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Das Keyboard: Hit Any Key
Posted by
timothy
on Thu Sep 08, 2005 05:15 PM
from the perfect-for-tech-hipster-tv-shows dept.
from the perfect-for-tech-hipster-tv-shows dept.
Black hardware just can't help looking cool (think TIE fighters, NeXT Cubes, and the hard-to-find black SE/30 case you might have lusted for in 1994), but have you ever wanted an all-black keyboard? Das Keyboard, from Austin-based Metadot, fills the craving for those so afflicted, and by "all-black," I mean something very nearly that: except a small white label ("Das Keyboard") in the upper left corner and labels for the three usual indicator lights -- num lock, caps lock, and scroll lock -- there's nothing but black to see. The keys are unlabeled in any conventional sense, though the index-finger keys of the conventional home row (F and J) are marked with the usual small bumps; theoretically, this should make typing more accurate after a time, just because cheating with one's eyeballs isn't a possibility. It's the aesthetic opposite of the recently announced Optimus keyboard; this is high minimalism applied to the modern keyboard. The truth is, I wanted to like Das Keyboard. It looks cool, and the concept sounds, well, sound. The thing itself left me a bit disappointed, though; I've outlined my reasoning below.
The problem with inviting comparison
Metadot borrowed from the best in the design of their keyboard: dimensionally, it's just about a dead ringer for an IBM Model M. Compared to my 1984 Model M, Das Keyboard's chassis is less than a half-inch shy of the M's longest dimension, and that half inch is shaved off the the outermost edge; key size, curvature and placement are identical to that of the Model M, at least to the limit of the measuring instruments mounted to each side of my nose. (The underside looks quite a bit different, though: A fair amount of Das Keyboard's undercarriage is just empty space, because the plastic underneath follows the curve of the keys themselves, leaving a small wedge of air.) The board's 6-foot USB cable (nice and chunky) exits to the rear through a neat slot straight up from the Caps Lock indicator. However, the dimensions are unfortunately where the resemblance ends, because the great thing about older, mechanical-action keyboards like the Model M is not so much how they look, but how they feel beneath the hand. Instead of the clacking, snapping action of buckling-spring keyboards, manufacturers have mostly moved to cheaper, less-complicated membrane keyboards, some of which feel better than others. My impression on opening the box and giving the black keyboard a lengthy groping was that the Das Keyboard's action is a bit squishy. To be fair, in the current keyboard market, most of the competition feels no better, and many competitors feel worse. Some people prefer the feel of membrane keyboards, though, so don't take my word for it -- taste in keyboards is idiosyncratic at best. As membrane boards go, Das Keyboard is on the good side of average.About that extreme makeover ...
So what does the all-black color scheme do for one's typing speed? According to the company, by taking away the crutch of key labels, the user is forced to learn better typing skills and concentrate on their computer's screen.This may be true for some people, and it sounds like a good theory, but in several weeks of use, I never quite swam, and mostly sank. Whenever I'd hit a wrong key (which was often), I found myself either hunting-and-pecking or craning my neck to peek at a conventional keyboard a few feet away for guidance. I'm an untutored typist, but several years of moderately heavy keyboarding mean I'm at least not a newcomer to entering text with a keyboard -- I even rather enjoy it, most days. However, maybe I'm just a slow learner, but I haven't had as much frustration with a keyboard since I played with a Twiddler a few years ago. Maybe I glance at my keys more than I realize on my conventional keyboard, or maybe it's simply that I had a hard time getting used to the feel of the board, but in the end I ended up disappointed with my speed using Das Keyboard. That's not to say that a better typist would feel the same; maybe I'm just not to the threshold of typing skill that Das Keyboard requires.
According to a company representative, the keys on Das Keyboard are divided into several distinct groups, each with their own response. I tried in vain to detect the difference between keys in various groups, and think I faintly detected it, sometimes. But the difference between any two of the keys on this keyboard (harping, I know) seems far less than that between any of Das Keyboard's keys and its equivalent key on a mechanical-action board. An exception is the space bar, which really did take the promised extra effort to press down: this is a welcome change, and I hope other keyboard makers license (or at least copy!) the idea, because I tend to keep my thumbs on the space bar. (I'd like to see a mechanical-switch version of Das Keyboard, which would retain the neat looks but do away with the milquetoast response.)
My muscle memory isn't what it used to be
The upshot, at least to me, is that Das Keyboard has a feel slightly better than the run-of-the-mill keyboards on offer at mass-market retailers, and much cooler looks, but costs a bit more than those differences justify, at least to my wallet. The industrial approach of this keyboard would be a perfect match for a gaming or overclocking system built for clean, industrial looks, and a better deal than most "high tech" sculpture, but I'm unconvinced that it's truly a practical improvement. If I wanted a keyboard with the claimed advantages of an absence of key-cap labels, I think I'd hit local thrift stores until I found a model that felt acceptable to my hands, and pick up can apiece of spray paint and lacquer.Related Stories
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Das Keyboard II: A Switch for the Better 257 comments
Last year, I reviewed the original Das Keyboard, the all-black, all-the-time keyboard from MetaDot, and found it disappointing. MetaDot was kind enough to pass on an example of their next generation keyboard for comparison.
The upshot is that the new version is quite a bit better than the original:
it's now equal in keyfeel to the best keyboards I could find at local superstores, which dampens my major complaint. It's still a cool-looking but questionably useful all-black, and is still more eye-candy than finger-food. Just the same, this unique product now bears more consideration. (Read on for the rest of my review.)
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Top Ten (Score:5, Funny)
Want to do something more practical? Get a Braille keyboard and learn that while typing. It's a skill, right?
Re:Top Ten (Score:5, Interesting)
1. It's much cooler and geekier to make your own like my buddy did [iu.edu].
2. If you make your own you won't have that white label reading 'Das Keyboard' ruining your otherwise all black beauty.
3. These are not at all new. They've been around for a long time, so the trendy factor has already worn off.
4. Real geeks have all black keyboards because the white characters have all worn off from excesive use.
5. I don't even have a keyboard you insensitive clod.
Re:Top Ten (Score:5, Insightful)
Main reason not to buy one?
Because it's just a normal $30 keyboard [keytronic.com] you can buy from any computer store. Paint it black yourself if you want to.
80 fucking dollars, give me a break.
Re:Top Ten (Score:5, Informative)
Just dunk the whole damn thing in a bucket of dye and dry it off under a heat lamp for a couple of days. I've washed keyboards in the dishwasher before and dried them that way, and they still worked just fine.
Obligatory H2G2 Reference (Score:5, Funny)
Though I hear it works best on the new Sun "Diver" systems.
You're all thinking it. (Score:5, Funny)
When you press one of these black buttons that are labeled
in black on a black background, a little black light lights
up black to let you know you've done it!"
Re:You're all thinking it. (Score:5, Funny)
"Great. we could do with a bit of color."
Re:You're all thinking it. (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, you don't need labelled keys to go
CTRL-C
PGUP
PGUP
PGUP
CTRL-V
ENTER
and then call it a new story, do you?
Das Keyboard (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Das Keyboard (Score:5, Funny)
So... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually it doesn't. It seems like it's just a regular, $21.50 Keytronic E03600QUSUSBB-C keyboard, without any key labels.
Read the Keytronic description [keytronic.com]
Do you recognize this diagram? [keytronic.com]
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, there are sweat shops in Malaysia staffed by trained cats that work around the clock applying their sandpaperlike tongues to carefully polish the letters off of standard black keyboards. Cats are very hard to train, you see, so that gets expensive. They also spend most of their lives sleeping, so it takes several days for a particular cat to finish the work on one keyboard. But the craftsmanship is stunning. To help with the training, they spray on a specially formulated catnip mist that is designed to leave no traces on the finished keyboard once it is dry. They use this to entice the cats to lick the keys, and because it's specially formulated that's automatically, like, $30 a unit right there. Then there's all the litter to change, crates of fresh mice brought in daily, and an in-house addiction clinic. Done in America, that could easily pop the per unit price to $150 easily, and that's why it's done in Malaysia, so you get to save a lot of money on all this hard work. So it's a pretty good value, all things considered.
Oh FFS! (Score:5, Insightful)
In the war between style and substance, you are the losers!
Re:Oh FFS! (Score:5, Funny)
ALL the keys? (Score:5, Insightful)
Form over function is never positive.
Dax Keibowrd is thr grwatst kehboard evar@ (Score:5, Funny)
I find it very... (Score:4, Funny)
A Company with Vision (Score:5, Funny)
Why ALL of the keys? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've got a keyboard that's essentially the same. It's a Canadian keyboard layout, which has a QWERTY layout, but all of the auxiliary stuff is labelled wrong (shift-2 is ", for instance). But I've got it on an English layout.
I can type on it - reasonably well. But sometimes I still have to guess as to where the | key is, or exactly which one is the ]. It hasn't really sped things up.
I would've preferred leaving labels on for the non-letter characters. Especially considering that not all special character layouts are the same on keyboards - especially laptops (where the heck is the delete key!).
Buckling-spring keyboards (Score:5, Informative)
One of the features of a truly good keyboard is the ability to be serviced by its user without destroying the keyboard - after spilling pizza, coke, and cereal all over it, I expect to be able to take off the keys and mop up the remains of my ill-advised snacking over the keyboard. This feature (ability to perform simple repair/maintenance like this) is commong to buckling-spring keyboards, but I have to ask, is it a possibility on this one? Is this one of those bubble matrix ones, or what?
Just wish I had more information on Das Keyboard.
Stupid keyboards (and mice) these days (Score:5, Funny)
Then there's these mice, I am quite happy with my Logitech 3 button mouse circa 1995. It works perfectly for me (of course you need to periodically clean them) and doesn't have that stupid scroll device that everyone seems so intent in putting in them these days. That reminds me, I need to go to the local computer recycling place and dig around in their bins to find some good keyboards and mice to stockpile that have a reasonable layout before the entire earth is plagued with these new marvels that annoy me so much.
I don't expect everyone here to agree with me, i know quite a few people who love their scroll wheels and fancy optical mice. I'm just not one of them.
TIE Fighters aren't black (Score:5, Funny)
TIE Fighters aren't black.
Sorry. It's Slashdot. I had to say it.
"Compared to my 1984 Model M..." (Score:5, Funny)
Sophisticated Nerd #2: Ah yes, 1984. The vintage is most excellent.
Nerd 1: Can you believe that some people actually type on (shocked whisper) PS/2 keyboards?
Nerd 2: That's positively scandalous! Worse yet, I was at my financial institution (banks are for the unwashed masses) yesterday, and the teller was actually typing on a Logitech USB keyboard. Every time he hit the Windows key, I wanted to lecture him on real keyboards and the proper volume of key clack, but it would have been completely lost on the brute.
Nerd 1: It's completely ridiculous. There should be laws against such mindless use mundane computer components.
Or did nobody else think it was odd how the author compared it to a 20 year old design as if it were a car or a fine wine?
Yeah, it's been on ThinkGeek for a while.. (Score:4, Insightful)
How is this news?
While we're on the subject, I've been looking for one of the old black, metal keyboards from the 80's. But to no avail. Does anyone have any tips? PS/2, AT, whatever doesn't matter. Thanks.