Das Keyboard is no stranger in the mechanical keyboard industry. Just recently, the company has started crowdfunding for its latest product on Kickstarter, the Das Keyboard 5Q. Interestingly, the 5Q is touted as the “world’s first cloud-connected keyboard.”
Basically, the Das Keyboard 5Q can be configured to track certain information. “Each RGB LED (of the keyboard) can be colour-controlled remotely to represent a specific piece of information,” the company said. For example, users can configure the B key to glow red when they received an important email. Other than that, they can also can set the CPU activity to be displayed as a bar graph on the number row of the 5Q.
In essence, Das Keyboard is touting the 5Q as more than just an input device: it is also an output device. In many ways, this is accurate, but it still remains to be seen how effective the keyboard will be at tracking these information. After all, it isn’t set to be released until early 2017.
Aside from its “cloud-connected” status, the Das Keyboard 5Q is also equipped with a brand new mechanical switch. Built in collaboration with Japanese company Omron, Das Keyboard calls this new switch Gamma Zulu. When describing the switch, the company mentioned it feels a lot like a Cherry MX Brown switch. It also claims that the Gamma Zulu switch can withstand up to 100 million actuations.
If you’re keen to get the Das Keyboard 5Q, you can back the project on Kickstarter here. For now, the keyboard can be purchased from US$139, which is roughly RM555. Of course, if you want it to be shipped to Malaysia, it will cost an additional US$30 (about RM120). The Das Keyboard 5Q is estimated to ship in January 2017.
(Source: Kickstarter)
