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Filed under: Laptops

Although everyone and their first cousin twice-removed has dished out their own netbook at Computex, Dell’s wee darling (it’s still unnamed, officially) still has the attention of most. At a recent media briefing at Dell’s HQ, APC Mag was able to get a little time with the unit and grill execs with a flurry of questions — many of which weren’t answered. Still, a few key tidbits did seep out, like the “due out by the end of this summer” thing and the omission of Fn keys on the keyboard. Wait, wha? You heard right — Dell has decided to make the alpha keys roomier by nixing the line of Fn keys entirely, and while this definitely won’t matter to some, it’ll really get under the skin of others. On a more positive note, it was suggested that the little fellow would boast a VGA output and three USB ports, but outside of that, Round Rock is remaining mum.

[Via Liliputing]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

We’ve been spending some quality time with the high-end gaming products from SteelSeries, and we have to say we’re impressed. The Ikari laser mouse they announced last year is particularly great, with a built-in processor and sensitivity settings to allow for a customized and precise sensitivity setting in a plug-and-play setup particularly suited to professional gamers. Settings are easy to work, and the actual sensitivity and response of the mouse easily outclasses our prior mousing experiences.

New to the market is the SteelSeries 7G keyboard, which is making its debut on Monday the 5th. The keyboard is fully mechanical, with no-click switches that give it a much stronger, smoother tactile feel, while simultaneously catering to gamers by registering half presses. The keyboard weighs a ton thanks to the heavy-duty iron-infused plastic and the gold electronics, and is quite capable of handling abuse. We grew up typing on heavy-duty keyboards, and this is easily the best one we’ve used this decade — though the $150 pricetag also makes it the most expensive outside of the Optimus Maximus.

Both of these products are obviously built for pro and casual gamers, but we found a productivity boost in our regular day-to-day blogging operations, which requires large quantities of precise link clicking (how’s that for a resume line item?) and rapidly written posts. In addition to these two, SteelSeries is bringing its entire line of Euro-popular gaming peripherals to the States, including headphones and crazily fancy mouse pads.

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Source: Paul Miller

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Filed under: Peripherals

Microsoft is at it again with its boring-as-can-be product names and its terrifically designed computer mice and keyboards. First off is the new Wireless Laser Desktop 7000 (pictured), which Microsoft calls the “little black dress” of peripherals — something we find to be at least a little disturbing. The keyboard and mouse combo include “smoked translucent border” design elements, conveniently-assignable My Favorites Keys, and some rather sleek / thin looks. The keyboard — which we saw pass the FCC in February — is of the Comfort Curve-ilk, the Wireless Laser Mouse 7000 has a horizontal charging station, and both use 2.4GHz wireless tech. The worst news is the price, at $130 when it hits in April. If you don’t need all the fancy, Microsoft also has the new Digital Media Keyboard 3000 (pictured after the break) with some fun media-centric keys for the much more palatable $30 pricepoint. It’ll be out in June.

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Source: Paul Miller

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Filed under: Laptops

Truth be told, the bona fide Optimus Maximus keyboard is still quite a few bills higher than most folks are willing to pay, which makes the likelihood of a similar layout hitting laptops anytime soon that much slimmer. Still, we’re sure the technology will become cheaper to produce over time, and we certainly dig where the concept pictured above is going. No, we’ve heard nothing official regarding such a keyboard on a lappie just yet, but now that the idea is all out in the open, we’re not going to be satisfied until it happens.

[Thanks, Maksim]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Peripherals

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/search?s=Optimus&submit=Search&section=news&type=all&area=all&sort=new’; The day you’ve been waiting so very, very, very long for has finally arrived: Optimus Maximus keyboards have begun shipping out to their new homes. In addition to the pricey, OLED-studded ‘boards, the Optimus Configurator software utility is also available, allowing you to customize your new purchase to your heart’s content. In other news, Art Lebedev says that he’s planning a new project which will make you salivate uncontrollably for five years straight, and end with you taking out a second mortgage on your home to purchase it. Huzzah!

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Peripherals

We think it’s dark and it looks like rain. The wind is blowing like it’s the end of the world, you said. It’s so cold, it’s like the cold if you were dead. And then you smiled for a second, and told us the $19 Evergreen Goth keyboard is available in Japan only. Sigh.

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Source: Thomas Ricker

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Filed under: CES

Hello Kitty meets hair.

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Source: Dante Cesa

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Peripherals

Apple’s always enjoyed patenting the near-absurd, just to get us speculating in the wrong direction or to give its thousands of patent lawyers something to do during a slow design cycle. We can’t really imagine Apple has this pair of “products” prepped and waiting in the wings of Macworld, but it’s still fun to look. First off we have a MacBook dock that conveniently looks just like an iMac. Not much explanation is needed, you just slide the laptop into the side of the iMac and start desktoping away on the big screen. The second patent deals with a quite familiar keyboard concept: OLED screens in every key. It’s not the first time an Apple patent has overlapped with a Lebedev design, but who knows how it’ll go down if Apple tries to build one of these Lebedev-ish ideas — Apple patented this keyboard concept about a year after the Maxiumus concept was first shown off.

Read - iMac MacBook dock
Read - Apple Maxiumus

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Source: Paul Miller

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