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By John Chan, CNET Asia
Apr 10, 2007

Razer is well known for its gaming peripherals, especially its gaming mice. The Razer Pro|Solutions branch of this company specializes in creating desktop peripherals meant to make workers more productive. Many of the input peripherals in this line are white in color and, in fact, some of them, like the Pro|Click mouse (which is really the Diamondback), are just white versions of their gaming gear. This is not the case for the Pro|Type keyboard, a completely new product meant for the Pro|Solutions range. It is still white in color and comes with an iPod dock.

Design
This keyboard will match a white computer like an iMac or any white LCD monitor perfectly. The Pro|Type is a mix of glossy and matte-finished white, with all markings on the keys in a dark gray. It looks nice, and you will find your colleagues stopping at your desk to take a second look. That may also be due to the pulsating blue light that illuminates the Razer logo on the wrist rest, much like the one found on the Razer Copperhead mouse.

	The blue pulsating logo found in the middle of the wrist rest.

Being white has its disadvantages, though. It is susceptible to getting dirty, as with all things white. In a few days of use, we managed to leave some stains on the wrist pad, and these are from clean albeit somewhat sweaty palms. Also, particles are very obvious on the white glossy surface, so eating over or letting your black sweater come near the keyboard is a bad idea.

Typing on this keyboard feels like typing on a notebook. The keys could do with a bit more resistance and travel. There are those who like this feel, though, and if you are an accomplished typist, your fingers will fly over this keyboard because it takes so little effort to depress a key. For those who prefer the stiff click of keys like on the old IBM Model M keyboards, steer clear of the Pro|Type.

Because it is meant for both Macs and PCs, the Pro|Type doesn't have a Windows logo where the Windows key is supposed to be. Instead, it just has the word Start on it. And while most keyboards have two Windows keys, this one only has one on the left. For those used to the two rows of three keys above the arrow keys, note that this keyboard has an enlarged Delete key, relegating the Insert key to a spot above the number pad. That said, the Pro|Type's keyboard is not radically different from a regular QWERTY edition, and users shouldn't need more than a few typing sessions to get used to it.

Features
One of the main features of this keyboard is the iPod dock. This supports most iPod models from the 3rd generation onward, the iPod nano and iPod mini. Two dock connectors are included with the keyboard for the 4th-generation iPods. The USB cable on the Pro|Type keyboard branches out to two USB connectors, one of which is for the keyboard and the other for the dock. Once connected, this dock works as any dock should, both charging the iPod and allowing it to sync with iTunes.

The Pro|Type with an iPod in its dock.

Though this keyboard takes up two USB ports, it gives those back by having two USB ports on its back right corner. This is convenient for sticking in flash drives, so no more stretching to the back of the computer just to plug one in. Along with those two is a 3.5mm line-out jack. This works when an iPod is connected to the dock, but ejected in iTunes. Music played on the iPod will then pass through the line-out jack to any speakers or headphones connected to it. However, because most users will have iTunes installed and speakers already connected to their computers, we don't foresee many who will want to connect a separate pair of speakers to this line-out jack and play music directly from their iPods.

A row of media keys can be found on the right of the keyboard. The one on the top starts the media program, four of which are supported by the keyboard--iTunes, Windows Media Player, Real Player and WinAmp. The buttons include basic media playback controls, shuffle toggle, volume control and a mute key. On the left are also buttons for the zoom feature in imaging applications, useful for those who need to edit images in programs like Photoshop.

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