14 DAY TRIAL // I’ve always been a big fan of Razer’s keyboards, as they help improve the overall gaming experience, no matter what you play.
On the other hand, given I spend quite a lot of time working on my computer, my search for the perfect keyboard has been painful, to say the least. Razer’s keyboards are mostly appropriate for gaming fanatics, and while I love the feeling of a mechanical design, I can’t torture my wife with the sound of keys during my 9 to 5 schedule.
As such, mecha-membrane keyboards have more or less responded to my needs. Because they bring two designs (mechanical switches and a membrane board) under the same roof, I can theoretically have the best of two worlds on such a keyboard.
Such a keyboard should provide the typical feel of a mechanical switch without the rough feedback when pressing the key. Sure enough, this made the Ornata V3 really intriguing.
I hate to provide spoilers so early in the review, but the mecha-membrane isn’t enough to make the Ornata V3 the perfect keyboard. Not for me, at least, and certainly not for a hardcore gamer who’s more likely to prefer a mechanical keyboard.
Given that the Ornata is already at its third generation, I can’t help but look at some questionable changes Razer embraced for the new model.
Here’s the thing. Razer made the new keyboard cheaper than its predecessor, and we all know what this means. Because it’s cheaper, it also comes without certain features, and eventually, this strategy forces customers to accept quite a lot of compromises.
Every diehard Razer fanboy should first notice the lack of a digital wheel. The famous feature available on the V2 is gone now, as Razer decided to go for a simplified approach. The keyboard now comes with four programmable media keys. You can configure them for anything from controlling music playback to volume up and volume down, increasing and decreasing the brightness level. In my case, the four customizable keys are more than enough, especially because I typically want to control the volume from the keyboard.
However, the digital wheel provided a more modern feeling, somehow turning the Ornata V2 into a more premium product. With media keys, the new model feels like a regular keyboard, so Razer has somehow managed to kill off its je ne sais quoi attitude.
Another effect of the lower price is the RGB lighting. If you love per-key settings, well, you’re not getting such a thing on the new Ornata. Razer has decided to go for ten lighting zones that can be configured separately from its dedicated software. To be honest, I don’t think this is such a big deal, but gamers do. I don’t have the time or patience to configure the RGB settings per each key, but diehard Razer customers enjoy such things, so at some level, Ornata V3 is likely to disappoint. As a piece of advice, if you enable the wave light effect, the separate lighting zones are nearly invisible, so it all depends on your settings.
The downgraded experience continues on the wrist rest. If you liked the soft feeling that you got on the V2, it’s still there on the new model, though you’re not getting what looks like plastic covered by a thin layer of rubber. Clearly, Razer has tried to reduce material costs, possibly to make it more durable. More cushion would have been nice, but the company most likely wanted to retain the overall low-profile design.
And speaking of the low-profile design of the keyboard, man, this is great.
In fact, this is probably what I like the most about the Ornata V3. The keyboard feels extremely thin, and it certainly does its job very well for someone who doesn’t use it exclusively for gaming. Ornata V3 looks great on a desk, for instance, even if you use it for coding or something else besides gaming.
It’s really hard to complain about the looks, as Razer has clearly focused a lot on this part. Thanks to the redesign versus V2, the new model is some 100 grams lighter than its predecessor.
Despite the lower price, Ornata V3 still feels somehow premium. With UV-coated keys, it should withstand serious gaming without showing any signs of wear and tear. Most of my keyboards look awful, given I use them way too many hours every day, but Ornata V3 still looks like new after a pretty long time of use. Of course, it’s hard to tell how it’ll withstand this hardcore use in the long term, but I promise to keep you updated on this.
Honestly, I’m not sure the mecha-membrane design is the right choice. I mean, I get it, such an approach makes a keyboard far better for more things besides gaming, obviously while lowering the price as well, but way too many people out there complain that such hardware breaks down pretty fast. Keys could end up getting stuck, and for someone working and playing games all day long, this is the worst that can happen. I’m not saying Ornata V3 suffers from the same issue, but it’s something to keep an eye on in the long term.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Ornata V3 somehow feels like a downgrade from the previous generation, despite launching as a successor that should boast upgraded capabilities.
Thanks to a lower price, the keyboard could rapidly catch the attention of people interested in more than gaming, especially because typing feels pretty nice. However, the questionable choices in terms of features could disappoint Razer’s main audience. Gamers are unlikely to be big fans of the lack of per-key lighting.
At the end of the day, Ornata V3 is the right choice if you’re interested in an affordable Razer keyboard. If you’re into heavy gaming, choosing a mechanical keyboard is still the better thing to do now and in the long term.
