Optimus Maximus: 113 keys, ready to pre-order
By Ryan Block 
posted May 20th 2007 12:37PM
posted May 20th 2007 12:37PM
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I so totally want this and have the grand to spare, but there's no way I can justify spending that much for a keyboard when I'm getting a new computer soon. Especially since that computer is a Macbook Pro so it brings its own keyboard, heh.
holy crap, it has an engadget key
sold!
Yeah, we didn't photoshop that or anything! Guess Art likes Engadget!
a single key for 10+ free engadget promo... that is, i've heard it 'ready to pre-order' for at least 3 times ...
Diggin the engadget shortcut key :D
I'm going to assume there will be a gizmodo key in THEIR version of the screenshots - think about it, this company (Art and co) has to try and get its free advertising from somewhere!
Personally I think I'd still love to see them make a more affordable compromise keyboard..... that is, a keyboard with mostly regular keys, but a row of OLED keys for shortcuts, etc.
I think for touch-typists especially, the ability to change the keys isn't that useful, but for macro keys, etc. that might change from app to app, as well as shortcut keys that represent launchers for different apps, etc. it would be really nice.
And it seems like a keyboard like that could be relatively more affordable.
I read somewhere that they are making hybrid keyboards sometime soonish
Now that I think about it, in a year or two, when i actually WOULD be interested in getting one of these, the price will probably be down to at least half, if not a quarter of the current price due to the way tech goes...
Anyhow, I'm REALLY interested and looking forward to reviews of this thing...
They deserve a prize for adding the K-Lock. This would 100% be stolen if anyone saw it without one.
I do feel betrayed however having been told it would be told it was 108 (wasn't it first 112?) keys. But since I can't afford to 'waste' money on this keyboard I will leave my complaints at that. It would also be a great way for people to learn an ABCD layout insaid of this QWERTY layout which was designed to slow you down.
I'd understand if you were advocating the Dvorak layout over the QWERTY, but the ABC? C'mon, you'd end up having to type t's with your ring finger. Also, the claim that QWERTY was designed to slow you down is complete myth. There isn't a shred of substance to it. What actually happened was that the most commonly pressed keys were spread apart so that the near-lying hammers weren't used sequentially. Under the ABC, you'd end up with a whole lot of counter-intuitively placed keys. The only thing it's actually good for is teaching new people how to type.
$1500 for a keyboard that I can't even power from the USB port alone? Sure there's those pretty OLED keys, but I thought they were supposed to have low power draw.
Bleh, it's a good concept still. Hopefully increased production of OLEDs will cause a price drop and allow the Optimus to become more affordable. If the company doesn't go bankrupt, I bet the models will eventually be had for sub $500.
Has anyone here actually preordered one?
Of course not, do you think that people who read engadget.com everyday are rich?
Bill Gates reads Engadget :DD
Judging by the amazing drop in Apple's share price when Engadget published the Leopard/iPhone delay piece last week, I'd say there are some people out there with $1500 to throw around if they chose to!
This keyboard makes NO sense. How can you be an efficient typist if you keep changing the keys around?
Everyone bashes it for the price, but I think its great that such a brilliant concept is finally being put into production. It would be nice to see a lower end model, but as with a lot of things, you start with the expensive flagship model to grab everyones attention, then aim for the mainstream appeal.
Oh, and r.e. power draw, yes a single OLED doesn't draw much power, but throw 113 of them together and it soon adds up. Combine that with the USB hub and SD reader and the 2.5w from your USB port just isn't enough.
With my luck, I'd buy this and not like it, and then have to justify a $1500 keyboard that I don't use...
I already hate that single wire going out of my keyboard, why would I want so many others? bleh. And don't get me started on the price.... unless you have money to throw away...
Does anyone know if there is a way to run this on Ubuntu? On the site it says windows/OS X only, and I'm running feisty fawn.
I'm guessing that when you store layouts (it has a sd slot for layouts) on the keyboard, you might be able to access them from linux. However, I don't think that they have a linux client. Hmm. Yuck!
You can probably run Ubuntu ON it.
hah, I meant to get the hot keys programmed with some sort of software like xp/mac.
For $1500, those better be buckling spring key actions or at the very least mechanical. I wouldn't pay more than $50 for a craptastic silicone nipple action, no matter how cool the key caps were.
lol products like this allow me to justify buying two iPhones :) one to use and the other to be locked away in it's casing for my mini museum like i do with my iPods.
It is bad for teaching people how to type actually. If they learn on an abc, they will be worthless on qwerty/dvorak/whatever. This is why I never switch to dvorak - it would never be practical when I have to use a system not my own (such as at work) since I would hardly be able to type on the universal qwerty standard.
That's what he meant by slowing you down. What Sholes thought was the most commonly-used letters were placed on opposite sides of the keyboard to make the mechanical locking of the hammers less likely.
And no keyboard layout is counter-intuitive if that's all you know. Had you been trained to type on an ABC layout, you would have thought that QWERTY was absolute nonsense.
Nope, I checked. It's still an Engadget key, even on Gizmodo.
Damn, they've scaled the OLED's down so that they don't cover the whole key.
Looked cooler in the concept art... but then, so does everything.
With a bit of luck, and the influx of some money for the initial runs, we'll see cheaper boards with improved screens in the future.
Fingers crossed.
It's a cool keyboard, but I think I'd rather pay my mortgage. :)
Why in the holy name of God would I want a $1500 keyboard?
I think it's great eye candy but I can't understand why the design paid absolutely no attention to ergonomics. It seems to me the kinds of asymmetrical curves ergonomics demands of a keyboard would play quite well with this visual keyboard. Instead of organic goodness, we get rectangular generica.
Besides, I heard the rectangle, like the circle, has already been patented by another company ... :).
Art should totally load up a kindergarden style layout... instead of A have an apple... Instead of a B have a boat and so on.
This is an engineering failure, plain and simple. The moral of this story is that there is a vast difference between being able to technically pull something off and being able to produce and market an affordable piece of gear. There are a great many things that are waiting in the wings if only they get cheaper (electric cars for instance). But you need to be innovative to come up with ways to deliver them to the masses.
Nice! They finally labeled the "Any Key" that I keep hearing about. I always wondered what key that was.
if someone paid this much for a keyboard i doubt they would let their kids gets their grubby fingers over it
Well, there are obviously some short-comings here, like the price... but this is looking pretty cool for a first generation product. Hopefully there will be enough people with 1.5k burning a hole in their pocket to fund futher development.
Perhaps a future iteration will have those "full screen" keys like the original concept art.
Yes I do. The keyboard was designed to seperate keys which could jam (Q+U) is a common example. Typewritters were also prone to breaking and if you see a fast typer you will often notice that they hit hte keys harder then someone who is typing slowly. Thus they wanted to reduce the chance of damage on typewritter so they put most of the keys on the left side. Your left hand is generaly slower and weaker which means that you have a hard time typing fast. You'll notice that e,t,s,r,a are all on the left side and are of the most used keys. Notice also that the most used volels are on the left (a+e).
I don't have any love of ABC, but I didn't know of any others off the top of my head that have also been claimed to be more efficent.
This cost way too much... Not worth it imo.
Why does the gallery say 103 keys?
look at the space bar and any of the larger than standard key, they look crap, for that money they could do alot better. the original concept design a couple of years back was beautiful this is a piece of crap
Damn, this is one of those expensive things you can't just download through torrent =(
Interesting. 1500 dollars for LCD keyboard? It's THE only peripheral you are not supposed to look at while using.
so is this officially not vapourware any more? I want to see them stick this somewhere where the rays don't trace before I hand over any money.
It'll let you put a backspace key on the numeric keypad. That's worth something to me, though maybe not $1,500.
You mean you don't use the delete key?
You don't lose your Qwerty skills as long as you use them a little while you're learning Dvorak. I have a Dvorak keyboard (from Unicomp) on my Mac at home that I type about 90wpm on. I was about a 70wpm typer before I learned Dvorak and that went up to about 80wpm after.
I can switch seamlessly between both layouts without thinking. What I _can't_ do is type Dvorak on a Qwerty board or vice-versa. Can't type on labeless keyboards, either, ends up being a mishmash of both Qwerty and Dvorak.
But trust me, it's worth it.
hope the ship them to stores, than just internet...i really want to see it before i spend ANY amount of money on it
It's about damn time...
now I just need to save up $1500... sigh
I was a little shocked I must say at the price tag. I was expecting from over a year ago when I first saw this keyboard that a 400 - 500 price tag would be on it.
For 1500 you can get a 40" Plasma TV screen now a days. Which would be a more enjoyable investment?
I forsee a very fast drop in cost for this or a quick end to it.
Please don't compare a workstation keyboard to a television. People sit on their fat asses and get nothing accomplished while watching TV. This keyboard is for workstation users, who will earn more money than the keyboard is worth in two hours doing work. A TV won't earn back it's value in exponential amounts.
I love how none of the posts really explain what this keyboard is. From the pictures, however, I have gathered that each little key has little LCD screens in them so that you can change font/picture/symbol, etc.
Would I be correct in thinking so?
If so, I think this is a great concept, and will definitely have SOME customers, despite the outrageous price tag.
There's this wonderful technology they invented called "hyperlinks" which allows people to use words and images as "links" to relevant information.
If you'll read through the post again, you'll notice that the words "Optimus Maximus" link to http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/14/optimus-maximus-the-god-of-keyboards-unveiled/, which, whilst maybe a little confusing, at least gets you a little more information. The words "pre-order" take you to last weeks article at http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/16/optimus-maximus-pre-order-starts-may-20th/ which shows you even more info.
In the Optimus Configurator (a bad piece of English right there), what exactly is a “Standart” view, comrade?
Once again people complain about the price and how "I'll never buy one! I'd rather mortgage my house!". Not to stand on my soapbox again, but you guys are flaming idiots.
This keyboard is NOT A KEYBOARD FOR THE MASSES. It is NOT A KEYBOARD FOR TYPISTS. No, it is strictly for workstation users who use multiple applications each with hundreds of keyboard modifier functions. Like a graphics house, using the entire Adobe suite plus some three dimensional programs and maybe some other software specific to their purpose. Most workers will remember the commonly used shortcuts (such as new file, new layer, levels adjustment, etc), but probably won't remember shortcuts for the less commonly used ones. Plus learning all the shortcuts in all of the programs used is nary impossible - it would amount to hundreds, if it doesn't already reach into the thousands.
This keyboard is for workstation users only - plus other people if they have the cash. And the price? A $1500 keyboard in an $80,000+ audio workstation is a small fraction of overall cost. An audio house also deals with $10k microphones, $20k monitor setups, etc., so a $1500 keyboard will be of infinite benefit and productivity efficiency with minimal cost.
I personally make $2,500 in one year (student), and the keyboard would be an absurd purchase for someone like me, but at least I'm not an idiot going around thinking that they keyboard was designed for typists and gamers. The price is perfect for the users who the keyboard is geared towards. It's not geared towards me, so I can't complain about the price.
And whoever said "Why would I want more cables from the back of my keyboard? I already hate the one that I have!" - you're a lazy idiot. I dislike name calling, but I don't think anybody working in a CAD workhouse would be lounging around with their keyboard in their lap and their feet on the desk. Or if they are, they certainly wouldn't need visually active keyboard modifiers - as they're already cooler than anyone else in the office. PS - Get yourself a wireless keyboard or stop complaining about your one wire.
actually I would consider you an idiot also! The gamer is one of the biggest users that would benefit from this keyboard as just what you are saying is true to them. They have many keys that are assigned specific functions and the keys can be pictures which represent what the key is used for. Get off your high horse and just complain like all the others.
not exactly... the qwerty layout was designed so consecutive keystrokes would be spaced further apart, so typewriters wouldn't jam... not specifically to slow you down, but surely it's not designed for speed.
@AuroraAlpha
The Dvorak keyboard is the most widely used "alternative keyboard" and allows for much faster typing speeds
All the vowels close to each other on the central bar, lesser used keys banished to the edges.
No Linux support (other than it working as a 'basic' keyboard) means no sale from me. not that it matters, financially, to Art Lebdev.
Dint they forgot to metion tah this keyb comes with quad core cpu and quad sli 8800GT
Dude u can buy nice PC for this keyb
Has this been mentioned before:
Looks like they tanked on the three different "key" sizes (ie, OLEDs in 3 sizes, one for main keys, one for shift / ctrl etc, one for spacebar) and went with one key size, inlaid into larger keys.....
Yet the cost went up. Go figure. Next, please?
Just think - with one of these keyboard, FINALLY it'll be possible to use VI or Emacs - enter a special command mode, and the keys will change to show you what the combinations do!
This thing should win an award for being the most overpriced new technology gadget of the year, easily taking that honor away from the iPhone.
Or, maybe they should wait until next year to hand out that award. Knowing the Optimus team, these things probably won't actually ship until March of 2008.
i think ideally, it should be a mini screen with multitouch. so when you're not typing... it could be a sideview compatible with vista. off course, it can be painful. i heard tapping for a prolonged time without the cushion hurts the finger tips.
does it come in dvorak?
I'm sure it will have a setup that will allow you to put it into DVORAK mode.
oh I understand now!
sold sold sold!
I could really use this, I'm switching between programs all the time, and for gamers it would really help to remember the key functions. Or for Maya and 3ds Max it would be awesome. But I'll have to wait and see if they go down eventually because it's way too much for me.
Yes, this keyboard layout really was designed to slow you down. If you have ever used an old manual typewriter, you have experienced the keys jamming together. Then you have to stop and unjam them. By slowing your typing speeds down, the keys were less likely to jam up, therefore making typing 'faster'. We no longer have a problem with the keys jamming, but everyone had just gotten used to the key arrangement.
The most popular alternative keyboard arrangement that I know of is the Dvorak, which was arranged for ease of use and for speed in typing.
Here is an idea... For all us poor Engadget readers, maybe Art could donate an Optimus to Engadget for a contest or giveaway? Just an idea...
lol if i was given one in a contest, id be too scared to use it in regular life (not to mention gaming) for fear of breaking it.
Also, i'm curious to see what people would do about finger prints. id imagine some keys would get so crappy that it would obscure some of the oleds
If I bought this I just know within a week I'd spill something on it.
What happens when you spill red wine all over it?
It just a keyboard! Come on! Give me a break! $1500+ for a keyboard?? By one for 50 bucks and give the money to some starving kids or something!
What has this world come to?
I'm not saying gamers wouldn't benefit - I'm saying it's not catered towards the gaming crowd. Not at this price, at least. Art knows he's not going to get the casual user and the gaming crowd at this price - this product is being catered to the workstation user and the art-house companies. I'd benefit from a Lamborghini, but there's no way in hell a Lamborghini is being catered towards 18-24 college students making less than $5000 a year. On a lesser scale, this keyboard isn't being sold with the intention of getting sales from the average "power user" or the casual gamer. Until the price of the tech comes down, it'll remain in the grasp of those who will benefit the most from the keyboard - and most likely those who will also replenish the cost of the keyboard in a very short amount of time through the use of it. Granted, there's exceptions to everything, but that's likely how it will work out.
For those commenting on having just a set of customizable function keys, the Optimus Mini 3, already shipping:
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-mini/
Someone in Taiwan will knock this off for $300 in a few months.. ;-)
I can see your point, but I still say the 'hard-core' gamer is within the realm of the market for these as their systems are costing several thousand dollars as it is with multi-GPU SLI rigs with 2-4 and soon to be 8gb RAM and every other add-on. Spending $1500 for a fully customizable keyboard including the capability to define what each key looks like would not be beyond reasonable.
looks ugly with those big borders around the key's, and it looks uncomfortable to use. oh and it's expensive as fuck.
The first keyboard evah to actually have the ability to sport an 'any key'!!
Yeah right, hardcore gamers would rather buy the latest video cards, monitor, or a new cpu than a keyboard.
The only reason a person should buy this is if they're engineers, designers, or someone that works in a business that involves computers with the need for informational keys. Or that they just have a lot of money.
I ordered mine the otherday i couldnt resist no more. I wasn't happy with the $46 shipping charge when it was stated that it was all in for $1564 shakespears b'day!! Now am lookin thinkin i wish the display could be bigger, cant wait tho :)
@Richard Sportwood
-sigh- look it up QWERTY was designed to essentially slow you down. when Sholes first made the type writer it was ABCD but because the keys would jam he moved them apart so that it would greatly decrease,not stop, key jamming by making you reach farther for the keys you need giving the keys time to fall back into place. Dvorak was much later developed to increase speed and accuracy, hell look at it all the vowels are on the home row, Dvorak studied typists tendencies and based the layout on that instead of the random configuration of QWERTY. Next time look up information before you look absolutely retarded.
Mitravelus
Beautiful