$2,100 mechanical keyboard has 800 holes, NYC skyscraper looks

No, four figures does not get you a numpad.

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[redbeardthepirate]

PT Barnum would be proud.

 

[msawzall]

Oh, to be in the market for this keyboard... To have more money than brains... I'm envious.

 

[Daros]

I am miles outside of any target audience for this keyboard.

But I really want to touch it.

 

[Deranged]

Oh, to be in the market for this keyboard... To have more money than brains... I'm envious.

I think this is rather intentionally not expected to sell a lot. If I were to guess, they’ve done a design piece with an outrageous price partly as a PR exercise. Ie more to get attention and create brand awareness rather than anything else.

 

[ZYMHAN]

Those keycaps are beautiful, I'll give them that.

 

[ProdigySim]

Is it just me or do all these images look like renders instead of photographs? Some of them on their official website don't even preserve the aspect ratio of the keys between them...

This looks pretty sketchy to me. It's inspired by the flatiron building in that... it has a triangular shape? Is that it?

The keycaps linked have a "Specifications" dropdown with zero information inside.

 

[Deranged]

Those keycaps are beautiful, I'll give them that.

Yes, as a design exercise it’s exquisite. Perhaps not functionally as much as aesthetically.

 

[codemonkeyuk]

Looks like a fingerprint magnet. Not for me but if someone likes the aesthetic and can swallow the price tag then fair enough. At least its tangible and looks nicely engineered.

 

[markgo]

There's also a 4,000 mAh battery

A custom, built-in battery that will definitely eventually need replacement seems like an odd choice in a $2k device.

 

[Psyborgue]

There's also a 4,000 mAh battery and “1/4-20” threads for professional accessory mounting, such as Picatinny rails.”

For when you absolutely need to mount Eotech optics on your keyboard.

This is perhaps one of the dumbest things I have seen on this site ever. It’s right up there with Goop.

 

[plectrum]

There's a strong Juicero vibe to this. A pointlessly highly engineered product that isn't actually good to use.

 

[LesDawg]

Does it come with a free banana you can duct tape to the wall?

Silly and pointless. Hard pass.

 

[Corporate_Goon]

Despite the openings' tininess, I'm still worried about dust and debris with a keyboard littered with holes.

I think the more likely occurrence is that they immediately get plugged with oil and residue from your fingers.

 

[SpecTP]

the price is aligned with the old days of geekhack.

 

[Zoc]

This is like the Tesla Cybertruck of keyboards.

 

[CrystalCowboy]

$2100 and it doesn't even come with fur?

 

[PlunderBunny]

I am miles outside of any target audience for this keyboard.

But I really want to touch it.

Business idea: A Keyboard Petting Zoo.

Seriously, I want to buy a mechanical keyboard and I’m paralysed by not knowing what to get. I want it to feel like an Apple Extended II keyboard, but I don’t know what configuration of switches comes closest.

 

[InsanelyOne]

It's funny that they say that the The Flatiron Building was the inspiration for the design, since that building is only that shape due to the plot of land it was built on, and the name Flatiron was inspired by... a flat iron.

View attachment 98412

I think you mean this:

 

[telenoar]

It will make a great movie prop.

To me it immediately looked like something out of Robocop.

 

[AusPeter]

My Apple wireless keyboard has the same profile. In fact it has an even more Flat-Iron building like profile as the front of my keyboard doesn't terminate in a sharp edge.

 

[Chuckstar]

It's funny that they say that the The Flatiron Building was the inspiration for the design, since that building is only that shape due to the plot of land it was built on, and the name Flatiron was inspired by... a flat iron.

View attachment 98412

At the time the building was named, a flat iron meant this:

 

[Thomas Harte]

My Apple wireless keyboard has the same profile. In fact it has an even more Flat-Iron building like profile as the front of my keyboard doesn't terminate in a sharp edge.

I had this home computer in the early 1990s:

Spoiler

... which is obscure enough that I couldn't find a better profile photo of it than that. It uses its non-sharp front edge to house the floppy drives.

 

[pitmonster]

The indented key caps in the first image look like a 1984 Sinclair ZX Spectrum+

 

[lordcheeto]

I think this is rather intentionally not expected to sell a lot. If I were to guess, they’ve done a design piece with an outrageous price partly as a PR exercise. Ie more to get attention and create brand awareness rather than anything else.

Given the machine time and labor involved, I have a hard time saying it's "overpriced". Ugly as sin and ostentatious, for sure.

 

[lordcheeto]

There's a strong Juicero vibe to this. A pointlessly highly engineered product that isn't actually good to use.

The issue there is that this overengineered tank of a juicer was sold way below cost, to lure people into a juice subscription program. This is at least priced like an overengineered tank of a product. Might even be able to juice with the thing.

 

[jhesse]

Ars is targeting a cio audience with this article?

Nah, I'm thinking this is for the audiophile crowd.
If Ars was going after the C-suite it would be for a stainless steel Etch-A-Sketch.

 

[TaxiZaphod]

This reminds me of the Optimus Maximus, and is equally impractical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimus_Maximus_keyboard

 

[HiroTheProtagonist]

Business idea: A Keyboard Petting Zoo.

Seriously, I want to buy a mechanical keyboard and I’m paralysed by not knowing what to get. I want it to feel like an Apple Extended II keyboard, but I don’t know what configuration of switches comes closest.

Those already exist, they're called keyboard meetups.

I went to one a few months ago, but my own tastes in keyboards are not really aligned with the current zeitgeist, so I didn't end up buying anything.

 

[A_Very_Tired_Geek]

It's about the art, not about the functionality. Same reason someone might pay $10k for a comic book or industrial sculpture.

But regardless, any time you have holes where your fingers are going to rest you're going to scrape skin cells off into the gaps and clog them up. This isn't a keyboard designed to be used. It's meant to be a set piece in some kind of exhibit.

And ... I really don't see the resemblance. A prism doesn't make a Flatiron. The Flatiron building was deliberately designed to fit on the intersection corner it was built upon. Its landmark status is accidental. This.... is ... something.... else contrived waves a hand in a vague manner

 

[Ryan B.]

From the department of "products nobody should buy, and likely won't." I don't know why I'm attracted to articles about absurd products, but here we are.

 

[Chuckstar]

400 micron holes and 1/4-20 threads.

For metric's sake, UNITS! Why not just report the mass in slugs using multiples of pi?

grumble, grumble

Which will change your understanding of the product how?

 

[noptov52]

Suitable for a CEO's last line of defense...

 

[legowerewolf]

Eugh. Those holes are gonna get nasty with skin oils in a month or two.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Eugh. Those holes are gonna get nasty with skin oils in a month or two.

That's what typing gloves are for, peasant.



This will go great with my $999 bistranded copperic audiophile USB cables and power cords.