Razer BlackWidow V3 HyperSpeed Mini Review

This little keyboard makes such an effective use of its limited space, it’s impressive. Those double feet I mentioned? The smaller ones sit inside the larger ones, so if you desire to change to a smaller incline on the keyboard, it’s just a matter of pushing on the edge of the larger feet (I promise I’m not obsessed with feet) to bring those down while keeping the smaller ones up. When it comes to actual functionality, the BlackWidow Mini is impressive. It makes such a smart use of its lighting and its function keys to make up for the lack of conventional keys. It still retains the media controls that most modern keyboards have, while also providing various other keys like HOME and END through the function key [fn]. All-in-all, there are a total of 35 alternate key functions tied to the fn key and once you wrap your head around these, using them becomes second nature. When the fn key is held down, the backlighting is completely cut off except for the keys who have a secondary function. This is just such a beautiful, elegant way of affording functions to the end user, as every secondary function is clearly labelled on the underside of each appropriate key. Admittedly this is not a perfect solution, as the labels are hard to see when typing in the dark, but as I said previously, once you get used to all the placements for each secondary function, it just becomes muscle memory.

Let’s move on to Razer’s Yellow switches. My only prior experience with Razer keyboards was a Razer BlackWidow v2 (the big wired one) back when I first built my PC in 2017. With this in mind, I was actually quite familiar with Razer’s Green switches. I went in expecting this keyboard to be loud, like loud enough to keep my family up at night when I am typing away, writing poorly-worded reviews at 3am like this one. The Yellow switches, however, are super smooth and responsive switches that are relatively quiet so I can completely get away with being an insomniac.

Now onto the actual keycaps. The BlackWidow Mini features Double-Shot ABS Keycaps. For those that don’t spend an embarrassing amount of their time looking at keyboards and keycaps, this effectively means these are inoffensive, lightweight keycaps whose etching isn’t on the same plastic layer as the outer mould of the keycap. Naturally, because these are ABS keycaps that characteristically develop a slipperiness or shininess faster than other types, Razer has made sure that these keycaps have a minor form of grip on them, which also helps clumsy idiots like me type correctly despite the fact that I have the dexterity of a mufhtoom. In addition to all this, the keys are easy to remove so keeping the keyboard clean isn’t much of an issue, but not so loose that they accidentally come off the switches constantly — this also allows for replacing the keycaps to be a relatively easy endeavour.

The actual build quality of the BlackWidow Mini is excellent. To put it plainly, this 65% keyboard is a hefty unit considering its small stature. The keyboard barely moves when weight is applied and it honestly feels heavy enough to use as a weapon (but Razer hasn’t advertised this for legal reasons). I vividly remember placing my original BlackWidow v2 on the floor when I was cleaning my desk and PC, only to stub my toe on the damn thing and proceed to wish I had perished for 5 minutes. I’ve never felt as safe about a keyboard’s rigidity as I have with this keyboard and it certainly is not going to be falling apart anytime soon.