Optimus Keyboard Starts Shipping

Tom's Hardware is reporting that the Optimus keyboard that everyone was so anxious for (although maybe less so when they saw the price tag) started shipping this week. "According to an announcement made on the Optimus project blog, keyboards are now shipping to customers who pre-ordered the $1564 keyboard nine months ago. Keyboards with passive keys are delayed and will be shipping in about a month, the manufacturer said. [...] Earlier this month, one of the first Optimus Maximus keyboards was sold for $2750 on Ebay." Engadget even got the chance to test one of these expensive toys out.

Review summary

[Smackheid]

-LEDs are bright and clear
-Key Image Editing is quick and painless (use your graphic editor of choice)
-Still some quirks to work out with Macs
-High-quality parts and construction
-Requires extra strength for keypresses, so unsuitable for typing more than a few minutes.

Re:No thanks

[cnettel]

They did a showcase on their website, the key itself is not a display. You only move a transparent keycap.

Re:No thanks

[wootest]

The displays are suspended below the actual switches and don't move when you depress the key.

Article is dumb

[ianare]

I like how the article confuses LED with an OLED display, thereby completely missing the point of the device. Any idiot can stick an LED inside a keyboard key, in fact there are plenty of LED back-lit keyboards out there. But putting in a completely programmable display in each key is something much, much more complicated (and cooler). This is why there has been so much interest in it, and why it so expensive.
Speaking of which, the full blown 103 programmable key version is $1564, but with less programmable keys it is cheaper. As follows [artlebedev.com]:

• 1 active key - $462
• 10 active keys - $600
• 47 active keys - $1000
• 103 active keys - $1564

Re:No thanks

[aesiamun]

the m5 will last longer than probably two beat up old tauruses.

That and they are more fun to drive...
is this keyboard more fun to use? Or is it just bling to look at?

Re:Review summary

[0100010001010011]

You mean something like TouchStream [fingerworks.com] from Finger Works [fingerworks.com]? This [fingerworks.com] is just a sample of the input commands for text editing.

Apple bought them and incorporated their tech into the iPhone, iTouch, & MacBook Air. I suspect 2 finger scrolling and right click on the Intel laptops also came out of this.

You can find iGestures on eBay, but they're fetching a pretty penny last time I checked. They even have a macro editor and such so you can assign any finger gesture to almost anything.

Re:No thanks

[n3tcat]

Um, I think you could be wrong.

http://www.engadget.com/photos/optimus-maximus-at-long-last-we-bring-one-home/656819/ [engadget.com]

Re:I Shall Not Leave My Tin Foil Lair

[AKAImBatman]

The movie was a fabrication (perhaps loosely based on the Slave's Revolt), but the movie still has no claim on the word. Maximus was a fairly common word that means "great" in Latin. For example, the "Circus Maximus" was a large racing arena, the "Pontifex Maximus" was the high priest, and the "Cloaca Maxima" was a large sewer that drained away Rome's waste.

Re:Third hotkey down on the right...

[dk.r*nger]

It looks like the TATU girls (russian pop, one red-head, one black-haired - and definitely hitting some lesbian notes in their videos and CD covers), although I can't find a cover that looks like that [amazon.com] - maybe it's for the musicplayer, displaying the cover of the currently playing song.

Re:Third hotkey down on the right...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, I thought the same thing, and the third Google Images hit [purehotty.com] seems to be the right image. Makes sense, they are huge in Russia, where the Optimus creators are based.

Re:No thanks

[wootest]

The latest official word on this [livejournal.com] that I can recall says: "The main idea behind the Optimus Maximus key design is that the part with the display is fixed, while the transparent cap is moving, pressing a Cherry switch underneath[..]"

Re:Keyboard is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

> "640k ought to be enough to be enough memory for anybody"

Which he denies ever having said, and no one can actually pull up a citation where he said it.

The 640K limit was something IBM imposed.

Re:Review summary

[dslbrian]

I used to use a Deck keyboard; they've got a good heft, and though the keys aren't sitting on mechanical switches, they still have a nice solid action and a good sound...

Just a correction - Deck boards do use mechanical switches, that's one of their major selling points (other than the backlighting). What the deck switches don't have is the clicky tactile feedback, they use linear Cherry MX switches (which do make some noise). I've got one, and you can definitely hear when someone types on it.

The switch information on the deck switches:

What kind of key switches are used in Deck keyboards? [deckkeyboards.com]

Forum discussion on tactile mod to a deck [deckkeyboards.com]

Cherry MX switch [cherrycorp.com]

Re:Review summary

[lostguru]

the two finger scrolling and right click feature has been around since the powerbook g4's and even in some of the later ibook g4's

Re:Lawsuits?

[Anonymous Coward]

Plutarch was Greek, silly! Try Cicero.