The Marauder's like a pair of Air Jordans—they look fantastic, but they're expensive, and buying them won't improve your skills at the game you know and love.
While playing against platinum-league vet Norm Chan, my keyboard never surpassed green (one step above lifeless blue); I could only achieve a satisfying red through rapid-fire-clicking waypoints while my fingers played a drum solo on the hotkeys. After Norm ruthlessly thrashed me, the Marauder added insult to injury by blinking red to make sure I knew I lost. Gee, thanks.
Without the Lite-Brite gimmick, the Marauder is a less-than-stellar keyboard. Razer inexplicably decided to smash the arrow keys and Insert/Home/Page Up block into the numpad—this jarring change left me constantly fumbling for keys. Still, you can reassign almost all of the buttons, and each key has a nice tactile feel: they're sturdy, springy and have an aesthetically-pleasing gloss. But paying $120 for what's essentially a StarCraft mood-ring—that spectators will enjoy more than you do—just doesn't make sense.
$120, www.razerzone.com ◆ Category: Dream
