At last, Optimus Maximus keyboards are finally shipping after receiving a Vaporware Award two years in a row now (2006, 2007). It’s been quite the adventure for the team creating the highly anticipated and over-priced keyboard, filled with many ups and downs. Those who pre-ordered it last year should already have it in their hands, or will have it shortly. Engadget managed to get one to test and their initial review has been posted. So after all this time, what are reviewers saying? Well, it’s mixed. There are both good and not so good things about the keyboard and at this point, it looks as though the casual computer user will not benefit from the Optimus Maximus Keyboard.
Before we get started, I do want to point out that Ryan Block over at Engadget posted a great video demo that shows the keyboard in action and it’s embedded below. Take a look…
The Good
- It finally shipped!
- The configurator is great. If you watched the video above, you saw how you can “paint” right onto the keyboard map which is pretty amazing. Additionally, this configurator will certainly come in handy for those who use certain applications regularly that have a list of keyboard shortcuts available (like Photoshop).
- Configuring keymaps is simple
The Bad
The best way to describe the reasons why it’s not so good is to quote Ryan Block:
Typing on it, well, sucks. We kind of hate to say it, but this thing more than likely won’t replace what ever keyboard you’re writing your novel on — it’s better off used as an absurdly configurable swiss army knife for tasks like gaming, Photoshop, or just about any other productivity app that doesn’t require a lot of typing.
Okay, why does typing on the Optimus suck, you ask? Well, although the keyboard uses mechanical switches and a lot of high quality components (evident when we pulled off some keys), and there is some clicky tactility to keypresses, as a whole it just requires way too much force to depress keys. And the larger the key, the more force is required, so enter is easier than space, but harder than tab. Let’s put it this way, we sit around and type all day long and this thing wore us out in about 30 seconds to a minute. Carpal sufferers, beware.
The Ugly
The good news here is that there’s nothing ugly about the keyboard. It looks nice and Engadget says that the OLED displays “look really good, and are bright and colorful, just like we’d hoped.”
Maximus Display Plugins
One thing that will certainly make this keyboard stand out above others besides the obvious are the display plugins that have been made which are shown below. Because each key is an OLED Display, each plugin is able to be updated. For example, the Gmail plugin will update showing how many messages are in the inbox.
According to the Optimus Maximus blog, they’ll be working on system monitoring, iTunes, Mail, RSS, and other common software plug-ins soon.
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Tags: Gadgets, Keyboard Shortcuts
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A power users dream. Very Nice!!!
Yes, I remember those vaporware awards. I am a bit surprised to see it’s out, but also looking forward to it being out for a bit before I get one so all the bugs and gremlins will hopefully be gone by that time.
I would buy this thing just for the Muse key!!!
You’re exactly right, it is a power users dream. There’s a lot you can do with it, it’s just not the ideal choice for a casual user who uses a keyboard mainly for typing.
Looks cooler than I thought it would. It would be cool to hold ctrl, and see the “x” change to scissors, or the “p” change to a printer… Also, app updating on keys looks pretty amazing. However, I forget exactly how much it’ll cost, but it’s definitely too much for a novelty keyboard that’s no good for it’s primary purpose, typing.
I’m sure it will do that on a per-program basis. For example, if you’re using Microsoft Word it will probably show those options. If not I’m sure people will create the custom layouts that do that.
Hi, I do wish reviewers would actually do their OWN review instead of lifting information from the one engadget has done.
I have been using my keyboard and I disagree with their statement about its horrible to type on. It uses the exact same cherry branded keyswitch as my existing keyboard. It requires no more force and it just as easy to type on.
The only thing I noticed a soon a I started using it, the keys are ever so slightly larger so to start off with you make lots of spelling mistakes!!!
This is something that disappears after a few hors use as you get used to the layout.
The space bar does take marginally more effort to press, if you do so on wither end, but if you press it nearer the middle, its fine.
The software is a breeze to use and it is very easy to design your own layout. I just hunted the net for icons for my programs and used them on the keyboard.
Hope this is of help
Oh how I wish we could have done our own review but that would have meant getting our hands on a keyboard which wasn’t possible! Thank you for your mini-review on the keyboard, we always appreciate the personal insight.