but after opening the box for the BlackWidow Tournament Edition, you will get this cool looking box that sports the Razer logo. Looks very similar to the box for the original Razer Blackwidow. Here’s a look at the box for the Razer Blackwidow Tournament Edition. A Closer Look at the Razer BlackWidow TE The BlackWidow TE is packed with all the features of the standard edition of the BlackWidow such as Cherry MX Blue switches, on the fly programmable macro keys, as well as some features not found on the standard edition of the keyboard such as a detachable cable. That said, if you’re worried that the BlackWidow TE is somehow inferior to its full sized brothers, rest assured that this is not the case. As suggested by the name, the Razer BlackWidow Tournament Edition (which I’ll refer to as the Blackwidow TE from now on) is a tenkeyless design which means that the tenkey (or numpad) will be dropped in favor of a smaller form factor and of course the benefits of additional mobility with it as well.
Our review then for today will be the all new Razer BlackWidow Tournament Edition tenkeyless mechanical gaming keyboard. While companies such as Filco or Cooler Master have previously introduced tenkeyless designs, Razer on the other hand is still quite new to this form factor.
This is why those looking to take their mechanical keyboards on the go will find that it’s quite difficult to do so, which is what brings us to the tenkeyless keyboard – a smaller, more compact keyboard designed for those on the go or for those who simply don’t have the desk space for something larger.
Razer’s BlackWidow line of mechanical gaming keyboards have become quite well known with the PC enthusiast community as of late especially with the popularity of mechanical keyboards gaining traction lately, but one problem with most mechanical keyboards is that they’re large and heavy.