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Thursday August 20, 2009
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 Now we've heard it all. Literally. Metadot's Das Keyboard, the famous (and potentially infamous), mechanical keyboard has finally annoyed so many with the loud sounds it makes when typed on that, according to a story on prweb.com, Metadot is now also selling earplugs through its online store. The keyboards sound the way they do because they use traditional (and gold-plated) mechanical key switches instead of the membrane design that's so popular (and inexpensive) in most of today's models.
A Das Keyboard II
(that's the original, blank kind, without the integrated USB hub of current models; Metadot also now
sells labeled keyboards for the faint of heart) has been my
home computer keyboard for two years, and I wouldn't trade it for
anything. It's got better typing action than any membrane keyboard I've
ever used, feeling far lighter and springier than most contemporary keyboards, and it offers just enough tactile feedback so that
your fingers feel like they're working with the keys instead of against
them.
Is the Das Keyboard loud? You can hear it, yes, but it's hardly a space shuttle
launch. To me, it's always sounded like a real keyboard, more akin to the weighty, substantial sound (and typing experience) you used to find with typewriters than with the plastic models that so frequently come bundled with today's PCs.
But I personally
think that if you're buying--or complaining about--a keyboard based on
how it sounds instead of how it types, you're missing the point. A
keyboard is good if it types the way you need it to, and everything
else is incidental. Your coworkers and family members should learn to
accept that and be glad that you're typing faster, healthier, and more
comfortably, and if they'd give the keyboard a chance, they'd probably discover that they did, too. And, if they're still not convinced, there are always those earplugs.
The prweb.com story proposes an alternative
tack, as well. "Fortunately, if the earplug gifts fail to quell office anger,
Das Keyboard officials say, the 2.6-pound typing machine is sturdy
enough to be used as a protective shield. A warning, though: the Das
Keyboard is amazing, but it is not yet bulletproof." I must admit: I
haven't yet tested that quality in the PCMag Labs, and I think I'm actually
going to pass. But at every other real-world typing scenario I've
thrown at the Das Keyboard, it's soared through unchallenged, which
makes it sound like a winner by any reckoning I'm aware of.
The Das Keyboard is available in either the Professional (labeled) and
Ultimate (blank) versions for $129.95; special keyboard sets, for use
with Mac- and Linux-based computers, are available for $14.95. The new
reusable earplugs are available for $9.95.
Posted By:
Matthew Murray
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