Programmer Jeff Atwood has decided that he wanted to make a keyboard -- a keyboard that is perfectly crafted to his needs. In his eyes, no keyboards that were available on the market were perfect, so what can you do but build your own?
"I was indoctrinated into the keyboard cult when I bought my first computer. But I didn't appreciate it. Few do. The world is awash in terrible, crappy, no name how-cheap-can-we-make-it keyboards," Atwood detailed. "There are a few dozen better mechanical keyboard options out there. I've owned and used at least six different expensive mechanical keyboards, but I wasn't satisfied with any of them, either: they didn't have backlighting, were ugly, had terrible design, or were missing basic functions like media keys."
Jeff Atwood then teamed up with WASD Keyboards, and in partnership they made the CODE keyboard. The CODE keyboard is designed to be very minimalistic, yet functional. The keyboard features some very rare Cherry MX Clear mechanical switches, which have tactile feedback, but are not clicky. The choice for these is made because of the natural feeling, yet quiet operation. This should make the keyboard usable in office environments. The keyboard also features white backlighting, which has seven different brightness settings, plus off. To make sure that the keyboard is strong enough to take some serious keyboard mashing, it has even been fitted with a solid steel backplate right between the PCB and the keys. You won't be able to see the backplate with all the keycaps placed, but you'll certainly feel it. Due to the backplate though, the keyboard weighs a hefty 1.1 kg.
Normally, between the Ctrl key and Alt key we would find the 'Windows' key, which on the CODE keyboard is simply left blank. The Alt key can be swapped for an Apple Command key, the normally useless Scroll Lock key can be reassigned as a disable windows-button key for gaming, the Caps Lock key can be reassigned as a tertiary Ctrl key, and more. You can even change the keyboard's electrics into thinking that it is a Dvorak or Colemak keyboard, and then mix and match the keycaps accordingly for a whole new keyboard layout. Cool? We certainly think so.
This here though, is just a small sample of all the little details that Jeff Atwood and WASD keyboards have put into the CODE keyboard. For the full listing, head here.
At the time of writing the keyboard is already sold out, though from the looks of it a new batch might be in the works. The price for ordering one is also on par with other high-end mechanical keyboards at $149.99.
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