How would you change the Optimus Maximus?

After hacking away on Art Lebedev's utterly gorgeous Optimus Maximus for a few days, we came away both awed and disappointed. For as beautiful and functional as this beast is, we still felt that actually typing on it -- you know, its primary purpose -- left a lot to be desired. Still, it's hard to deny the ingenuity in the OLED-stuffed 'board, but with such a lofty price tag and even loftier expectations, we can't imagine all of the lucky early adopters being a hundred percent satisfied. For those that laid out for this exquisite piece of kit, how on Earth could revision two be better? Want a few more keys to play around with? Could it stand to lose some of that clicky tactility? Or will it really only be worth the coin once it bags your lunch, irons your shirt and chauffeurs you to work? Do tell.

[Rafer @ Apr 11th 2008 6:35PM]

Price?

[Jamma @ Apr 11th 2008 6:37PM]

Amen on the price. Also, perhaps a version with a normal keyboard and just user editable screens for the short cut keys, since I don't need it ALL to have a screen

[MrGam3r @ Apr 11th 2008 6:41PM]

actually, there are three versions I believe.
there is one with just the shortcut keys, one with i think 60 or so keys......and the more well known version that has all of the keys with oleds...

[Aguiluz @ Apr 11th 2008 6:55PM]

Price and the keys must be as mushy at just right mushiness.

[Juaquin @ Apr 11th 2008 7:11PM]

You can buy one with just the spacebar as a screen and buy separate keys for whatever keys you want to have screens as well. I'd buy the basic one then a few keys for things like W,A,S,D and other common gaming keys.

[Microdot @ Apr 12th 2008 12:14PM]

ditto on price. it would be nice to see this at the level he previously stated (around "the cost of a good cell phone" - last time i checked, even my iphone wasn't $1500). it is a disposable item for me... i go through keyboards once a year, and this would be a tremendous waste. if it hit the $200-300 range, i would buy.

[Macha88 @ Apr 12th 2008 1:17PM]

Once you change the price, i'll tap that.

[Gregory @ Apr 13th 2008 8:38AM]

Microdot, if you would just get yourself The One True Keyboard--an IBM Model M (http://www.clickykeyboards.com)--you wouldn't have to replace it every year. The M is so solid that you could beat someone to death with it, put it back down on your desk, and resume typing. It also makes that beeeeeeautiful Selectric clickety-clack as you type, and drives your cubicle-mates to drink.

Aah, I love my Model Ms, and you can have them when you pry them out of my cold, dead fingers.

So how would I improve the Optimus? Why, I'd put buckling spring mechanisms under each key so it wouldn't feel like you're typing on Cream of Wheat. What the heck--the thing already costs an arm and a leg anyway.

[sirius @ Apr 14th 2008 2:17AM]

Exactly =D

[palehorse @ Apr 14th 2008 2:53PM]

what he said.

[Conor Maher @ Apr 11th 2008 6:36PM]

its 1000% too expensive for a start, for me > $80 is splashing out on a keyboard...

Also wouldnt a cheapo OLED / LCD panel beneath a plexi keyboard be equally cool / functional? surely it could be done with fiber optics quite easily also...

[mcdizzle895 @ Apr 11th 2008 6:36PM]

Yes, it would be nice if they made it more affordable...Other than that, it's pretty freakin amazing.

[Tony @ Apr 11th 2008 8:26PM]

Well I would make it more expensive.

[applefan @ Apr 11th 2008 10:48PM]

But will it blend?

[matt @ Apr 11th 2008 6:39PM]

duh, I'd make it like, at least twice as big.

[austin @ Apr 11th 2008 7:07PM]

what is this, a keyboard for ants?

IT HAS TO BE AT LEAST...... 3 TIMES THIS SIZE!

[Bobs @ Apr 11th 2008 7:07PM]

What is this?! A keyboard for ants?!

[austin @ Apr 11th 2008 7:15PM]

bobs, beat you to it by

[austin @ Apr 11th 2008 7:15PM]

less than 60 seconds

< 60 didnt show up

[CosterMonger @ Apr 11th 2008 6:39PM]

make it a 3d hologram with a static touch {no glasses}.
I'd buy a wacom cintiq before ever even thinking about getting this thing.

[Zac Reid @ Apr 13th 2008 5:25PM]

Perhaps it should just type what I am thinking...

[Blue Sunshine @ Apr 11th 2008 6:40PM]

A YTMND button is in order.

[mushrooshi @ Apr 11th 2008 6:40PM]

Every time i see this, I do a facepalm.

I don't give a shit about how much of a mac fanboy you are. Little shits like you give mac users and mac fans (hence the lack of "boy" in "fanboy", btw I am a male) bad names. Your types are the little shits who embarrass us.

How about you do some mac users a favor and shut your damn mouth.

[Eli @ Apr 11th 2008 6:42PM]

perhaps he was being sarcastic.

[Flashpoint @ Apr 11th 2008 6:42PM]

I'd hook it to a nuclear weapon.

[applefan @ Apr 11th 2008 8:21PM]

Ummm....

[Lupo @ Apr 12th 2008 1:28AM]

i wouldnt feel safe drilling holes in a nuclear warhead just to hang my fancy keyboard on it

[bigshum @ Apr 14th 2008 4:07AM]

I'd hook it up to my weapon.

[King Mook Mook @ Apr 19th 2008 12:45AM]

I'd hang it on Jake Dunn's (from Crysis) face.

[jimmy @ Apr 11th 2008 6:43PM]

i'd make the qwerty / numpad portion of the keyboard static and just make the function keys dynamic as well as add anothe row to the key bank on the left side.

IE make it more affordable. chaning the qwerty keys doesn't seem that useful

[ethana2 @ Apr 11th 2008 8:16PM]

www.colemak.com

Any dvorak user could tell you qwerty needs to go die. Qwerty is the windows of keyboard layouts.

[ben @ Apr 12th 2008 6:11PM]

Dvorak is like metric time.

[mushrooshi @ Apr 11th 2008 6:44PM]

Other than the price:

I guess maybe have the software easier to use? I don't own one (obviously), but ive seen videos of the software used, and it looks... not confusing, since I am able to use it (You want confusing? try Logic pro), but more smooth.

[Josh @ Apr 11th 2008 6:44PM]

Oh yeah Mushrooshi. Cause you didn't just do a damn good job all on your own of making yourself look bad....

[jimmy @ Apr 11th 2008 6:44PM]

oh yeah and make it ergonomic for christ sake. i haven't used a flat keyboard in almost a decade

[d840 @ Apr 13th 2008 4:04PM]

Ergonomic keyboards suck. Seriously...

Perhaps if you're typing non-stop for hours at a time, but it is so much easier to find the keys on a regular keyboard. In fact, I don't ever see myself buying an ergonomic keyboard.

In the end, it's just a personal preference. They should have both styles so those of us who like ergonomic and for those who hate it can still be happy.

That, and price it under $200.

[Eric @ Apr 11th 2008 6:45PM]

how about making it... well, not shitty to type on.

[renouned apple fanboy @ Apr 11th 2008 6:47PM]

@Eli
Yeah, I thought it best to get it out of the way first thing :-)

BTW- My real change to it would be to build in a speaker, my laptop sounds awful.

[Sime @ Apr 11th 2008 6:47PM]

make it so u could play back one video on all of the screens, making it look like one screen. then i might buy it =)

[Paul @ Apr 11th 2008 6:50PM]

Make it flat and rollable...

[Podaman @ Apr 11th 2008 6:50PM]

have the OLED cover the entire face of each key

[Iain @ Apr 11th 2008 7:00PM]

Bingo.
That's the only thing apart from price, to have the OLEDs filling the keys - especially the space bar.

[FTY @ Apr 11th 2008 10:13PM]

They are saving this for Optimus Tactus which will be even shittier to type on as there are no keys:), but at least it will look cool as opposed to the Optimus Maximus.

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-tactus/

[macserv @ Apr 12th 2008 7:52PM]

Yes, this. This would be the most disappointing change from concept to shipped product.

[mushrooshi @ Apr 11th 2008 6:52PM]

OH... so it was sarcasm.

Too bad there are real fanboys who do this.

[Saint Dumb Ox @ Apr 11th 2008 6:53PM]

Remove the Segway-of-keyboards factor.

[Junior @ Apr 11th 2008 6:54PM]

I would slap some boobs on it. I'd like to make porn time a little more realistic. Also the price. Other than that, it looks awesome.

[adam @ Apr 11th 2008 6:54PM]

PRICE PRICE PRICE - Really $500 for a keyboard? I don't care what it does, it ain't worth $500.

[Chris Macdonald @ Apr 11th 2008 6:54PM]

go full hd on all the keys

[Zak @ Apr 11th 2008 6:55PM]

Minus sarcasm points for not knowing how to spell "renowned".