Optimus Maximus Shipping Early December
The Optimus Maximus is a keyboard developed by russian based Art Lebedev. I first had a look at a demo of this keyboard quite a while ago, but at that time the actual production of the keyboard was more of a myth. Now the keyboard has actually been developed and is leaving factories for shipment in early December. For those in need of a new keyboard, you can pre-order this gadget for $1500 (USD). This isnt your average keyboard though.
Each key is a mini OLED screen that can display any character you want. This gives endless opportunities for software developers to optimize their products for customer use. For example in the official site demo you can switch keyboard presets to display different languages such as English, Russian and Chinese and even software specific presets like Photoshop and Half-Life. The problem with this keyboard is naturally the price tag of $1500 at which you can get around 13 Logitech G15 keyboards… but they aren’t even close to being as cool as this baby 
.
Check out more pics and videos of the Optimus Maximus in action: Image Gallery, Video, Video2
Comments(69)
When the price comes down. I might get one
Finally!
Bit disappointed with the spacebar actually…
It looks like hes made it in his garage. It seems silly to make something that you can double click or even single click on a screen, rather than looking down and selecting a key, after you link it to a keyboard in the first place.
And why make something simple, so complicated, its something else to break. I like the adage KISS…keep it simple stupid.
And $1500……..yeah right.
w00t!
Soon a virus will come and change your keyboard into a zombie ! loool.
How would you press Ctrl+Alt+Del then ?
I I’m going to buy this thing, it’s way too cool not to have it:D and I am sure I can find good use for it.
this periodic table is WAY off…
i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want…!
but i can’t. it’s way too expensive.
even if i had 1500 to spare, who would want to blow that kind of money on a keyboard?
this must get cheaper, pronto!
Would suck to dump a glass of coke/beer/coffee/whatever on that thing.
1500 $ for a keyboard. Mhhh, just the price of 2 decent laptops. A couple of years ago I had a keyboard without ANY text written on the keys and I really liked that
. Actually to be honest. The keyboard, even if the teeny-weeny look fancy, is darn ugly. UGH.
@5
I like your spirit, consumerist as it may be. I will buy it, then I’ll find a use for it. If I can’t find a use for it, i’ll freaking MAKE one…
/salutes
Nice toy for nerds, not for people with a regular brain.
Also, for 1500 I expect a bit more design. It’s from Russia, and frankly it looks Russian too. And that’s not really a compliment (think LADA).
erm, wtf is up with 6?
I dont even want to know what those RS links actually are. How do you support the keyboard with RS? Nice try…
Now I can safely switch between Dvorak and Qwerty. SHame because most likely it’l be windows only.
I will pass kthx ….. :io:
yeah i would have to say this is pretty lame… i mean for 1500 $ the keyboard better do allot more then just light up with LED’S..BUT ANYWAYS there is always somebody stupid enough out there to buy it. Americans will make him a billionaire!! we buy stupid crap like that haha
can u do this with the keyboard?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izROuv6qpvU
@17
Lets hope not…. that vid sucked
This keyboard will look really nasty when it gets dirty.
It seems ridiculous to go this hardwired, discreet component route when all you need is a keyboard sized, touch sensitive flat screen display and the software to be able to switch between any language imaginable…even Klingon!
Yer… go ahead and comment yourself ‘:|
Very pretty I’m sure and it has that “oooooooh lovely” feel about it, but am I the only one thinking “hang on, if you can touch type, the last thing you’re going to be looking at is the keyboard?”
@18 nasty,
Here’s a novel concept; Try CLEANING your keyboard once in a while. Not only does it look nicer, it also works better.
I think I will wait for this to appear on bittorrent….
@22 I cIeaned my keyb0ard n0w s0me keys d0nt w0rk! I0I n0w i have t0 get s0me c0nductive ink t0 fix it, my advive is keep ur keyb0ard nasty 0r if u cIean dissasembIe it c0mPIeteIy
Maybe this is dumb but wouldnt it be cheaper to produce a keyboard sized piece of touch screen lcd, I know you wouldn’t have the feel of the buttons but I belive it would be a hell of alot cheaper then a bunch of olcd displays….
In theory good idea, howerver the keys would be expensive to replace just 1 as there lcd/led (whatever)
I washed my old eclipse1 keyboard few times before
and it still works!
bah G11 is good enough for me, all i need is a few macros and light under my keys
I can imagine the computer getting a virus and it says “press ctrl + alt + delete” to remove the virus.
Here’s the trick, the three keys are continuously and randomly hopping around the keyboard lmao
I have a problem spilling beer on my keyboards. Seriously, it happens all the time. This thing would be cool but wont last long in my hands.
who?
What’s that??
i agree with the previous comment about it being a ugly keyboard damn it looks really bad maybe im dumb but what happened to the rounded features that all the modern keyboards have… this one looks like a relic from the 80s and sheesh 1500 isnt really affordable.
Hey demon!
You are number one man!
It’s only a prototype, it will probably have a nice shiny rounded plastic later
guess it’s kinda cool but a cooler one would be touchscreen and i bet that would be cheaper too
like the nintendo ds has a touch screen wich is still pretty small but the ds is quite cheap so a bigger screen wouldn’t probably cost that much (would propably get more expensive that the g15 anyway)
cool
well russian things are really cool, strong, tough, durable like kalashnikov rifles, their fighter planes etc, and probably
this keyboard too, but they have to work on their artistic skills a bit.
never trust a russian! period.
does it work in -30?
All i can say is WOW
i think i’ll wait for a proper..
$1500 for R5, I wonder how much the Region 1 NTSC of this gadget will cost.
waayyy too much. i’d spend maybe $400-500 if I really had some money to burn.
See the space bar? It’s not a space bar. If you press it, it will launch a rocket. $1500? Is it a joke or what?
People are also missing the fact that humans have dirty oily hands and will eventually get the screens all dirty and oily and smarmy looking. SMARMY
From the FAQ:
Q: What happens if I spill coffee, coke or wine on the keyboard?
A: The keyboard will likely break down. Just as a laptop, a TV or the Imperial State Crown in a similar situation.
lol, that’s a funny answer
It’s neat but not worth more than $200 to me.
why is there a picture of tatu on one of the buttons, if you look at images youll see it
@24 me,
I always take mine apart for cleaning. I pull off all the keycaps, clean the contacts etc. Comes out looking and working like new.
@30 mindfck,
Two words: Saran Wrap!
$1500 and it’s not even cordless?
no kidding…you think for $1500 it would be wireless…how hard is that?
What is a better reference:
A grain of sand
A grain of rice
To me I feel more comfortable with rice. I use them more and they’re easier to hold.
ANY RapidShare or Torrent link do Download this thing ?
I will take two thanks.
ive been waiting for this for f*ckin YEARS!!!
@yingjai+doihaveto:
cordless???
you want to run over a hundred OLED screens on battery???
BS.
Yeah, spacebar way too small. But at least the PgUp/PgDn etc. keys are the friggin right place for once!!
Cool gadget, though way to expensive… I agree on the critisism on the spacebar.
OK….now how many times have I thought “Damn, if only I could change the layout of my keyboard…”
I am guessing they are going for games here, so why not have a separate pad with 20-30 keys on it with this technology.
Mind you this is the first one and if this is like the first digital watch…the future will look good !!
and with that though…i’ll wait for the Axxo release.
PS A virus that could move your keyboard layout about (I.E shift the whole layout to the left once a minute !) would be damn cool fun.
as much as i’d like to have one the crazy $1500 price tag is not helping me get one!
I like the idea, however, I believe it would be better to put the small LCD screen on the inside of clear, see-through, buttons. This will make sure that you do not touch the LCD screens every time you press a key.
I am also wondering how you would clean this keyboard. I’m pretty sure you can’t just take off the keys and clean the keyboard with all the LCD wires running throughout.
Wireless may be possible in a few years when we get really powerful batteries. As #56 (Dude) stated, running these LCD will have you recharge or change batteries like every week!
In short, I like the idea, I just think that it still needs a lot of changes.
Oops, OK, I retract my statement about the LCDs needing to be in see-though buttons. I didn’t look at the image gallery befor I posted this. Seems that the LCDs already are in see-through keys.
Those are not LCD’s buttons are oLED buttons thats partly the reason the keyboard is so expensive.
The tecnology is completely diferent i think you should google first and make stupid comments after… at least they won’t sound so idiot!
But no doubt this is just a crappy keyboard, what a stupid way of using oLED’s.
Hummm… if the keys and the letters and symbols related 2 each key is controlled by software there would come a virus eventually as mentioned above. And the 1st thin it ll do would be 2 disable Ctrl, Alt and Del. (dat ll really mess up windows. LOL
) or it could just make ever key a Del key 
Wouldnt it have been cooler 2 have touch screen rather than somethin like dis? Considerin the price tag and da effects id say this wont have much of a positive impact on the market 
hehehe
Seriously Interesting Keyboard. But Still too pricey. I might have to wait until I can afford it.
you guys need to get out more if you think that is cool lol
its just a bloody keyboard and does nothing that cant do already with keyboards out there now that are at the most £10
wow its got back lights and says hello .
nice troll, tony.
now go home and play crysis on your gameboy. oh, it can’t do that? well… who woulda thunk it.
Hey, just wondering but arn’t OLED displays like plasma or CRT’s in that they can suffer from burn? If it is true (only used oled displays once) then you better make sure you turn that baby off at night (or during the day, whenever you are sleeping..). It would suck to have a burned in 1500 keyboard!
Please correct me if I am wrong.