Optimus Maximus - Keyboard Revolution
‘Concept no more’ is the official word from the Art Lebedev Studio as the Optimus Maximus became available for pre-ordering, just hours ago. Eery single key on the Optimus Maximus is an individual OLED display, capable of showing a high-resolution (65,536 colour) 48×48 icon on each individual key. Flick the language of your keyboard at will, from English UK, to English US, to French, German, Japanese and back again. Use the left-hand 10-button navigation panel to gain quick access to your favourite programs, websites, folders or documents. Truly a revolution? Well, yes. With a price point of $1564.37 and (only?) 113 keys, this works outs at a hefty $14ish a key! My current keyboard (the Logitech G15 has 128 keys, so sacrificng some of my beautiful backlit babies might be hard to get to grips with initially, however I figure I could live with 113 keys if they all displayed a nice lil’ picture of some kind of exquisite ice-cream, along with the odd quicklink to my favourite haunts in my side-panel. 
The keyboard connects via USB 2.0 and unfortunately does not support wireless features at present, to my knowledge. I’m holding off (and saving up) for a wire-free edition, to brighten up my life, burn a hole in my pocket, and ruin my all round ’sane’ reputation in general.
£750 well spent? You tell me. I’m loving the high-res buttons, though. 
Thanks Ryan.
May 21st, 2007 at 3:50 pm
To be honest though, the keyboard doesn’t really live up to expectations. Huge price tag is one thing, but what really is annoying is that the final product just doesn’t look as it should be. Let’s take the Optimus Mini three; it just didn’t cut it. The screen was too dim for one, and the buttons were absolutely huge.
Now I can’t say anymore until we see the unboxing and 3rd party pictures of this thing. But even if they did sort out the problems the Mini Three had, I wouldn’t fork out for one.
However, the Upravlator is a different story…
May 21st, 2007 at 4:09 pm
I was waiting for this to finally come out, but I won’t be buying one soon at that price. Maybe it will become popular, and the price will drop. I could see paying maybe up to $300 for one.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Within a year or two, I can see them retailing for $500 or so - $300 seems a bit too ambitious though.
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:19 am
Oh man, you got an optimus, are you serious? You bastard
Some day…
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:37 am
Nope - though re-reading the last sentence, I can see why you’d think that…
I simply meant ‘would it be £750 well spent’ and that I was ‘loving the look of the high-res buttons’, though.
The Optimus starts shipping in December. Limited to 200 units only. If all goes to plan, another 200 should ship before the month is out. 400 are expected in January, with more to follow shortly afterwards.
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:48 pm
I just wonder how good this will actually be for, well you know, typing.
May 24th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Haha - I see what you mean. Early testers claim that the keys are nice, crisp and clean though, so fingers crossed, eh?
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:04 pm
£750? Pfffttt….
May 24th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
That’s the general response.
May 27th, 2007 at 9:21 am
750 for a keyboard? Only fanatics would buy it…..tisk, tisk.
Besides, you could get a good graphics card and a copy of Halo 2 for that money!