Optimus Maximus

Wednesday 16th May 2007

The Optimus Maximus. A keyboard to end all keyboards. It's already legendary among internet geeks worldwide, many thought it would never be released, many thought it was simply too good to be true. The pant wettingly good original concept was sent around from geek to geek and didn't take long for it to go viral.

Well - the waiting is almost over (or about to begin, depending on how you look at it). The Optimus Maximus keyboard, with 114 113 fully customisable OLED keys, each capable of displaying images or animations at 96x96 48x48 pixels wide - is available to preorder in just 3 days, 23 hours and 35 minutes and 48 seconds, at the time of posting.
Ok, then: May 20, 2007 at 3 p. m. Moscow time.
It's going to retail for a hefty $1564 but promises to be, well - the best keyboard in the world.

The included Optimus Configurator software runs on Windows and Mac and allows users to place whatever images they want on whichever keys they like. The current software version is for the Optimus mini. So first up you could change the font very easily, on every key. Or set up profiles for different software, so when you're making pretty things in Photoshop keys could be individually labelled for shortcuts, all your shortcuts are labelled. The possibilities, are awesome.

If you do place a preorder, don't expect to receive it too soon though as the first production run is not scheduled until December. Keep an eye on the Optimus Maximus project blog for more details and insight in to the development of the product.

If your budget doesn't quite stretch to the price of an Optimus Maximus then perhaps head over to the Art. Lebedev Studio Worldwide Store, paybe pick yourself up a decent quality, 5 year lasting eraser.