[FINISHED]Razer Ananasi Free Giveaway from Horde Review!
Razer Anansi Available on Amazon Razer Anansi giveaway from Horde Review, I thought it was the best way to help stir some more visitors to the site. Razer was... Read On
When Razer asked me if I would like a chance to review their new Anansi keyboard I was extremely happy. Especially since they offered to allow me to keep the keyboard after the review. I am a long fan of Razer gaming peripheral’s and in fact I own several Razer products to include the Blackwidow keyboard, Naga, Megalodon, and Vespula game pad. So I think when it comes to Razer I am very familiar with their products, and by the way If you are reading this I am very happy to review any products in the future Razer.
Specifications
The specifications of the Razer Anansi are as follows and described on the Razer Zone web page:
- 7 thumb modifier keys
- Over 100 programmable Hyperesponse keys
- One-button profile switching
- Five additional gaming keys
- Optimized key matrix
- Gaming mode option
- Easy access media keys
- Approximate dimensions in mm: 515(L) x 190(W) x 22(H)
Hardware Requirements
PC with USB port
Windows® 7 / Windows Vista® / Windows® XP / Mac OS X (v10.5 to 10.6)
Internet connection (for driver installation)
At least 35MB of hard disk space
I would first like to point out that yes the Anansi is Mac compatible for all of you Mac gamers out there such as myself. Razer does supply you with the driver, but if you are looking for the firmware updates you are going to have to go to a Windows machine in order to install them.
The Anansi out of the box works great and with a couple of minutes inside the user interface of the Anansi software you should be off and running on getting the most out of the Anansi keyboard. I love the fact that the Razer Anansi has the automatic profile switching between applications as well. So you can have a completely different set of Macro commands working when you are in World of Warcraft vs. when you are on the Desktop or any other application. This is a key seller for macro products for me as the profile switching is a feature that comes with almost all Razer products I have purchased in the past, and if you are into customizing your workflow then this feature adds a whole new dimension to how you are currently using your computer.
In the game the addition of the extra 7 modifier keys below the space bar take a little getting used to. After playing for a short time I was able to use them in different ways. At first I tested them as modifier keys, and later came back to use them as macro keys which I used for changing stances quite effectively on my Warrior in World of Warcraft.
The keyboard also features a gaming mode which disables the Window button on your keyboard so that you are not accidentally resting your palm and exiting the game. On a Mac its a great feature because the windows button becomes the Alt key which cause you to Alt+Tab out quite often in the game while you are Tab targeting. Simply press Fn+F11 to enable gaming mode, and you are locked into the game even if you are in Windowed mode.
Now for what the keyboard is intended to do it is great, and reasonably priced at around 99$ as their base model keyboard targeted at MMO gamers. A few improvements the keyboard could make is adding USB ports, audio jacks, mechanical keys, or an LCD screen that monitors your combat log, however I think these additions with what all the Anansi is offering would drive the price of the keyboard up to a very extreme high. As it sits the keyboard is durable and functional to give you the best gaming edge in MMO’s at a very reasonable and affordable price compared to other gaming keyboards on the market and for that I give this keyboard a thumbs up from Horde Review.
Personal Rating – 8
Razer Anansi MMO Gaming Keyboard
Best Buy: $86.67
(23 customer reviews)
32 used & new available from $75.00
Designed and engineered especially for the MMO gamer, the Razer Anansi is the world’s first keyboard that raises your level of gameplay by giving you the power to instantly use up to 7x more commands and abilities over the current ?12 ability keys you now have. Its seven thumb modifier keys located below the space bar allow you to actuate every possible combination of modifier key (shift, ctrl, alt) in total accuracy and comfort using a single key stroke, exponentially expanding the repertoire of spells, abilities and macros you have at your command. From the casual MMO gamer to the serious hardcore raider, the Razer Anansi will take you to the head of the pack in both PVE and PVP action. Combine it with the Razer Naga MMOG mouse to use the Razer Anansi’s 7 thumb modifier keys seamlessly with the 12-button mouse keypad, giving you an unprecedented level of battle control while dual-wielding the world’s most phenomenal weapons for dragon slaying dominance.
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Razer Anansi Keyboard Review Appearance
Low profile sleek design is the best way for me to describe the Razer Anansi MMORPG keyboard. The Razer Anansi has a very slim profile which makes me think of the way a modern piece of technology should look as everyday technology is driving things smaller slimmer and more powerful. The keyboard has a height of 20mm, and once you see it you will agree that it makes other gaming keyboards look bulky. The finish of the keyboard is a flat black on the top with a glossy black finish on the sides and bottom.
The Razer Anansi features a multimillion color illumination display. The color can be set to nearly any color imaginable or to rotate between a spectrum of millions of colors within the driver options. The illumination settings can be set to either pulsate or constant depending on the preference of how you would like for it to look. Every aspect of the Razer Anansi keyboard is illuminated from the keys to the Razer logo accent at the bottom.
I personally really like the style of the keyboard and feel it really represents the cult of Razer perfectly.
Appearance Rating – 10
Razer Anansi MMO Gaming Keyboard
Best Buy: $86.67
(23 customer reviews)
32 used & new available from $75.00
Designed and engineered especially for the MMO gamer, the Razer Anansi is the world’s first keyboard that raises your level of gameplay by giving you the power to instantly use up to 7x more commands and abilities over the current ?12 ability keys you now have. Its seven thumb modifier keys located below the space bar allow you to actuate every possible combination of modifier key (shift, ctrl, alt) in total accuracy and comfort using a single key stroke, exponentially expanding the repertoire of spells, abilities and macros you have at your command. From the casual MMO gamer to the serious hardcore raider, the Razer Anansi will take you to the head of the pack in both PVE and PVP action. Combine it with the Razer Naga MMOG mouse to use the Razer Anansi’s 7 thumb modifier keys seamlessly with the 12-button mouse keypad, giving you an unprecedented level of battle control while dual-wielding the world’s most phenomenal weapons for dragon slaying dominance.
Razer Anansi Keyboard Review Craftsmanship
The Anansi is a very lightweight and slim keyboard that has a bit more of a fragile feel to it. Not that it would easily break but if you are the type of player who rages it may be something to consider. The keys have a very full feel to them but do not offer the mechanical function of a keyboard like the Blackwidow. This may or may not be a factor for you since the Razer Anansi is geared towards players of MMORPG games like World of Warcraft rather than FPS games.
The Razer Anansi does require two USB ports in order to get the full illumination features from the keyboard, but if you choose to leave out the USB cord which controls illumination the functions of the keyboard still work perfectly. I like the fact that they took the load of the illumination off of one port and added it to a second as you wont run the risk of blowing out one of your ports. Each USB cable is gold tipped and features a tightly woven black nylon cover which is a signature feature of most high quality Razer products.
Craftsmanship rating – 9
Razer Anansi MMO Gaming Keyboard
Best Buy: $86.67
(23 customer reviews)
32 used & new available from $75.00
Designed and engineered especially for the MMO gamer, the Razer Anansi is the world’s first keyboard that raises your level of gameplay by giving you the power to instantly use up to 7x more commands and abilities over the current ?12 ability keys you now have. Its seven thumb modifier keys located below the space bar allow you to actuate every possible combination of modifier key (shift, ctrl, alt) in total accuracy and comfort using a single key stroke, exponentially expanding the repertoire of spells, abilities and macros you have at your command. From the casual MMO gamer to the serious hardcore raider, the Razer Anansi will take you to the head of the pack in both PVE and PVP action. Combine it with the Razer Naga MMOG mouse to use the Razer Anansi’s 7 thumb modifier keys seamlessly with the 12-button mouse keypad, giving you an unprecedented level of battle control while dual-wielding the world’s most phenomenal weapons for dragon slaying dominance.
Razer Anansi Keyboard Review Performance
Razer Anansi MMO Gaming Keyboard
Best Buy: $86.67
(23 customer reviews)
32 used & new available from $75.00
Designed and engineered especially for the MMO gamer, the Razer Anansi is the world’s first keyboard that raises your level of gameplay by giving you the power to instantly use up to 7x more commands and abilities over the current ?12 ability keys you now have. Its seven thumb modifier keys located below the space bar allow you to actuate every possible combination of modifier key (shift, ctrl, alt) in total accuracy and comfort using a single key stroke, exponentially expanding the repertoire of spells, abilities and macros you have at your command. From the casual MMO gamer to the serious hardcore raider, the Razer Anansi will take you to the head of the pack in both PVE and PVP action. Combine it with the Razer Naga MMOG mouse to use the Razer Anansi’s 7 thumb modifier keys seamlessly with the 12-button mouse keypad, giving you an unprecedented level of battle control while dual-wielding the world’s most phenomenal weapons for dragon slaying dominance.
The Razer Anansi I received was the Windows version of the keyboard, and I used it on both a Windows and a Mac machine. The great thing about it was my user experience was consistent on both with the exception that I was using the alt and windows button for my command and options keys. The 5 macro enabled keys on the left hand side still worked perfectly, as did the 7 modifier keys at the bottom, and the driver didn’t suffer any sort of glitches either. This was sort of a concern for me as the Blackwidow Mac driver is sort of buggy on the Windows version of the keyboard. Razer has corrected that problem and the user experience no matter which operating system you are using will work perfectly fine on either version of the keyboard.
The Razer Anansi 7 thumb grid modifier keys reacted responsively and aside from needing to get used to them were effective in lightening the load of my hot key configuration. I think it would take some practice with the keyboard before you could truly master using all 7 modifier keys, but I dont think Razer intended the Anansi’s additional 7 keys to be the primary keys you are using within your game.
On button profile switching for me is capable and you can use the M1 – M5 keys over on the side in order to achieve this. Whats even greater is that the Razer Anansi can recognizance what game or application you are currently using and switch your profile based just on what window you have the foreground. So say I open a game like World of Warcraft and have Photoshop open behind it. I can easily alt+tab out of wow and my keyboard will recognize that I am in a new application appropriately switching my driver profile immediately. This is a great feature which allows you to have an unlimited number of profiles and the ability to switch profiles within your application or game immediatelyw ithout ever having to leave the application. Can anyone say alt configurations for PvP, PvE, FPS, MMO, WoW, CoD, application workflow you name it!
Razer Anansi Keyboard Driver
Click to enlarge
The Razer Anansi Driver can be downloaded from the Razer Support site or is compatible with the new Synapse 2.0 released by Razer in 2012. If you have the Razer Synapse 2.0 already installed on your computer it will automatically read that the Razer Anansi is connected and retrieve the correct driver for you to download. Their is a driver for both Windows and Mac meaning that yes the Razer Anansi is completely Mac compatible. The driver is really detailed and easy to use, after just a few minutes reviewing its capability I had already started programming the on the fly profile switching for use in multiple games and application. When I used the two drivers and the Synapse 2.0 I had a consistent experience with absolutely no bugs or glitches.
Yet the awesomeness of the Razer Anansi does not stop there. The keyboard its self has been slightly rearranged pushing the F-keys slightly to the side in order to grant you easier access to them in the game and to hopefully squeeze out 1 or 2 more effective hot-keys. You can turn on a gaming by pressing Fn+F11 in order to lock yourself within the game and avoid unintentionally pressing Alt+Tab in the middle of a very heated battle. These are just a few of the other standard Razer trademarks which come with all of their packages to make their product line the premium standard of quality in the gaming hardware market today.
Razer Anansi Performance – 10
Razer Anansi Keyboard Review Comfort
Razer Anansi MMO Gaming Keyboard
Best Buy: $86.67
(23 customer reviews)
32 used & new available from $75.00
Designed and engineered especially for the MMO gamer, the Razer Anansi is the world’s first keyboard that raises your level of gameplay by giving you the power to instantly use up to 7x more commands and abilities over the current ?12 ability keys you now have. Its seven thumb modifier keys located below the space bar allow you to actuate every possible combination of modifier key (shift, ctrl, alt) in total accuracy and comfort using a single key stroke, exponentially expanding the repertoire of spells, abilities and macros you have at your command. From the casual MMO gamer to the serious hardcore raider, the Razer Anansi will take you to the head of the pack in both PVE and PVP action. Combine it with the Razer Naga MMOG mouse to use the Razer Anansi’s 7 thumb modifier keys seamlessly with the 12-button mouse keypad, giving you an unprecedented level of battle control while dual-wielding the world’s most phenomenal weapons for dragon slaying dominance.
The Razer Anansi has a great feel to it, and if you are thinking of purchasing it as your first gaming keyboard you will find that its low profile is a bit more comfortable than a standard back rising keyboard. The 7 grid thumb modifier keys of the Anansi can take some time to get used to, and I think some of the keys are easier to reach than others. I did catch myself bumping the wrong key quite a bit, but after some serious practice and time with the keyboard you could probably master most of the buttons.
I personally found that the additional buttons on the bottom of the Razer Anansi weren’t great for actions you have to use constantly but more appropriate for less common actions like changing stances, or using long cool down abilities.I wouldn’t bind my spamming key to any of the modifier keys at the bottom, and I dont think Razer intended for you to anyways. In the end however the Razer Anansi provides you more hot keys to increase your versatility in the game.
The 5 additional keys on the right may better be used for your most out of the way functions in the gaming such as mounting or inspecting. Outside of gaming they can easily be used to launch common application or games as well.
In the comfort rating I think the concept of additional thumb modifier keys is great, but I think there are still some improvements that could have been made like possibly rising one row over another or even utilizing the space bar by breaking it into sections. I think this is not the final thumb grid modifier keyboard we will see in the market and I expect this design will be improved in the future. Still a great idea with a lot of functionality.
Comfort rating – 7
Razer Anansi Review Videos
Razer Anansi MMO Gaming Keyboard
Best Buy: $86.67
(23 customer reviews)
32 used & new available from $75.00
Designed and engineered especially for the MMO gamer, the Razer Anansi is the world’s first keyboard that raises your level of gameplay by giving you the power to instantly use up to 7x more commands and abilities over the current ?12 ability keys you now have. Its seven thumb modifier keys located below the space bar allow you to actuate every possible combination of modifier key (shift, ctrl, alt) in total accuracy and comfort using a single key stroke, exponentially expanding the repertoire of spells, abilities and macros you have at your command. From the casual MMO gamer to the serious hardcore raider, the Razer Anansi will take you to the head of the pack in both PVE and PVP action. Combine it with the Razer Naga MMOG mouse to use the Razer Anansi’s 7 thumb modifier keys seamlessly with the 12-button mouse keypad, giving you an unprecedented level of battle control while dual-wielding the world’s most phenomenal weapons for dragon slaying dominance.
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[...] from Horde Review, I thought it was the best way to help stir some more visitors to the site. Razer was gracious enough to allow me to do a review for their new Anansi keyboard, and instead of being greedy and adding it to my arsenal I have decided to pass it on to you [...]