Russian design studio Art Lebedev, creator of the Optimus Maximus – world’s most expensive keyboard in 2008 ( around $1,700), has released a cheaper range, but still for wealthy. For those who doesn’t know, the Optimus Maximus keyboard featured individual OLED displays for each key that shows the function currently assigned to it. The success of this keyboard, never before seen in the PC input space, has spawned an expansion of the line; first with the Mini Three and Aux and now with the Mini Six and the Optimus Popularis.
Art Lebedev's New Optimus Keyboards with LCD Display
One of differences is the numbers ot keys: the Mini Three has three lonely keys, the Aux has 12 keys to keep you company, and now the Mini Six (with guess how many keys, 6), and the Optimus Popularis, a full-fledged keyboard with all the possible benefits. Unlike the Maximus, Mini Three and Aux which has individual OLED displays behind each key, the Popularis keyboard and Mini Six auxiliary keypad use a single LCD display, over which the keys are mounted. The industrial design for both the Mini Six and Popularis moves away from the brushed metal and oversized nature of the Maximus, opting instead for glossy plastics and a certain degree of thinness. Also differ in the price, the Optimus Popularis will set you app $940, around half the price of the Optimus Maximus. Meanwhile, the Mini Six is app $330.
Both the Popularis and the Mini Six are compatible with Windows and Mac OS X, and are programmed using Art Lebedev’s Configurator software. [Art Lebedev Studio]
