If you've ever heard of Das Keyboard, you likely know what the design philosophy is behind its keyboards, too – the company wants to build simple, sleek keyboards that are the "perfect blend between technology and art." The company's new 4C mechanical keyboard follows exactly that philosophy, but it brings a tenkeyless model to the company's arsenal.
A tenkeyless keyboard is one that doesn't have a numpad, for those who don't use the numpads and wish for a more compact typing utensil. Some folks may cringe at the thought of using a keyboard without a numpad, but others really like the cleaner appearance or more compact size, which leads to easier portability.
Beyond being tenkeyless, the keyboard has a full n-key rollover electric design, gold-plated mechanical cherry switches, and media keys that are accessible as secondary functions on the F-keys. The Escape key also acts as a sleep button when you press FN, and there is also a disable-windows key function.
The Das Keyboard 4C also has a 2-port USB 2.0 hub built in, along with a ruler. The ruler acts as a riser on the back of the keyboard, which is a creative way of ensuring you always have a ruler handy for when you need one.
Interested? There will be four flavors to choose from. The keyboard comes in a Professional SKU and an Ultimate SKU, with the Ultimate being for the adventurous users who want a completely blank design – the keycaps do not have any lettering on them, and the Das Keyboard branding is blacked out, too. Both of the units are available with tactile mechanical Brown and clickier mechanical Blue switches, and prices start at $139.
Update Jan 28, 11:45pm: Das Keyboard informed Tom's Hardware that these particular keyboards do not, in fact, have Cherry switches. The company has not disclosed which switches it used in these devices. We regret our assumption and resulting error.
Update Feb 2, 1:56pm: We got our hands on Das Keyboard's 4C Professional keyboard so we could see for ourselves what switches were being used. The keyboard has Greetech brown switches. So there you have it.
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