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.

Neat...

[calebt3]

...now what does it offer that makes it so special? Screens in the keys? I can get stickers if I wanted or maybe even swap the keys.

Personally, I wonder....

[AltGrendel]

...how this would compare with the original IBM-101's.

You know the ones I mean.

Re:Review summary

[dedazo]

-Requires extra strength for keypresses, so unsuitable for typing more than a few minutes.

I was talking with a friend about this and while I type really fast and need a keyboard that will keep up with me, he's a touch typist (or hunt-and-peck I guess) and he said he wouldn't care about that, considering the rest of the features. He used to be a fan of the old Gateway programmable keyboards and that's more important to him than key switch strength since he doesn't really type that much. Come to think of it, I really don't know that many people who are really good at typing on a computer keyboard. It must be the typewriter training I got in highschool.

Personally I think it's the ultimate stupidity to have a $1,000+ keyboard that you really can't type with, but I guess each person has their own perspective.

Re:Review summary

[PopeRatzo]

I'm also glad to see that keyboard technology is still evolving, but I'm not sure Optimus is the right direction. Instead of an extremely expensive new keyboard that needs lots and lots of delicate tech and will slow down my workflow, I wouldn't mind having a little less hardware sitting under my fingers. Button-pushing seems to me to be so 20th century. Because of the type of work (and play) I do with my computer, I'd like to have ways to interact in much more subtle and complex ways than just "click click click". I want gesture, direction, velocity and intricate combinations of all these to send information to my waiting machine.

Every time I use my Korg Kaoss pad to input musical data, I wish there was something similar for my non-musical applications. And where are the "gloves" I can put on my hands that will interpret my gestures as control data for video production, drawing, even database management? Most important though: it has to be inexpensive. One of the most important measurements I use when evaluating a new technology for myself is affordability. I've decided that an incremental advance that costs more than my entire system isn't an advance at all (for me at least).

So I take it...

[RichPowers]

You're not supposed to run the Optimus through the dishwasher if it gets dirty and crusty? :) And unless you're filthy rich, you can't chuck it and buy a new one.

So you either:
Type with gloves on;
Use in a clean room;
Spend a painstaking amount of time cleaning it.

The Optimus is best at home among all those other impractical gadgets, usually found in HOUSE OF THE FUTURE! exhibits, that aren't used by real people...

Re:Review summary

[ushering05401]

Having resistance and click-points on a keyboard was very helpful. When typing on such a keyboard I would never bottom out the key, thus expending extra force.

When using modern clickless (and mushy) keyboards I often find myself 'bashing' keys harder the faster I type. It has something to do with the lack of tactile feedback while touch typing.

Re:Good thing for my mother

[OhHellWithIt]

Hmm. I learned to type on an old Underwood, and it was just like that. You really had to work at it to hit a key, so "pounding the keyboard" wasn't hyperbole. I think the sucker was made in the 1920's, and it was very heavy. The funny thing is, I never heard of people having carpal tunnel syndrome until the days of electric typewriters. In college, I got an Olivetti electric with an adjustable-action keyboard. When it's set on the light touch setting, it's more sensitive than any computer keyboard I've come across yet. I guess Olivetti went from one extreme to the other.

<sigh> Those were the good ol' days.

Re:Review summary

[SatanicPuppy]

Way ahead of you...Check this one: Das Keyboard [daskeyboard.com]. When I hit a coding run, people come from down the hall to see where the hell all the noise is coming from. The blank keys are also good for the whole alpha geek thing, and forget having your boss ever try to type anything on your keyboard.

I used to use a Deck [deckkeyboards.com] 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, but the backlit keyboards have exactly the opposite effect on bystanders...People always want to type on your keyboard, and if that irritates you (as it does me) it's a bad choice to have one sitting around.

Re:We don't need no stinkin title!

[jcnnghm]

I touch type and I definitely see a need for this. If it was under $300 I would buy one today if it had support for some of the popular keyboard-shortcut heavy applications I use, like Photoshop, Blender, and perhaps even Eclipse. If I could hold down the control key and have the keyboard show me pictorially what each keys function is, it would be well worth the money.

Re:I Shall Not Leave My Tin Foil Lair

[Haeleth]

'Optimus Maximus' dosen't make a whole lot of sense

Um, we're talking about one of the most common epithets for the god Jupiter. If you're really feeling confident in your Latin skills, feel free to go back in time 2000 years or so and explain to the Romans that their pathetic attempts at using their native language "don't make a whole lot of sense", but if you'll forgive me I'll just go on accepting it as standard Latin and translating it "Best and Greatest" like everyone else...

Re:Review summary

[dindi]

On resistance keyboards:

Well, I thought so, and used IBM M-type (the old clicking type), than switched to multiple ergonomic ones, and could not understand why they are so soft and why they switch well known key placements...

Then the new Apple "keyboard" arrived. Same feeling as a laptop keyboard. Not much feedback, but very sleek feel.

I just wish someone put out a new keyboard which is as sexy as the apple, same feeling as a laptop, but ... but split. Just split the damn thing and make it connected via a ball joint, so you can turn it into any direction, or even separate them.

Hmm, I guess for now I live with the apple, and maybe someone comes up with something like that.

Now on the Optimus : great idea for gamers and maybe video editors to highlight stuff. For the typist/programmer/technical-technician: useless. I do not look at the keyboard too much, so for me that is really overkill.

just my 2c