A good set of keycaps is well over 100 bucks to start with. Those cheapo ones suck if you try the real thing. Hell a GMK ABS keycap set will spank a sub 100 PBT keycap set. I do agree in concept with you though, you can get a DECK keyboard (a company that makes government gear) with your pick of lighting, PBT, your pick of switches for sub 150 now. And if you want to go "low cost build it" you can get a cap set and keyboard for the same 250 that doesn't come with Razers bullshit. Going higher end a keyboard can run you 500 before you hit custom keycaps.
Thing is though at a certain point we hit the eco system issue. If you've already bought into Razer (and say what you will the Deathadder mouse is still one of the best out there) then it makes sense to shove all your crap under the same driver suite. Steelseries and logitech play the same silly game. There is a way out of this. Buying a driverless keyboard and dumping into a Microsoft Pro mouse and dumping into driverless sound. I have this on one box and it's flawless, cost in cost though it wasn't any cheaper than the all Steelseries set next to me right now.
Neither Razer, nor logitechs, nor steelseries shit is bad though. They get hits and misses, but they all flop on their face with heavy drivers and running multiple of them is just obnoxious. All that said the full Steelseries stack I have (mousepad, mouse, keyboard, headset, dac) does what it should as a gaming device. I'd be hard pressed to call it better than the deck keyboard, ms pro mouse, schitt stack, sennheiser configuration I also have. Once you are in, you're in.
I also wouldn't thrash Razer all that much. They have a full product stack and it's not bad. They are clearly by design, price, and lifestyle trying to become the Windows Macbook, and hell they sell linux laptops via lamda. What they are asking isn't anymore insane than current mobo and CPU prices let alone GPU prices. It's a segmented market now, and the higher end has nothing in common with the lower end. FWIW their "business" stuff and laptop line is top notch and not asking more than an Alienware with a similar form factor and price. But they haven't fully sold out, unlike say Alienware or Voodoo PC or hell even Falcon NW which is a joke now. The fact is though income inequality is hyper capitalist now and we are in a situation where your brand signals your social status. You can't blame them for cashing in on this.
If I didn't have all the stuff I already did I'd be open into buying into the Razer system.
