A year ago, I reviewed the Pro Type. This is a wireless mechanical keyboard from Razer. The company is known primarily for gaming PCs and accessories, but the Pro Type was something new for Razer. Designed in partnership with workplace ergonomic specialist Humanscale, the Pro Type was all about productivity instead of gaming. Restrained white and silver, with discrete white backlighting instead of the black, RGB backlit gaming keyboards the company had sold up until that point. I called the Pro Type “a great mechanical keyboard with one flaw.” Razer has followed up the Pro Type with the Pro Type Ultra.
The new keyboard addresses the original’s flaw. It introduces some other changes which take a bit of getting used to, but it’s once again a great mechanical keyboard — this time without any major flaws.
Don’t Mess With What Works
Visually, you would be very hard-pressed to tell the Razer Pro Type Ultra from the original Pro Type. That’s a good thing, because the original was an excellent design.
With a silver, metal deck and white, soft-touch coated keys it is a beautiful keyboard to look at. Minimalist, professional, and premium-looking. Substantial without appearing overly bulky. If you use a PC, it can be programmed with Razer’s Synapse software.
The white keys resist fingerprints as well, so it stays clean-looking. It’s also highly functional, full-sized with a numeric keypad. A top row of function keys includes media and backlight control. Beneath the keyboard are dual pop-up kickstands, each with multiple settings. This allows for considerable customization of the keyboard angle. Also located underneath is a storage compartment for stashing the 2.4GHz USB dongle if not in use. Around back is the USB-C port and a switch for Bluetooth, 2.4GHz , and wired operation. A small LED indicator at the back shows basic battery charge status — green is good, red means time to plug in.
Not everyone loves the look of the white LED backlighting. It does spread under and between the keys in addition to illuminating the doubleshot key labels. I’m fine with the overall glow effect and it’s minimized if you keep the backlighting at relatively low levels.
Well, Maybe a Little...
Razer did make some tweaks to the original with the Pro Type Ultra. The biggest was to address the battery life, which I will expand on shortly.
Another significant change was a shift from Razer Orange mechanical switches to Yellow ones. You can’t see any change here, but the result is a definite change in the typing experience. The original Pro Type with Razer Orange switches was quieter than most mechanical keyboards, but still had a “clicky” tactile feel to it. Razer Yellow switches are mechanical, but they are linear instead of tactile. They have just 1.2mm of travel before actuation, compared to the 1.9mm for the Orange switches. There is foam dampening being used as well. The Razer Yellow switches are the company’s quietest and with less actuation force required, the idea is they are better suited to speed typists and to working in a shared environment.
I found the Pro Type Ultra was definitely quieter than its predecessor, although there is still no mistaking it for a chiclet keyboard. At first, it seems a little mushier, but I quickly grew to prefer the new setup. The Yellow switches with their fast actuation would also make this keyboard more suited to gaming, if you need a break from Word and Excel.
With the Pro Type Ultra, Razer includes a matching, padded leatherette wrist rest. That wasn’t in the original’s box. You still get a USB-C cable, but while the Pro Type’s was a premium braided cloth, this time around Razer is sticking with a more traditional flexible white plastic sheathing.
Greatly Improved Battery Life
When I reviewed the original Razer Pro Type keyboard, my sole complaint was battery life. Frankly, it was pretty bad. Without the backlighting on, Razer claimed up to 84 hours of wireless connectivity using Bluetooth. However, that number plummeted when the backlighting was on. I prefer to work in my office with no external lighting, so I keep my keyboard backlighting on all day. With the the Pro Type, I had to recharge the battery every night.
The new Pro Type Ultra has a claimed 214 hour battery life when using Bluetooth. That’s over double the battery life of the original. However, the LED backlighting must have received some extra attention because with this keyboard I only need to charge once a week. The lighting doesn’t seem any dimmer, so I’m not sure what Razer did there — but they’ve addressed the battery problem handily.
Razer Pro Type Ultra Recommendation
As a Mac user, I’d love to see a macOS-specific version of the Pro Type Ultra, but using a Windows keyboard with a Mac is old hat by now.
If you spend a lot of time typing — words and numbers as opposed to gaming — and you prefer a mechanical keyboard, Razer’s Pro Type Ultra is a solid option. At $159.99 it won’t break the bank. It’s wireless but can also be used in wired mode, it looks the part of a full-sized modern office keyboard, and it offers the advantages of mechanical switches without much of the noise.
Disclosure: Razer provided a keyboard for evaluation but had no input into this review.
