Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Gaming Keyboard by Razer™

I love this keyboard.ive heard people say its cheap feeling and the keys suck,well let me just say none of that is true. The keys are great and responsive.mini screen looks great.effects are cool.for sure cool for anyone that likes gadgets.and on a side note all the negative reviews I've read of this are by people who review almost everything they write a review for in a negative way,I have the whole swtor razer set now and I love all of it.it took a while to get the keyboard but it was worth the wait.

This is a great chiclet keyboard in that it has nice big keys with spacing around them like modern laptop keyboards so it makes it easier to type accurately. The color cycling looks very cool. The star wars language on each key is a bit much but it doesn't hurt and looks alright. The keyboard itself is sturdy and will last for years with the exception of the two collapsible holders in the back. If you rest your hand against the keyboard too much, they can wiggle out of place and if you're not careful break. Although you can still use the keyboard with them collapsed, the angle isn't as optimal for typing.Unfortunately the App selection is greatly lacking and Razer doesn't seem to be doing enough to support it. Even the standard apps like performance monitoring are more made for appearance than utility and there is no interested community behind it like the logitech keyboards. The touch screen is nice but I personally don't think it is worth it to sacrifice pressable keypad buttons with a touch screen. I really miss having a proper keypad in games and while you can buy a separate one, external separate keypads tends to move as you press the keys since it is too small to maintain stability. That said swtor keyboard does have a keypad app. The other down side is they replaced the print screen key with a useless game mode key which could have easily been one of the programmable lcd buttons above the touchpad. This means you have to hit fcn key plus F9 to print screen which is annoying if you take screenshots a lot. Also they didn't bother having separate volume control and media player control keys something standard on a keyboard in this price range. Instead they also put those as alternates on the F-keys requiring using the function key as in cheap laptops. About the only apps I use are the keypad, gmail, the notepad where I sometimes write cheat codes or adventure game info for seeing it in game and I have used the youtube app to follow a game walkthrough in a tough phase once but it is completely useless compared to using an i-pad for that. Everyone has a tablet nowadays.If I were to redesign this keyboard, I would remove the touchpad, and replace it with a none touch lcd panel on top of keyboard like G19 and bring back the keypad and add the media keys, remove the game mode key and replace it with the print screen. Also I wish razer made it easier to make your own pngs for the programmable lcd keys and have it macro open whatever program you need instead of restricting that macro assignment tot the M1-M5 keys on the left side and forcing you to use the lcd keys to launch apps (kinda like microsoft forced windows 8 touch mode on everyone before windows 8.1 fixed that).That said, I am still using it for now because I like the light cycling and can at least use the touch screen to put a cool looking wall paper on there. I have a black widdow on standby (also by Razer) when this one breaks.

I pre-ordered this back in December and was really excited when I was finally notified that it was shipping (just got it yesterday) and I have to say I was really underwhelmed.Pros:The multi-color led lighting that wraps around the keyboard is pretty cool, you can change the colors or set it to cycle.The lcd track panel, honestly this is what initially sold me on the product and is by far the best thing about this keyboard. Works pretty well and has solid resolution.The dynamic adaptive tactile keys are easy to set and use, program whatever sort of macro you like.Cons:The gold backlighting, it's kind of irritating when you see it in person (for me at least) and you can turn it off but can't change the color.Lcd track panel, positives mentioned above and negative would be its not the best at streaming videos (still pretty cool though).The rubber keys, if you're used to mechanical ones like me these just feel less responsive and cheaper.The keyboard itself, it seems to be made of a cheap plastic and seems fragile. As expensive as this keyboard is I really expected more out of the construction.The dynamic adaptive keys while easy to use don't function quite the way you expect (based on the pictures). The image isn't in the keys themselves (as they appear) so you won't see the image on top, instead the image is projected from a screen at the bottom of the keys and look a little off when viewed at an angle.Finally, the keyboard requires you to use two USB slots to power it.Summary:The lcd track panel is a nice feature and there are some nice bells and whistles on this but as far as gaming keyboards go, it just isn't worth it unless you're a huge swtor fan and love the novelty of the track panel.You're better off going with one of Razer's other gaming keyboards like their Lycosa or Black Widow, or with one of Logitech's.

When it just came out, it was the best keyboard ever. I used it in SWTOR a lot, and it was useful in other games as well. I loved the dynamic keys especially. However, Razer ended their support on the server side long ago, and now it's just a basic cheap keyboard. The dynamic keys are just decor now, they don't work anymore. No more keyboard apps, and you can't even use them as macros either. They functioned through Razer servers, and they just shut them down, effectively making this keyboard just a piece of trash. For what I paid, I expected this to be my life-time keyboard, but Razer deprived me of its functions just after 5 years from the purchase. So DO NOT BUY THIS KEYBOARD, even used, it's of no value now. And try to avoid Razer products at all.

What i expected

Perfect keyboard, only whats not advertised is that you need a certian usb power frequency output or it disconnects all the time and causes pixel issues on the screen, it also required a lot of cpu for the app as most software is run on the pc and the keyboard is not independant like other keyboards with lcd screens or multi touch

This is one of those products that I'd love to give higher praise for but common sense won't let me.Price wise no one is looking to buy this unless you must have the gizmo's associated with a higher end Razer product. That being said, the price has come down enough to tempt me to finally buy this.On a technical level this keyboard is fantastic. 5/5 on the production value of this keyboard. Mechanically the keyboard is well made, with a short travel time for depressing keys. Everything is where it should be and you'll see it performs about as good as you would expect from a Razer product. Just make sure you have two usb slots open on your computer. This keyboard requires some juice to keep that screen up and running.The feature value of this product is a bit suspect. In hindsight as I fiddle with the little screen I find I personally enjoy this feature, however it's rather useless. I find I am using the little screen as nothing more than a mini-monitor to go on youtube with or google something.In other words I probably would have been better off with using the price of this keyboard to purchase a secondary 23" monitor and saved myself about 50 bucks.So why don't I put the screen towards more functionality? Well this is where Razer gets a 1/5 from me. They have limited the functionality of the mini-screen to low end, net-related, info-tainment.The razer keyboard software is pretty much useless. Don't get me wrong it has fantastic potential and they are pushing it hard on other similar keyboards since the release of this SWTOR keyboard.After investigating at the Razer site, Razer claims the keyboard will have updated software that comes with a Star Wars: The Old Republic "Combat Parser". Sounds good doesn't it? Well that was supposed to come out in September.... so the keyboard software is still rather useless as I write this.Razer support? 1/5. Razer does feature an FAQ area of their website dedicated to this new line of keyboards, unfortunately it is very generic and some of the instructions and features do not pertain to this keyboard specifically.I decided to check up on Razer regarding their advertised "Combat Parser" software for this keyboard. The site claims I should hear back in "... about 24 hours". It's been a week and there's been no attempt by the company to respond to my request.It's a simple, polite request.... Where is the new software? How does it work? If it's not out, when will it be out? (As I write this I am running the latest Synapse software on the keyboard which is still devoid of strong functionality.)Conclusion:Mechanically, this keyboard is great. But in this day and age, a lot of keyboards are 'great'.What SHOULD set this keyboard apart is its functionality and most of all that little screen.The pieces are in place to make this a great keyboard but the software isn't. It's too far behind and makes this keyboard a still-born technology. (Razer can't sell this on 'macro recording' because we've already seen this for years on keyboards.)So while I'd love to give the keyboard a great review, I reluctantly give it a 3/5. In hindsight I should have bought a second monitor and used my 'old' but sufficient Razer keyboard.I'll be writing a review of the SWTOR Razer Mouse as well.

Razer's RZ03 SW:TOR Gaming Keyboard is a good looking product, cool, even wicked looking. However, the absence of the numeric keypad isn't compensated by the gaming keys that replace it as, on my keyboard at least, they simply don't work. They're good looking, but useless. One of the 9 Razer soft wares that automatically install themselves on my PC because I own the Keyboard, Earphones and Mouse simply will not be installed because of some conflict with my computer (I think). Don't ask me which conflict, I'm no computer tech, but I'm guessing that this is the cause of the problem. Regardless, the product doesn't work as expected, and neither does the mouse which now bears the numeric keypad, so I miss my numeric keypad cruelly. On the other hand, it really is a beautiful keyboard...