After making high-end gaming keyboards for so long, Razer plans to have more keyboards in the office, sans bright and flashy colours.
If it seems as though gamers get the best selection of keyboards and mice, it’s because they do. They’re bright and colourful, but more importantly, they often come with mechanical switches, the kind you used to find in workhorse productivity keyboards years ago, allowing you to feel and hear every press as it clicks down, and making it harder to lose keystrokes.
Not losing keystrokes is important in gaming, where an errant stroke can mean doing the wrong thing, but it’s also an important factor in work, because no one likes typing the wrong thing over and over, and having a keyboard mess it up for you.
It’s no wonder that keyboards from the gaming world are gradually making their way to the productivity world, as mechanical keyboards come back from the dead in the office, alongside some other bits and pieces.
That’s what Razer is doing with a “pro” range of gear, bringing the Pro Type Ultra wireless keyboard, Pro Click Mini wireless mouse, and Pro Glide XXL mouse mat, peripherals that come with the word “pro” on repeat, and are basically work-world equivalents of gaming gear.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t Razer’s first attempt at working-grade styles of gaming gear, having dabbled with the idea at least once before, but there’s more than just a keyboard in the latest batch, with improvements to usability across the range.
In the Pro Type Ultra, Razer is using quiet mechanical switches rated for up to 80 million key presses, coming with a wrist rest and support for both Bluetooth and Razer’s USB-connected HyperSpeed Wireless.
There’s a good 200 hours or so of battery life, with white LED backlit keys, distinct from the colours regular gaming mechanical keyboards often have, though you will find some programmable keys like those gaming keyboards, as well. Priced from $279.99 in Australia, the Pro Type Ultra sits in the high-end of keyboards given what’s inside, with the mouse closer to half that.
By comparison, the Razer Pro Click Mini looks positively small, offering a compact mouse design with mechanical mouse switches, 7 programmable buttons, and a battery life ranging between 465 and 700 hours depending on how you use it. It’ll be powered by regular AA batteries, though, making it easy to power up if you do run out In Australia, the Pro Click Mini will be priced at $139, and may be matched with Razer’s Pro Glide XXL mat, built to sit beneath a keyboard and mouse for $52 locally.
