Technologies

Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro Review: A Lot of Choice in a Big Package

Razer’s latest iteration of its function-rules gaming keyboard atones for some sins of the past and adds some new tricks.

Razer’s customizing-comes-first mechanical gaming keyboard line, BlackWidow, hits its fourth generation with the BlackWidow V4 Pro, a $230 full-size model with some notable improvements over its predecessor. These improvements include expanded lighting, more programmable controls, USB passthrough and an improved wrist rest design. These are all notable updates; but while I welcome all the changes in spirit, I’m not thrilled with the execution in a few cases.

Nothing has changed in its fundamental keyboard aspects, with the exception of a boost of the maximum polling rate to 8,000Hz, something I’m not sure you really need here. The switches and keycaps remain the same: You have a choice of the latest generation of Razer’s tactile Green or linear Yellow switches and Razer’s durable DoubleShot ABS keycaps.

Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro

$230 at Razer

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Like

Expanded lighting zones
More programmable controls
Vastly improved magnetically attachable wrist rest
Added USB passthrough

Don’t Like

Buttons on left side are really easy to hit accidentally
multicontroller roller is too low relative to the height of the keys

There are a lot more lighting zones thanks to the addition of underglow strips on the left and right, plus a front strip on the wrist rest, five new backlit macro keys down the left side and a new programmable control dial in the upper left corner.

Razer says it’s added lenses to the individual backlight LEDs, which does seem to improve the focus in particular directions. I also think it’s made a difference in the number of perceptible brightness levels — if you need that level of granularity. I wish you could take advantage of that by controlling the brightness levels for individual or groups of keys the way you can control colors: That way the keys you need most frequently could be brighter as well as a different color, but not completely dark.

The new control dial allows you to map zooming, scrolling and other customization to your profiles. For example, the mappings default to zoom, keyboard brightness, task switching and track jogging. That’s becoming a more common feature these days, and it’s a useful one that extends beyond gaming. The physical control is fine, if a bit hemmed in. The downside is there are no presets beyond the basics — usually these controls come with sets — which means it requires a lot of time-intensive setup for a control you may end up not using.

There are also three new switches on the left side. I love the idea, but not so much the execution. I constantly make microadjustments to the location of keyboards — a nervous tic when I’m not actively typing — and so I end up hitting them a lot. It doesn’t help that I’m also adjusting to avoiding the left-side macro keys when reaching for alt-tab, where my compensation means my ring and pinky fingers naturally fall on those switches. And they’re too easy to activate, which may probably be a more broadly applicable issue.

These aren’t really complaints, since it’s certainly not the first keyboard to put the macro keys down the left side, but if you’re used to other layouts your muscle memory might need some retraining.

Then there’s the redesigned multicontroller, the roller bar with a bank of five, tall, round buttons above the number pad. It’s similar to the design on other keyboards, but the location and elevation don’t work, at least for my hands. The keys are so tall, relative to it, that it’s awkward to use. And remapping the control dial to do the same things, like adjust audio volume, isn’t quite as convenient, since you have to press it to cycle through the different mappings.

Like a lot of the programmability, you have to be running Razer’s Synapse utility for your customizations to work; you can’t save a lot of them to the internal keyboard memory. On the other hand, when you cycle through the mappings for the control dial there’s a popup telling you what the setting is and what the rotation does. There’s also a backlight color attached to each mapping but it’s not persistent, so you don’t know which setting the dial is currently mapped to with a glance.

The USB passthrough is a nice-to-have, and the new wrist rest is a lot more comfortable than the old one, plus it now attaches — pretty strongly — to the keyboard. If you’re sensitive to textures in a «I wear my shirts inside out because the seams make me crazy» kind of way, the bumpy faux leather may bother you, though.

It’s still big and heavy, but solidity in a keyboard isn’t something to complain about. Razer has upped the switch rating to 100 million keypresses, but they’re the same switches as before — they’ve just been tested more. I don’t put a lot of stock in durability ratings, but it’s nice to know that pounding on the keys won’t kill them any faster than it used to.

I’ve been using optomechanical switches for so long — and, more recently, linear ones — that going back to the feel of the tactile mechanicals has required some adjustment. But it’s nice to know that my fingers won’t accidentally trigger strokes if I rest them on the keys. That’s one of the perks that I miss with other types of switches.

For games where fast keyboard combos you can program are more important than single-key quick responsiveness, the BlackWidow V4 Pro makes a lot of sense. But unless you’re on board with how all the controls work, $230 might feel too expensive for your needs.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 26, #929

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 26 #929

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is full of fun pop-culture references. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Golden state cliches.

Green group hint: Funny films.

Blue group hint: Rock on.

Purple group hint: Not white.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: California-based character tropes.

Green group: Comedy subgenres.

Blue group: ’70s rock bands.

Purple group: Black ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is California-based character tropes. The four answers are movie exec, surfer, tech bro and Valley Girl.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is comedy subgenres. The four answers are buddy, cringe, screwball and stoner.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is ’70s rock bands. The four answers are America, Chicago, Foreigner and Journey.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is black ____. The four answers are Forest, Friday, Panther and Widow.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 26 #663

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Dec. 26, No. 663.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one, but you might struggle at first to see a connection between the words. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Please hold.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Cats love these more than they love expensive toys.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BOXING, CHEAT, HEAT, SMOCK, MOCK, LATE, TEAM, MEAT, TEAMS, LOOT, TOLE, BALL, BALE, KALE, TALL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

GIFT, SHOE, TOOL, LUNCH, MATCH, PIZZA, BALLOT, TACKLE (All are words that can be placed in front of «box.»)

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is BOXINGDAY. To find it, start with the B that’s four letters down on the far-left row, and wind across and then down.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 25, #1650

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 25, No. 1,650.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle has some tough-to-guess letters. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with P.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with M.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a geometric figure.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is PRISM.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Dec. 24, No. 1649, was SPOOL.

Recent Wordle answers

Dec. 20, No. 1645: WHITE

Dec. 21, No. 1646: QUILT

Dec. 22, No. 1647: CONCH

Dec. 23, No. 1648: GLINT

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE