the maximus tag
Preorder Art. Lebedev Optimus Maximus Keyboard
Three days ago, I posted about the imminent release of the Optimus Maximus Keyboard by the russian design studio Art. Lebedev. Now, the countdown on their website finally reached zero and we get to see the details of the 1500$ keyboard:
- Keyboard Dimensions: 53.7cm x 17.3cm x 3.8cm
- Key Dimensions: 2.02cm x 2.02cm
- Visible OLED area: 1.01cm
- Resolution of each key: 48px x 48px
- Frame Rate: min. 10 frames per second
- Color: 65536
- Viewing Angle: 160°
- Connection: USB2.0
- OS: Windows XP / Vista, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or higher
To enhance the life of the OLED displays and the ribbon cables used to control them, Art Lebedev Studios decided to make every button a module consisting of a chip, the OLED display and a moving, transparent cap. Since only the plastic cap is moving, the displays have a much higher lifespan.
Preorders can be placed now. The price is US$ 1564 or approximately € 1257.
Preorder Optimus Maximus: The $1500 Keyboard
We often see massively hyped products which then fail to emerge as their release date is postponed time and time again. The correct term for these products is Vaporware.
The Optimus Maximus Keyboard of Art. Lebedev Studio could fit this description. First announced in 2005, the release was postponed twice. To be more cost-effective, the technical specification of the keyboard changed and after another postponed release were changed back to the original.
Especially at an estimated price tag of $1500 for a keyboard, noone would be interested in the product anymore. But the much-hyped and long-awaited Optimus Maximus keyboard is different. Behind each of its 113 keys, a small 48x48 pixel OLED display works its magic, allowing the user to change the picture on each key. Custom keyboard layouts or shortcuts can be switched easily on a per-application basis.
Today, Art. Lebedev Studio announced via a countdown on their website that they will apparently start taking pre-orders from computer owners with more money than sense in roughly 3 days. Only 800 keyboards will be shipped until end of January 2008, ensuring that the price is kept high.
