$1600 Keyboard...Optimus Maximus

Art Lebedev's Optimus Maximus keyboard, with its 133 tiny OLED display keys, is finally available to the general public (or more likely, photo-shopping enthusiasts) on ThinkGeek.com. The keyboard was only previously available through a limited pre-ordered list at the Lebedev website. Each key can be individually programmed to display different tasks, like playing tiny movies, HTML codes, or your favorite websites.

But if you thought that the price might have come down to bring in the curious consumer, you're wrong. And endearingly naïve. At $1,600, it costs more than a few iPhones, most quality laptops, and even a couple of Danny Dumas or Brian Lam haircuts. Heck, you could even take a round trip to see Lebedev himself in Europe – why don't you buy him a beer in Russia's most expensive pub for coming up with such a cool and crazy-cracky product? Or you can stare at tiny screens and see your own fonts come to life, which is its own type of fun.

We've heard that with this keyboard, you need to be really hands-on (sorry) and will take more than a few hours to get it working. Coders and visual artists, however, are sure to love it. I can already see them hanging out luxuriously over it, picking out the most appropriate font for the 'f' key.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/04/the-optimus-max.html

 

The somewhat ironic thing is that I heard it doesn't even feel good to type on.

 

Amazing...and I thought the Das Keyboard was already too expensive to even think of buying.

 

I remember seeing this awhile back, totally forgot about it!

Cool idea having keys as displays, but yeah too expensive.

They should tone it down and have normal keys for typing (the letter and number keys) and then just have a row of programmable keys that have the oled tech in them. Infact I thought that was what I remember seeing, I didnt realize that every single key was supposed to be a display and programmable.

But if they do what I said it would become affordable to the general public and a neat little toy for the tech enthusiast.

 

What average consumer would buy this...unless you are rich you wouldn't get this. You could buy a new laptop or dekstop with that money. T_T

 

Oh man! I want one!

This is only the first step... Some day we'll see this on notebooks and then on mobiles!

 

I would rather buy Razer Tarantula

ultimate gaming keyboard. with illumination and Customization.