Optimus Maximus Hands On

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Engadget has posted their thoughts on the Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard. The good news is that it looks really good. The bad news is that it “sucks to type on.” Ouch.

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.
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Well, sounds like we'll just have to wait another 3 or so years for a v2 to come out... provided it doesn't stay as vaporware for too long
 
BUMMER!

There's been a lot of drooling over this keyboard and it really sucks if typing on the thing, well, sucks.

lol at the pic of what looks like 2 girls feeling each other up... teh pr0n button?
 
$300 all for easy access to pr0n? Oh... and knowing it's the pr0n button because there's boobies on the key...

I don't see how this keyboard would be helpful other than for the complete BLING factor. I'm sure there are keyboards out there that can do everything this can minus the OLED buttons for one tenth the price :confused:
 
eggrock said:
BUMMER!

There's been a lot of drooling over this keyboard and it really sucks if typing on the thing, well, sucks.

lol at the pic of what looks like 2 girls feeling each other up... teh pr0n button?
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I said that before. Somebody stated that its a pic of some female european pop group or something like that. Never heard of them before and can't recall what they said it was now.
 
Exavior said:
I said that before. Somebody stated that its a pic of some female european pop group or something like that. Never heard of them before and can't recall what they said it was now.
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TATU, got big for kissing and being lesbians then denied it and said that they thought friends could kiss passionately :confused:
 
was thinking that looked like them... lol

as much as it sucked to type on, at least A) its out, and B) it looks badass - early adopters can pave the way for v2 :D
 
Engadget said:
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.
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That doesn't sound too bad. I still have my ancient IBM PS/2 keyboard that weighs like 10 pounds and the keypresses are deep. I really love that keyboard lol

I bet Steve won't have problems with this keyboard. ;)
 
What I want to see is a review of the keyboard and the difficulty to type on it after it has been broken in. I would gladly volunteer to break this keyboard in... anyone have Engadget's number so I could let them know I am willing to take one for the team and use the keyboard to break it in for a second review later on?
 
Funny, in a previous thread about this keyboard (I think it was when the price was announced) I made a comment about being skeptical about it actually being a good keyboard for typing. Of course I got a couple replies to the effect of "don't be an idiot, for $1500 of course it will be an awesome keyboard, they've thought of everything". It would seem that perhaps they got so caught up in making a cool product that they forgot the most basic element, being practical for everyday use.
 
JethroXP said:
Funny, in a previous thread about this keyboard (I think it was when the price was announced) I made a comment about being skeptical about it actually being a good keyboard for typing. Of course I got a couple replies to the effect of "don't be an idiot, for $1500 of course it will be an awesome keyboard, they've thought of everything". It would seem that perhaps they got so caught up in making a cool product that they forgot the most basic element, being practical for everyday use.
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It probably just need a week or two to break in, thats all. Hell, if I had reviewed my Logitech MX Revolution mouse on my first day, it would've gotten an F lol. Now I wouldn't trade it for any mouse in the world.
 
I'm gonna stick to my regular laser wireless keyboard with configurable shortcut keys
 
Horrible to type on? Sorry, but I thought it was obvious the second I saw the first image of it. Is anyone actually surprised?
 
TechLarry said:
The Military will probably suck these things up...
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That is the one thing I don't see happening unless some key changes are made to the design. I could just imagine being in the middle of a mission critical event when someone is moving the keyboard closer and loses functionality because cables became disconnected... or worse. Could you imagine this keyboard being used during the satellite/missile intercept. "Petty Officer Johnson, initiate the fire key in 15 seconds." "Crap, I totally remapped that key to my damn iTunes."
 
Wow, I won't why it's hard to depress the keys? Maybe it needs to be "broken in"...?

The keys are also quite large, should be good for people with big hands... my Logitech keyboard has always seemed like it has small keys.

Citizen86 said:
TATU, got big for kissing and being lesbians then denied it and said that they thought friends could kiss passionately :confused:
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Not Gonna Get Us, is still a good song to play CS to.
 
Borgschulze said:
Wow, I won't why it's hard to depress the keys? Maybe it needs to be "broken in"...?

The keys are also quite large, should be good for people with big hands... my Logitech keyboard has always seemed like it has small keys.



Not Gonna Get Us, is still a good song to play CS to.
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to bad like most non-english music the english ver sucks
 
JethroXP said:
Of course I got a couple replies to the effect of "don't be an idiot, for $1500 of course it will be an awesome keyboard, they've thought of everything".
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It only costs ~ $463 US directly from the manufacturer... not $1500. Only fanbois would think that "typing" is the main point of this keyboard. Honestly, real typists don't look down at their fingers, they've already memorized what key represents which letter/function... so this keyboard is purely for the "aesthetics" and/or "techy" crowd. I would bet that a large proportion of purchasers are also die hard Apple fanbois. ;-)

stoney_titan said:
The name still pisses me off.
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Yeah, I'd much rather the keyboard be bright red with blue accents and be called the "Optimus Primus". :)
 
A $1600 keyboard that's worse to type on than a $5 keyboard? I think I'll pass ;).
 
We so can't wait for people to start getting their keyboards so we can benefit from their wacky layouts.
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"This thing looks great, customizing it is great, but typing on it sucks. Bad. But get one so we can see your layouts."

Eh?
 
That's...realy dumb.

I don't care who it's aimed for but at some point in time someone had to have tested the keyboard at least for a few minutes. So how did this problem get through? Also, did they really need to change the key size? It's not a big problem, but that extra size adds up and it'll make it so some people can't reach certain keys like they're used to.

On the other hand, maybe the reviewer's fingers were just a little out of shape...maybe someone who exercises regularly won't even notice the problem. :p
 
The way I see it, the OLED keys are quite a bit heavier than your average plastic keys, so it has to be held up by stronger springs or else you'll get thiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss often.
 
Azhar said:
The way I see it, the OLED keys are quite a bit heavier than your average plastic keys, so it has to be held up by stronger springs or else you'll get thiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss often.
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Okay, but the stronger springs should only compensate for the added weight of the keys, so logically it would still feel the same as a normal keyboard. The only reason I can see for this is sloppy engineering and them focusing too much on their pretty little OLED screens for them to bother with such a tiny issue like not being able to type properly on the damn $1600 keyboard.
 
Zero82z said:
Okay, but the stronger springs should only compensate for the added weight of the keys, so logically it would still feel the same as a normal keyboard. The only reason I can see for this is sloppy engineering and them focusing too much on their pretty little OLED screens for them to bother with such a tiny issue like not being able to type properly on the damn $1600 keyboard.
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But who's to say if the keyboards are really hard to push? It's just one guy's opinion. Maybe he's your stereotypical pale and lean geek who's weight is lighter than the springs under the keyboard :p

(I'm OBVIOUSLY not talking about Steve! lol)
 
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.
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I think a bunch of geek journalists who spend all day typing on the things would be able to judge how good a keyboard is, but that's just me ;).
 
Zero82z said:
I think a bunch of geek journalists who spend all day typing on the things would be able to judge how good a keyboard is, but that's just me ;).
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My friends in the J-school used to complain about how shitty the old Dell keyboard were. He said they would better serve as drum machines. Maybe they should splurge for one of these and up the moral -- as well as the pain of typing :p
 
So it's hard to push the keys down? How does this surprise anyone? It was made by Russians. Everyone knows all Russians are secretly superheroes. They probably have no trouble with it.
 
I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one to see how it does type. Personally, I hate keyboards that have buttons that practically fall down when you look at them. I'm also not a fan of rubber membrane keyboards for typing. Yes, I prefer the old IBM Model M buckle spring keyboards. If I didn't have to have an natural ergonomic keyboard, I would use a Model M on every system. I have.

For the person that mentioned Logitech keyboards; yes it seems like most Logitech keyboards I've used have small and closely spaced keys. I could understand this on some of their smaller models but it seems to be the same on most of their full size models that I've used.

 
Citizen86 said:
$300 all for easy access to pr0n? Oh... and knowing it's the pr0n button because there's boobies on the key...

I don't see how this keyboard would be helpful other than for the complete BLING factor. I'm sure there are keyboards out there that can do everything this can minus the OLED buttons for one tenth the price :confused:
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I agree with the BLING. Although, it does look cool IMO.
 
Azhar said:
The way I see it, the OLED keys are quite a bit heavier than your average plastic keys, so it has to be held up by stronger springs or else you'll get thiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss often.
Click to expand...

Actually, if I remember correctly, the OLED part doesn't actually move--only the clear plastic shell surrounding it.
 
it does not buy or get me beer. i can manage to find my way around a computer without pictures. i can build one sweet system for the cost of this one key board...

a pr0n button lol....for $1000+ it should give you a a hand job.
 
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