Forget processor speed, storage, memory, screen resolution, and even apps. The real test of a gadget’s worth is whether or not it can run Doom, which means that the Optimus Maximus keyboard, with it’s re-programmable LCD keys, is finally worth dropping $1,500+ on.
Art Lebedev's Optimus Maximus keyboard, which had individual screens on every key, was an extremely ambitious product that didn't quite justify its high cost. Can the followup Optimus Popularis do better?
Admit it: if you could afford these ridiculously over the top gadgets, you'd buy them in a heartbeat. And if you can afford them... maybe you could buy me one, too?
The OCZ Sabre asked us to compromise, featuring a sharply limited number of display-integrated keys, so we asked it to do the same: dip below $200, or else. Today, ZipZoomFly is listing the Sabre at a reasonable $135.00.
Here's something gross: I was given the world's largest Cheeto. So of course I had to eat it over the Optimus Maximus keyboard. Don't try this at home.
From the haze of renders, name changes and unflatteringly exposed prototypes emerges the best evidence that a real-life Art Lebedev Optimus Aux keypad is nigh. The sexy, CNCed body doesn't look to have deviated at all from the proposed design, and the guts shouldn't pose any challenges that haven't already been…
For those who don't need a whole keyboard full of OLED buttons, Nikkai is showing off standalone units at CEATEC. The buttons are bulkier than anything on an Art Lebedev product, and seem to have three input states: depressed, tilted left and tilted right (or up and down, depending on orientation) which makes makes…
When they're not designing $1,500 OLED keyboards or hot WiMax phone concepts, it's good to know the guys over at Art Lebedev Studio like to keep the common folk in mind, sometimes. The common folk who will like to pin up printouts of Gizmodo posts to their fridge with these pixel-art mouse-pointer magnets. They're…
Optimus' first offline retail location in the US has just been opened in New York, but unlike their gigantic Optimus Maximus keyboards, their meatspace location is tiny. Locals can run down to the RCS Computer Experience on 575 Madison Ave. and E 56th Street to try out an Optimus Maximus for themselves, or to check…
It was only a matter of time. This image popped up on an Optimus Live Journal group, showing the sad results of a clumsy morning with a steaming mug and a $1,600 Optimus Maximus keyboard, which is one place we didn't take our review-yet. Not much info on what happened or whether this was a planned test, but the poster…
ThinkGeek is shipping Art Lebedev's Optimus Maximus keyboard at last. Price is $1,589.99. [ThinkGeek]
Click to viewIt's been three months since we first got a true hands on with the Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard at CES, and we've had plenty of time to experience this innovative gadget by blogging with it full time over the course of three weeks. And by logging hours and hours with the keyboard—much like you would if…
Apparently, when Jesus called Art.Lebedev's Optimus Tactus keyboard "Optimus Retardus" for its lack of physical keys, the design team listened. Or not. Either way, Lebedev's latest plan is to indeed make a visual keyboard with just one full-color screen as opposed to many tiny ones. But it will overlay physical…
Art Lebedev and his Lebedevites are hard at work designing a follow-up to the Optimus Mini 3, a smaller, three-buttoned version of the Maximus keyboard we saw at CES. Here's what they're thinking: wireless, possibly Bluetooth, maybe AC-powered. People use this to control PowerPoint presentations (good idea, you can…
This is pure speculation, but I can't help liking this laptop mockup with an Optimus-Maximus-style OLED keyboard. Sure, it'd be a $1000+ option that wouldn't do much substantive good in the long run, but hey, people are paying the same amount for SSDs, so you know this would sell. Heck, you could even combine the two…
It's a day some of us never thought would come. Art Lebedev's Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard is finally shipping to everyone who pre-ordered it. Icing on the OLED cake, the Configuator software is available now, too. If you bought one w/ passive keys, you've still got another month though. [Optimus Project]
We got our hands-on with the Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard back at CES, but now you can get your own on eBay. What? Apparently some guy received one of the earlier shipments of the keyboard (the one with unfinished software support) and is now hocking it. It's unclear which model this one is (we think it's the $1500…
The only complaint we have with the Optimus Maximus display-changing OLED keyboard is its price, which is why this news of United Keys and Foxconn teaming up to build their own keyboards is exciting.
Kotaku readers will already recognize our Justify series, but we give people 15 seconds to pitch us their product or answer a question. If they make it, great. If they miss it...you don't want to know.
