We have a new review up on a supah-leet keyboard that n00bs need not try to use.


Check it out here.

GK
What you said:

Quote: When I first saw the $79.99 price tag of the Das Keyboard I originally thought, "yeah right! $79.99 for an old IBM keyboard with the letters scratched off?!"

That is exactly what I thought too, but now that I have seen a complete review I see it is truely more than that.
Like you also I watch my hands as I type. Although I have tried to brake the habit I still catch myself doing it. Guess I still have a ways to go before I reach uber geek status.

If they could make a cheaper version without the weights, i could see school districts going crazy over these for there typing classes.


Can you imagine getting one of these for your secretary for christmas....hahaha he/she would be pissed. I should get one and put it in my shop and watch the guys get seriosly pissed.

I know where w,s,a, and d are without looking ...that keyboard would eat me alive

As cool as this is and as 1337 as I feel I can type.....If it isn't in a NATURAL KEYBOARD layout....I would totally suck at it...
hahaha
Digi

Nice review GK, and although i can type around 20 words a min with little mistakes and dont have to really look too much .............. thats WAY outta my league **for now

AND YES 20 is a DaYuM lotta words a minute when yer typin like yer talkin............ you try typin in hillbilly

hey it aint to hard to do now. besides ye didnt bring the whitchadidya? heh redneck typing class, couldnt use these unless they were beer proof

Thanks, BA. this would be the perfect christmas present for my cousin (she is a receptionist at a medical office). i saw this thing when it first hit xoxide and the first to hit my mind was **BULLSHAT**. Im at 37wpm last time i checked but i like my shortcut keys, use 'em often.

Im glad to hear that this thing is lagit.

nice review

Bah, I don't need no stupid blank keyboard to be able to touch type like a pro

Daaaaamn $80? If this was something closer to $40 I would have bought it already.... I've been typing since dos/3.1 (LOL at manufacturer comments) and I have the keyboard down like... umm... really really well, I type roughly 75-100wpm most of the time so I just miiiiiiight look into this regardless of the price!

Good review GK.

Hey Gang,

The Metadot "Das Keyboard" is a Keytronic E03601 series with blank keys (Keytronic will OEM their stuff for anyone that ponies up the money). MSRP ~ $30. Available from Provantage.com for ~$20. shipped.
Maximum PC = pwned
GlitterKill = pwned


. If you need to learn how not to watch your keys, buy an older version of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for < $10. and she'll b__ch-slap you into it... Or just put cut up pieces of electric tape to put on the key tops.
. Look in the Device Manager and you'll see it listed as a Keytronic.
. I posted this info around the forums in early October not long after the review appeared on the Maximum PC web site.
. As a Keytronic it is available in three colors: beige, black and gray - in two different layouts: the OTK (One True Keyboard) 3600 series, like the original AT - and the "Big L" return key, the 3601 series. And you can get either USB or PS/2 connector. It also has the varying keypress weights. You can find the same weight layout diagram as in the review here (from the Metadot site) on the Keytronic web site.
. Those Metadot dudes have a lot of chutzpa - I wish I had thought of it. Now where is that vinyl dye? Maybe I can sell a bunch on eBay as the "Le Keyboard" for $50. each before the general public pops to it.

.bh.

Turns out it was Sept. 20th when I first posted on forums.anandtech.com the true origin of the Das Kbd. .bh.

Off topic, but when you mentioned "Return key" you just gotta be an old commodore user

Well, im glad the windows keys are the heaviest, but why isn't capslock a hard press too?!

Never used Commodore much - I started on Heathkits... I did manual typewriters before electric typewriters before confusers - and I've been doing computers for 25+ years. Most on here have only heard of typewriters in writings and on TV or in movies - never laid hands on one themselves.

.bh.

this seems like a nice keyboard with the sexyness and weights and all, and i dont hardly ever look at the keys when im typin, and i have no problem doin 70-90wpm. i just cant get over the price, and i cant do without a split style keyboard. mine isnt a natural, but its still split, and i have a hard time anymore using anything different. i wont upgrade my kb until those pimptastic LED keys are out

The keyboard that I have at home is almost completely worn (at least within the normal typing alphanumeric range). Typing at around 120 wpm, it really doesn't make much of a difference to me whether the keys are marked or not. I had a keyboard at work before (Belkin) that was probably fairly inexpensive, and wore out the keys in a couple of months (for the time that I had it), probably indicative of how inexpensive it must have been.

I'm working on wearing out the rest of the alphanumeric range on my keyboard at home, and I've also gotten to the point where I don't have to be looking at the keyboard to be typing.

I've heard of the whole concept of having a keyboard without the markings on them and one of my roommates actually suggested that I get one given the condition of my keyboard. I personally, don't see the point of it however, and think that it is far more of a "marvel" that a person wear out the keys over time instead. (A testiment to how much typing said person does.)

Cool (or "l337" as you would say) would be if you can type while looking at something else (be it just staring at a wall and typing, or someone else, or transcribing something.) That would almost be like playing Beethoven on the pft. blindfolded.

Quote: Originally Posted by alpha754293 Cool (or "l337" as you would say) would be if you can type while looking at something else (be it just staring at a wall and typing, or someone else, or transcribing something.) That would almost be like playing Beethoven on the pft. blindfolded.

I do that all the time, ill be talking to someone in the room and be talking to like two people on IM. Heck, right now while i type this im watching SG1 on tv on my other monitor.

Somedays I want to paint over all of the keys on my keyboard, just to get my brother P.O.ed.