@@ErdrickHero I thought critically of your comment and didn't buy it, so i decided to reply with some sass. But hey I'm not rebellious, Onlyoffice does have a lot of legit critique, hostile FOSS (no PRs), no RTL support, poor performance Your critique of onlyoffice is just... microsoft ptsd syndrome
I got interested in this keyboard while watching this vid, but then the price tag immediately deterred me. I hope they will drop their prices significantly (at least 40 to 30 percent) and then I might be in for 2 units. And a normal shipping fee of course 😉
The price compared to the rest of the mechanical keyboard market isn’t very good to be honest; I can get a Keychron Q1 for less than $200 with a better build quality, same hot swappable mech switches, and customizable layout, just for example. Cool keyboard, wayyyy to pricey, maybe $100 less on the big one, and $50-100 less on the other two and they’re viable.
The Launch Heavy is looking like my kind of keyboard. A heavy slap of metal with switches on top. Easy to clean and rock solid. I've been looking for a new keyboard my venerable Logitech G513 is starting to develop issues with the RGB lights in there. It's slowly but certainly losing the blue lighting. I'm pretty interested in the concept of a fully open source keyboard that is completely configurable. Good to hear the built quality is solid. The double space bar sounds weird, but the logic behind it is very sound.
Same here, I've had the G513 for a few years now and some of the RGB is wearing out on a few keys. It's still perfectly usable, but it has MX Blues so everybody in the house hates it, and I've been looking for something smaller with linear switches. Probably won't be getting the System 76 keyboard, but it's still pretty cool.
Looks nice My problem with different style keyboards is that you need to get used to them. you get them running at home but then at work you have the standard keyboard so you ever will feel odd and never really comfortable
I usually rest my right hand on the arrow keys and I use PgDown and the right Ctrl very often. I wouldn't know what to do if they weren't in the position I'm used to.
I recently had gotten a moonlander keyboard, and I vastly overestimated my ability to adapt to that thing. I may give up on it. So I certainly respect your sentiment. However this keyboard is basically standard. Look at where your thumb it's your keyboard, I'll bet it's not right on the left edge, so that space could be used for a button. Personally I don't like how far under my hand I need to tuck my thumb to hit alt. So that would be easily resolved with this keyboard.
How much did your phone cost? More than 400$ for a piece of metal? No thanks. 300$ for a high-end keyboard is a fair price. You can buy a cheap plastic membrane keyboard for less than 20$, and if you're fine with spongy switches, shitty keycaps and a flexing board then by all means go for it, but saying something SHOULD cost less than x dollars is dumb. You pay for the build quality, for the switches, for hot-swappability, for pre-lubing, the keycaps, etc. etc.
@@whalemailxd Are they hotswapabel, highly programmable, and have pbt caps, an USB hub with 4x USB 3.2 gen 1 outputs as well as a full-body aluminum frame? I guess not. So, what are you comparing?
$285USD, which doesn't even include shipping fees is insane. I get that mechanical keyboards are pricey but surely they don't need to be THAT expensive!!! Like the color scheme of the board though!
Yeah it's literally scam at this point. You get keyboards with more functionality and same build quality for half the price. They just milking FOSS simps.
I don't mind the price. For this built quality and open hardware approach. This is a device for a life-time. What I do not like at all and puts me off is the NON translucent letters on the keycaps and the backlight-bleed. I HATE light coming from the back and not illuminating the letters themselves. I want to be able to read the keys in the dark and not have rainbow lighting effects illuminate my room!
Рік тому+2
ANSI for me is an instant no. The long shift on the left is useless, and removes an important key. In Hungarian, it's not symbols or something, but a vital letter í/Í. I wouldn't mind the Enter/Return situation, but one key less is unacceptable.
The Launch Heavy looks exactly like the keyboard I was looking for! Compact but still with numpad AND separate direction keys. Detachable USB-C cable AND a hub! 300 $ (€?) really are expensive but yeah, it has done great value. So it's a possibility.
You can look over at the keychron series. Greate build quality, wireless / wired, aluminium and custimizable to a degree :P 300€ for the S76 keyboard is a bit much for my taste.
I've had the "regular" one for a few months, and I really rather like it. The configurability is kinda handy, and the super solid feel is really nice. The price does make it hard to recommend though. I needed a new keyboard and figured I could afford to support the local (ish) Linux company. That was my thought process.
My expensive mechanical keyboard space bar drives me nuts as I have to pound on it to get it to work lately, even after cleaning it. I like the 2 space bar idea. Not a fan of the non transparent keys though if it has RGB underneath, the letters should be transparent to see the colors through them. I also prefer cherry mx switches. I'm sure they are quality, but I would need to test it in person before ever committing to spending that much for it over my current CoolerMaster MASTERKEYS PRO L RGB. Also the keys are closer together than mine, which I am used to. Would really need to try it out in person, unfortunately.
Do note that most keycap sets won’t work with this keyboard because they have weirdly sized modifiers! While it may seem like a feature at first, it essentially locks you into keycaps specifically made for this keyboard! You have been warned
@@epsi ergonomic keyboard layouts, while not as popular as the standard layout, are still more standard than this one. Many keyboard sets offer ergo variants, and they’re super easy to make as all the modifiers are simply 1u sized.
With an AZERTY over QWERTY preference briefly mentioned where you say you want that keyboard layout, then a lot of time talking about it being customizable through software, and even expressing keycaps can be replaced and partially rearranged, why didn't you cover your experience having converted it? Did you not want to convert it or are there other reasons why you couldn't complete the conversion. The LEDs under solid keycaps just seems like a gimmick though one shot you did of them in the dark to show off the LEDs looks like they bleed through the top and maybe enough of the lower parts that characters can be observed on the white keycaps. On my Ducky Shine 3, I've had issues with the lower symbol on multisymbol keys being difficult to make out even though the symbols are designed to pass the light. Then again, I've had so many LEDs failing on it that its just a mess to look at and some are important ones like numlock. Keycaps on my keyboard are also prone to wearing through the thin layer that makes the black surface. How durable are the symbols on this keyboard's keycaps? Is it printed on or plastic molded deeper into plastic or all the way through so it handles wear better? Other comments made it sound like the switches are socketed so they could be replaced. Is that true and can LEDs also be replaced just as easily? Details of parts availability and the process involved could help win points with right-to-repair type of shoppers. My Ducky Shine 3 has a few other things like ability to disable Windows(=super here?) key and ability to have the keyboard send key repeats with customizable delay before repeating and speed it repeats which can go as far as no delay and 16x the normal Windows key repeat rate. Does this keyboard offer any special features like that? Maybe where a key or sequence performs a set of keypresses (or other actions). I didn't notice a mention of the purpose of the 'fn' key in this video. Why no link to the company's product page? After getting past sponsor links (wonder if this review sample was sponsored too or under different terms?) and social links, there is a lot of text about the keyboard as discussed in the video but no link to it. I know I like Cherry switches over membrane keyboards though there is room for improvement on them. Being another type of switch used here brings up keycap compatibility, feel, and durability for how they compare. I haven't seen a keyboard using those switches personally so would want to at least feel a switch sample before considering a keyboard at those prices. As someone who likes mechanical keyboards, pricing here reminds me of what I've seen for custom made keyboards such as those done by hobbyists though I presume the System76 keyboards are likely comparable to other keyboards I've known of where an kit (assembly required) costs more than these American made offerings. If so, I still see it as very high priced but that would make it better than competition.
I've got 2 issues that would prevent me from getting this keyboard. 1) no arrows on arrow keys would bug me and 2) what's the point of a light up keyboard if the characters on the keycaps don't light up as well? Given the price I shouldn't have to buy new keycaps for that
The layout and keys are non standard so many of the custom keycaps are not compatible, which is real shame. Also these are kind of overpriced, you could get a custom made keyboard from group buys or even from stock items for the same price with fully open firmware (QMK) which these are also based on. QMK also allows way larger customising possibilities if you need it. These are good but in the end nothing really special in the land of custom mechanical keyboards.
I think that, unless you _need_ it for accessiblity reason, having a keyboard slope toward the user like many keyboards do/allow, is actually a bad idea. My understanding is that it actually puts the user at a greater risk of RSI.
I have standard Launch keyboard with the clicky jade switches. I love this keyboard, but I wish I waited for the Launch Heavy, because I like having a number pad.
@@bcarr1122 Unlikely, as the only brands to do that don't have a standard number pad layout. And honestly, I don't really need it too much, but if I did, I would buy a Launch Heavy.
Super expensive, but this looks pretty good and would likely be the last keyboard I ever buy. Why is there no link to it from anywhere, even on their own website?
300 bucks for a keyboard (plus 100 bucks if you don't live in the US)? I'm all for supporting System76 and their endeavour in the open source market, but that price is a dealbreaker for me (especially since I live in the EU).
Those Kailh Box Jades sounded heavenly. I can't believe anyone would dislike the comfortable soundscape created by the continuous clicks from these during writing.
There are keyboards with an internal solenoid clicker that makes a *really* loud click on every keypress. It's amazing. You can torture an entire department at work with that thing.
@@PanzerTanzer1 I get it, you're sarcastic :D the noise is one of the reasons why I hate mechanical keyboards with a passion, and I myself have quiet membraned ones.
@@csehszlovakze Not at all, I just can't stand the muffled sound with a lack of treble in most contemporary keyboards. It's just like listening with earplugs. Clicky switches is a good way to expand the timbre.
I've been using a keyboard with clicky switches for like 5 years now and I've grown to hate it. Yes it feels nice but it's *so fucking loud*. Not only does it annoy me personally, but it means I have to make my noise gate on my microphone super aggressive to avoid earraping anyone I talk to. It works, but the side effect is I have to speak louder to actually trigger the noise gate, and of course no noise gate can remove the clicking while I speak anyway. I just bought a new keyboard, as you can't replace the switches on the one I had, and it is heavenly.
To be honest that is actually a pretty reasonable price compared to other fully customizable mechanical keyboard, and the build quality seems better than a lot of those other alternatives.
@@HAL_NOVEMILA I love it when people who aren't in the keyboard scene like Cameron here come with an attitude of superiority, having no knowledge of the topic. Pretty much every single custom keyboard uses open source firmware, *many* of them also have open source PCBs (kicad files) and open CAD files, tho admittedly not all of them. That isn't a huge deal tho because designing a case in CAD is almost trivial and there are plenty of open kicad files for PCBs that you're free to modify to your needs.
Meh, you get a better keyboard for less money that is in ISO layout and rather uses VIA to program the board and not some extra app. It is not even gasket mounted and so stiff, which is actually not as nice to type on. So, yes, it looks pretty and the choices of switches are not bad (though it is hot swap and you can change that), but that is it. The options that e.g. keychron provide seem to be better both in price and quality. I think those System76 keyboards only make sense to buy, if you want to support System76 and their work they do for linux.
No "AltGr" and "Alt" in wrong place! ... The best traditional (staggered) keyboard layout is "ANSISO" (ANSI+ISO), not ANSI. And, of course, you don't need RGB to type.
Any product where either FOSS or privacy is sold as a premium is a bad one. To be fair, not all System76 products fall into this category, they have some laptops and desktops at competitive prices, unlike other companies like Fairphone or Purism (this one is especially despicable). Spending over 100 USD on a keyboard, even a mechanical one, is just dumb or snobbish. And these don't even have special keys (this is actually a current trend which I simply don't understand). It's much more convenient to try "FOSSing" an existing keyboard. Having said that, I love the key design, I'd love to see it on laptops (sadly, all System76 models seem to bring the awful modern "chiclet" keys).
Since when do Super and Right Ctrl go next to the space bar(s)?! From the left: Ctrl, Super, Alt, Space, AltGr is the standard layout. We want more keyboards with super keys that are blank or say SUPER or have Tux on them instead of the Windows logo.
At first I bought the Khail Box Jade switches, and I loved them, but after a few days of typing, it was too much stress on my fingers. I moved down to the Box Whites which are much better IMHO. If you are a touch-typist, don't look at your keyboard, and you like that nostalgic clicky feel, you may even wan to try the Speed Brown's for a lighter/faster feel.
Regards the price I talked to a few Made n America trumpish companies and they say the governement makes things from overseas that expensive and since salaries in the US are 10 times higher than in China, it will cost you possibly 10 times more. That is the price of Made in America again they tell me. The salaries are about 10 $ per hour in the US while an chinese worker earns 1 $ per hour. So the ametican earns as much in 1 hour as an chinese in an entire 8 hour working day. Who is going to be able to pay those extraordinary american prices? Nobody will be afford to do that. Thats the problem of Made in America Great Again. Now keyboards costya half as much as an entire tower PC while an simple standard membrane keyboard cost before around 10$. Thats why I ordered several of the EVGA Z15 mechanical keyboards with the Kailh switches. That aluminum slab costs in China about 5$ to produce but in the US they charge you for the same 100$. I see it going nowhere with US produce unless salaries drop about 90% to chinese levels and american greediness of companies drop as well about 90% so the profitability is now only 1/10 what it used to be. Looks like the aluminum machine located in the USA is producing 9 times more costly than the same machine situated in China. Those are man made prices based on greedyness. Salaries have to drop 9 times in the US in order to produce in the US profitably and then there is the problem nobody can afford it even then.
Looks really cheap for a $200+ keyboard, dye sublimated keycaps, thin lowprofile aluminum case, lack of lcd screen, volume dials, or other premium features regularly found in that price point. If i didn't know any better I would say it's a $50 keyboard. If you want a nice keyboard either build it your self or hire someone to build it for you, don't purchase a keyboard from a company with no experience in designing keyboards.
Now I just wish it had the ability to connect to multiple devices for example one via USB and another other via Bluetooth. I use the same keyboard for both my PC and my notebook by just switching between USB and Bluetooth. I know there's software to use one mouse and keyboard on multiple devices but I don't like it.
Looks like a decent board but $300 means I’m not interested. The layout with a keypad is a bit wild, I prefer having that control cluster in the normal 2x3 layout rather than a vertical line myself. And of course, no ISO is a dealbreaker!
As I’m not a keyboard aficionado the price makes it hard to justify. But I find myself wanting it anyway so maybe I’ll splurge when I buy my desktop from System 76 😂
No ISO and super expensive for what it offers... :( they're both complete deal breakers for me. I wish more companies could think about users outside the US.
One thing I like about the layout of this is that the super key is to the right of alt (by default). If you have a standard keyboard, notice that alt is somewhat to the left of your D key, where as this super key is lined up with it, and the key to the left of that (the "access layer 2" key) is almost where your normal alt key would be. This is useful because on Linux generally we will use the super key + 1,2,3,4 to switch virtual desktops or grab/resize windows. However your thumb gets tucked way under your hand to hit that key normally. Personally I use alt instead of super for this reason, but that kind of sucks too because a good number of apps (like blender for example) use alt for many of their shortcuts. So if I got this, I would use meta for my WM stuff, and then swap alt with their "access layer 2" key to put that back where it should be. It wouldn't interfeare with my mussle memory for space either because my left thumb tends to hit my space roughly between the F and G keys, exactly lined up with there this space bar is, so the area to the left is wasted. So yes, I like this idea, I might get one. I recently got a moonlander keyboard, and while the software is great, I vastly underestimated the learning curve of actually adapting to a layout that was so radically different. I also think their thumb section is too far away.
@The Linux Experiment The main benefit of the split spacebar is to assign one of the keys to something else: For me, the left side backspace. Think about how much you are stretching your hand away from the home row to make a correction every time you type. You will never go back once you get used to this.
U know..system76 good and well but its simply copys of in that case the keychron. Maybe even using the same board. rebrands. Same that their laptops are and nothing they rebrand will change how much behind the OS is behind microsoft. Apple at least made their hardware that took them apart and in some aspectrs ahead. Also no, two spacebars when u can hit the single spacebar at both ends is just silly.
You don't type weird. I use only my index, middle, and ring fingers and sometimes my thumbs for the spacebar. More accurate and faster than "home row/traditional" for me
For this kind of money, unless you are highly uninterested in the details and want prepackaged, you can get a superb custom qmk/vial enabled keeb and the pleasure of lubing the switches to perfection. I wish their heavy would sport the numpad on the left instead of standard position on the right. Then it would be somewhat unique as a prepackaged keeb.
I like the way the keyboard looks but the layout is weird and it is change for no reason, I hate that. Plus it's super expensive. Why the need to reinvent the wheel or fix what isnt broken? Is there some huge demand to change keyboard layouts? I'll pass.
You holding the product in the main shot was so unusual, and the little BUBBLE COMM? THAT was almost alienating compared to previous style for me. But, maybe it's a good thing.
Honestly as good as it looks the price is so expensive I would be using any other mechanic or customizable keyboard instead of this. I was interested at first but then I simply went for several other options.
@@TheLinuxEXP And who cares if System76 gets their review units back all scratched :P I mean, on one hand I am on board with justifying everything with "works well enough", and at the same time, as someone caring for his mechanical keyboard, it was a bit painful to watch you lever those poor keycaps off like that :D But you're forgiven, cause you're not a keyboard guy! :)
hate the space bar and this might sound silly, but the way the caps, shift, ctrl dont line up on the left with tab just feels so out of place. also the single coloumn home, pgup/dn keys kinda suck
Je savait que tu était français, j'ai reconnu ton accent mais je n'était pas sûr. je ne pensait pas que tant de français que ça utilisait linux, pour moi c'était plutôt un truc beaucoup plus anglophone.
Man there's a lot to like about these keyboard: 100% open source soft/firm/hardware Super customisable with on board settings storage Solid build quality These alone are absolutely amazing, I just wish they had a less cramped layout and a wireless option. The RGB is eh, I would prefer without as it's just an unnecessary physical component that can break. I would turn it off tbh.
Agreed. The F1 key is too close to the escape key, and when you need help (F1) you're hitting bye (ESC) LOL. But honestly, they missed the boat when their "TKL" which is not really a TKL layout. And for the Launch Heavy... well numeric keypads are better served by a separate unit for if/when you need to enter some numbers (accounting/taxes/etc). For coding, I almost never use it and really need the home key section instead. I'd have to completely reprogram the Launch Heavy and even remove some keys and totally change the layout to get close to the true TKL layout. So sad as they ALMOST had this right.
Try OnlyOffice, the best open source office suite for Linux: bit.ly/3IQRWfY
Uh... I keep hearing "free" but somehow they have money for advertising. That must mean their users are the products.
@@ErdrickHero pretty sure they make money from selling their business packages and cloud offerings. Lets not start spewing controversy theories k thx
@@user-zv2gr3tu1l let's as a whole people start thinking critically k thx
so your wife wouldn't staple your head to the desk if you used the jade switches? 😂😂😂
@@ErdrickHero I thought critically of your comment and didn't buy it, so i decided to reply with some sass.
But hey I'm not rebellious, Onlyoffice does have a lot of legit critique, hostile FOSS (no PRs), no RTL support, poor performance
Your critique of onlyoffice is just... microsoft ptsd syndrome
It really looks good. But that small enter key.. I would have a lot of '\' at the end of all my texts. Great review as always.. Cheers!
I think they’re working on an ISO layout that should have a bigger Enter key
I got interested in this keyboard while watching this vid, but then the price tag immediately deterred me. I hope they will drop their prices significantly (at least 40 to 30 percent) and then I might be in for 2 units. And a normal shipping fee of course 😉
The price compared to the rest of the mechanical keyboard market isn’t very good to be honest; I can get a Keychron Q1 for less than $200 with a better build quality, same hot swappable mech switches, and customizable layout, just for example. Cool keyboard, wayyyy to pricey, maybe $100 less on the big one, and $50-100 less on the other two and they’re viable.
This. I don't see the appeal of the 76 relative to a QMK-compatible Keychron.
The Launch Heavy is looking like my kind of keyboard. A heavy slap of metal with switches on top. Easy to clean and rock solid.
I've been looking for a new keyboard my venerable Logitech G513 is starting to develop issues with the RGB lights in there. It's slowly but certainly losing the blue lighting. I'm pretty interested in the concept of a fully open source keyboard that is completely configurable. Good to hear the built quality is solid. The double space bar sounds weird, but the logic behind it is very sound.
check out hyperx alloy origins
Same here, I've had the G513 for a few years now and some of the RGB is wearing out on a few keys. It's still perfectly usable, but it has MX Blues so everybody in the house hates it, and I've been looking for something smaller with linear switches. Probably won't be getting the System 76 keyboard, but it's still pretty cool.
Haven't watched the news yet, but when I hear 'foss' and 'keyboard' in one sentence that's always exciting to hear!
Looks nice
My problem with different style keyboards is that you need to get used to them.
you get them running at home but then at work you have the standard keyboard so you ever will feel odd and never really comfortable
That is why I go to office with my ergodox... Not supper smart... But what stops you from owning 2 same keyboards for home and office?
I usually rest my right hand on the arrow keys and I use PgDown and the right Ctrl very often. I wouldn't know what to do if they weren't in the position I'm used to.
I recently had gotten a moonlander keyboard, and I vastly overestimated my ability to adapt to that thing. I may give up on it. So I certainly respect your sentiment. However this keyboard is basically standard. Look at where your thumb it's your keyboard, I'll bet it's not right on the left edge, so that space could be used for a button. Personally I don't like how far under my hand I need to tuck my thumb to hit alt. So that would be easily resolved with this keyboard.
Hey Nick, just to clarify, you actually use the other end of the tool to remove the keycaps. The end that you used is to remove the switches.
Hahaha yeah I always used it like that
I'm disappointed that the 'heavy' isn't made out of cast iron :P
Hahaha that would really lend credence to its name!
Ok Build a Forge and ask for Mr Schmitz to Cast this iron For You...
Damned shame they aren't doing ISO. That's a deal-breaker for me. Otherwise this looks amazing
yep, this layout is deal breaker for me too
Yeah, that and it being wireless with easily replaceable batteries (AA or similar) would make it the truly ultimate keyboard
Was excited. Then saw it's $299. No thanks.
What did you expect? It's a normal price for high-quality mechanical RGB keyboards with hub.
yep. the price is a joke :-D
@@domtheruggeda No, it's not. Just look on the price for other mechanical keyboards and have in mind that they use milled aluminum for the case.
How much did your phone cost? More than 400$ for a piece of metal? No thanks.
300$ for a high-end keyboard is a fair price.
You can buy a cheap plastic membrane keyboard for less than 20$, and if you're fine with spongy switches, shitty keycaps and a flexing board then by all means go for it, but saying something SHOULD cost less than x dollars is dumb.
You pay for the build quality, for the switches, for hot-swappability, for pre-lubing, the keycaps, etc. etc.
@@whalemailxd Are they hotswapabel, highly programmable, and have pbt caps, an USB hub with 4x USB 3.2 gen 1 outputs as well as a full-body aluminum frame? I guess not. So, what are you comparing?
$285USD, which doesn't even include shipping fees is insane. I get that mechanical keyboards are pricey but surely they don't need to be THAT expensive!!!
Like the color scheme of the board though!
Yeah it's literally scam at this point. You get keyboards with more functionality and same build quality for half the price. They just milking FOSS simps.
@@longdashes I mean, I wouldn't go as far as to call it a scam. After all I have seen some bloody expensive "gaming" branded products out there.
@@schemage2210 All scamming
I don't mind the price. For this built quality and open hardware approach. This is a device for a life-time.
What I do not like at all and puts me off is the NON translucent letters on the keycaps and the backlight-bleed.
I HATE light coming from the back and not illuminating the letters themselves. I want to be able to read the keys in the dark and not have rainbow lighting effects illuminate my room!
ANSI for me is an instant no. The long shift on the left is useless, and removes an important key. In Hungarian, it's not symbols or something, but a vital letter í/Í. I wouldn't mind the Enter/Return situation, but one key less is unacceptable.
The Launch Heavy looks exactly like the keyboard I was looking for!
Compact but still with numpad AND separate direction keys.
Detachable USB-C cable AND a hub!
300 $ (€?) really are expensive but yeah, it has done great value. So it's a possibility.
You can look over at the keychron series. Greate build quality, wireless / wired, aluminium and custimizable to a degree :P
300€ for the S76 keyboard is a bit much for my taste.
I've had the "regular" one for a few months, and I really rather like it. The configurability is kinda handy, and the super solid feel is really nice. The price does make it hard to recommend though. I needed a new keyboard and figured I could afford to support the local (ish) Linux company. That was my thought process.
My expensive mechanical keyboard space bar drives me nuts as I have to pound on it to get it to work lately, even after cleaning it. I like the 2 space bar idea. Not a fan of the non transparent keys though if it has RGB underneath, the letters should be transparent to see the colors through them. I also prefer cherry mx switches. I'm sure they are quality, but I would need to test it in person before ever committing to spending that much for it over my current CoolerMaster MASTERKEYS PRO L RGB. Also the keys are closer together than mine, which I am used to. Would really need to try it out in person, unfortunately.
Do note that most keycap sets won’t work with this keyboard because they have weirdly sized modifiers! While it may seem like a feature at first, it essentially locks you into keycaps specifically made for this keyboard! You have been warned
@@epsi ergonomic keyboard layouts, while not as popular as the standard layout, are still more standard than this one. Many keyboard sets offer ergo variants, and they’re super easy to make as all the modifiers are simply 1u sized.
I'd love to see System 76 do an ergo keyboard
With an AZERTY over QWERTY preference briefly mentioned where you say you want that keyboard layout, then a lot of time talking about it being customizable through software, and even expressing keycaps can be replaced and partially rearranged, why didn't you cover your experience having converted it? Did you not want to convert it or are there other reasons why you couldn't complete the conversion.
The LEDs under solid keycaps just seems like a gimmick though one shot you did of them in the dark to show off the LEDs looks like they bleed through the top and maybe enough of the lower parts that characters can be observed on the white keycaps. On my Ducky Shine 3, I've had issues with the lower symbol on multisymbol keys being difficult to make out even though the symbols are designed to pass the light. Then again, I've had so many LEDs failing on it that its just a mess to look at and some are important ones like numlock. Keycaps on my keyboard are also prone to wearing through the thin layer that makes the black surface. How durable are the symbols on this keyboard's keycaps? Is it printed on or plastic molded deeper into plastic or all the way through so it handles wear better?
Other comments made it sound like the switches are socketed so they could be replaced. Is that true and can LEDs also be replaced just as easily? Details of parts availability and the process involved could help win points with right-to-repair type of shoppers.
My Ducky Shine 3 has a few other things like ability to disable Windows(=super here?) key and ability to have the keyboard send key repeats with customizable delay before repeating and speed it repeats which can go as far as no delay and 16x the normal Windows key repeat rate. Does this keyboard offer any special features like that? Maybe where a key or sequence performs a set of keypresses (or other actions). I didn't notice a mention of the purpose of the 'fn' key in this video.
Why no link to the company's product page? After getting past sponsor links (wonder if this review sample was sponsored too or under different terms?) and social links, there is a lot of text about the keyboard as discussed in the video but no link to it.
I know I like Cherry switches over membrane keyboards though there is room for improvement on them. Being another type of switch used here brings up keycap compatibility, feel, and durability for how they compare. I haven't seen a keyboard using those switches personally so would want to at least feel a switch sample before considering a keyboard at those prices.
As someone who likes mechanical keyboards, pricing here reminds me of what I've seen for custom made keyboards such as those done by hobbyists though I presume the System76 keyboards are likely comparable to other keyboards I've known of where an kit (assembly required) costs more than these American made offerings. If so, I still see it as very high priced but that would make it better than competition.
For that price I'd just build my own. USB keyboards don't really have compatibility issues. Unless you went with razer and now you can't change stuff
I've got 2 issues that would prevent me from getting this keyboard. 1) no arrows on arrow keys would bug me and 2) what's the point of a light up keyboard if the characters on the keycaps don't light up as well? Given the price I shouldn't have to buy new keycaps for that
The layout and keys are non standard so many of the custom keycaps are not compatible, which is real shame. Also these are kind of overpriced, you could get a custom made keyboard from group buys or even from stock items for the same price with fully open firmware (QMK) which these are also based on.
QMK also allows way larger customising possibilities if you need it. These are good but in the end nothing really special in the land of custom mechanical keyboards.
I think that, unless you _need_ it for accessiblity reason, having a keyboard slope toward the user like many keyboards do/allow, is actually a bad idea. My understanding is that it actually puts the user at a greater risk of RSI.
it has some similarities to the keychrone kbs...
i personally use a keychron 75% board for gaming and the zsh planck for working...
I like the split space bar, but I prefer my Home and End keys are close to the arrow keys as possible, me being a dev and all
I have standard Launch keyboard with the clicky jade switches. I love this keyboard, but I wish I waited for the Launch Heavy, because I like having a number pad.
Perhaps System76 will offer a separate numpad?
@@bcarr1122 Unlikely, as the only brands to do that don't have a standard number pad layout. And honestly, I don't really need it too much, but if I did, I would buy a Launch Heavy.
And for a heavy price too😉 I'm not gonna pay $300 for a keyboard.
Super expensive, but this looks pretty good and would likely be the last keyboard I ever buy. Why is there no link to it from anywhere, even on their own website?
That keyboard is insanely expensive for not being that interesting.
Lol that price though.. Are they trying to out-apple apple?
For a mechanical keyboard, it’s not that bad
300 bucks for a keyboard (plus 100 bucks if you don't live in the US)? I'm all for supporting System76 and their endeavour in the open source market, but that price is a dealbreaker for me (especially since I live in the EU).
EU is a toy for the US.
Those Kailh Box Jades sounded heavenly. I can't believe anyone would dislike the comfortable soundscape created by the continuous clicks from these during writing.
There are keyboards with an internal solenoid clicker that makes a *really* loud click on every keypress. It's amazing. You can torture an entire department at work with that thing.
@@insu_na Torture? You mean let coworkers share the joyful experience of listening to soothing ear candy.
@@PanzerTanzer1 I get it, you're sarcastic :D the noise is one of the reasons why I hate mechanical keyboards with a passion, and I myself have quiet membraned ones.
@@csehszlovakze Not at all, I just can't stand the muffled sound with a lack of treble in most contemporary keyboards. It's just like listening with earplugs. Clicky switches is a good way to expand the timbre.
I've been using a keyboard with clicky switches for like 5 years now and I've grown to hate it. Yes it feels nice but it's *so fucking loud*. Not only does it annoy me personally, but it means I have to make my noise gate on my microphone super aggressive to avoid earraping anyone I talk to. It works, but the side effect is I have to speak louder to actually trigger the noise gate, and of course no noise gate can remove the clicking while I speak anyway. I just bought a new keyboard, as you can't replace the switches on the one I had, and it is heavenly.
To be honest that is actually a pretty reasonable price compared to other fully customizable mechanical keyboard, and the build quality seems better than a lot of those other alternatives.
Keychron is cheaper and offers more options, the Keychron Q6 as far as I can see seems a much more competitive product...
@@HAL_NOVEMILA But is the firmware on the Keychron fully open-source?
@@cameronbosch1213 the Keychron Q line of keyboards use QMK and VIA... QMK is open source and there are open source alternatives to VIA such as VIAL.
@@HAL_NOVEMILA I love it when people who aren't in the keyboard scene like Cameron here come with an attitude of superiority, having no knowledge of the topic.
Pretty much every single custom keyboard uses open source firmware, *many* of them also have open source PCBs (kicad files) and open CAD files, tho admittedly not all of them.
That isn't a huge deal tho because designing a case in CAD is almost trivial and there are plenty of open kicad files for PCBs that you're free to modify to your needs.
@@insu_na As far as I can see, you are the one with an attitude. Cameron only asked a question, a fair one at that.
Meh, you get a better keyboard for less money that is in ISO layout and rather uses VIA to program the board and not some extra app. It is not even gasket mounted and so stiff, which is actually not as nice to type on. So, yes, it looks pretty and the choices of switches are not bad (though it is hot swap and you can change that), but that is it. The options that e.g. keychron provide seem to be better both in price and quality.
I think those System76 keyboards only make sense to buy, if you want to support System76 and their work they do for linux.
No "AltGr" and "Alt" in wrong place!
... The best traditional (staggered) keyboard layout is "ANSISO" (ANSI+ISO), not ANSI.
And, of course, you don't need RGB to type.
Every time he tries to remove a keycap I got a heart attack, looks like a monster breaking the keycaps and not using the right side of the tool
Hahaha I always did it this way 😅
That looks like a really nice keyboard! What I want however is the limited Discord Snowsgiving keyboard... Does someone have 220$ to spare 😭
Any product where either FOSS or privacy is sold as a premium is a bad one. To be fair, not all System76 products fall into this category, they have some laptops and desktops at competitive prices, unlike other companies like Fairphone or Purism (this one is especially despicable). Spending over 100 USD on a keyboard, even a mechanical one, is just dumb or snobbish. And these don't even have special keys (this is actually a current trend which I simply don't understand). It's much more convenient to try "FOSSing" an existing keyboard. Having said that, I love the key design, I'd love to see it on laptops (sadly, all System76 models seem to bring the awful modern "chiclet" keys).
Since when do Super and Right Ctrl go next to the space bar(s)?! From the left: Ctrl, Super, Alt, Space, AltGr is the standard layout. We want more keyboards with super keys that are blank or say SUPER or have Tux on them instead of the Windows logo.
At first I bought the Khail Box Jade switches, and I loved them, but after a few days of typing, it was too much stress on my fingers. I moved down to the Box Whites which are much better IMHO. If you are a touch-typist, don't look at your keyboard, and you like that nostalgic clicky feel, you may even wan to try the Speed Brown's for a lighter/faster feel.
Regards the price I talked to a few Made n America trumpish companies and they say the governement makes things from overseas that expensive and since salaries in the US are 10 times higher than in China, it will cost you possibly 10 times more. That is the price of Made in America again they tell me. The salaries are about 10 $ per hour in the US while an chinese worker earns 1 $ per hour. So the ametican earns as much in 1 hour as an chinese in an entire 8 hour working day. Who is going to be able to pay those extraordinary american prices? Nobody will be afford to do that. Thats the problem of Made in America Great Again. Now keyboards costya half as much as an entire tower PC while an simple standard membrane keyboard cost before around 10$. Thats why I ordered several of the EVGA Z15 mechanical keyboards with the Kailh switches.
That aluminum slab costs in China about 5$ to produce but in the US they charge you for the same 100$. I see it going nowhere with US produce unless salaries drop about 90% to chinese levels and american greediness of companies drop as well about 90% so the profitability is now only 1/10 what it used to be.
Looks like the aluminum machine located in the USA is producing 9 times more costly than the same machine situated in China. Those are man made prices based on greedyness. Salaries have to drop 9 times in the US in order to produce in the US profitably and then there is the problem nobody can afford it even then.
Looks really cheap for a $200+ keyboard, dye sublimated keycaps, thin lowprofile aluminum case, lack of lcd screen, volume dials, or other premium features regularly found in that price point. If i didn't know any better I would say it's a $50 keyboard. If you want a nice keyboard either build it your self or hire someone to build it for you, don't purchase a keyboard from a company with no experience in designing keyboards.
Now I just wish it had the ability to connect to multiple devices for example one via USB and another other via Bluetooth. I use the same keyboard for both my PC and my notebook by just switching between USB and Bluetooth.
I know there's software to use one mouse and keyboard on multiple devices but I don't like it.
Looks like a decent board but $300 means I’m not interested. The layout with a keypad is a bit wild, I prefer having that control cluster in the normal 2x3 layout rather than a vertical line myself.
And of course, no ISO is a dealbreaker!
As I’m not a keyboard aficionado the price makes it hard to justify. But I find myself wanting it anyway so maybe I’ll splurge when I buy my desktop from System 76 😂
No ISO and super expensive for what it offers... :( they're both complete deal breakers for me. I wish more companies could think about users outside the US.
One thing I like about the layout of this is that the super key is to the right of alt (by default). If you have a standard keyboard, notice that alt is somewhat to the left of your D key, where as this super key is lined up with it, and the key to the left of that (the "access layer 2" key) is almost where your normal alt key would be. This is useful because on Linux generally we will use the super key + 1,2,3,4 to switch virtual desktops or grab/resize windows. However your thumb gets tucked way under your hand to hit that key normally. Personally I use alt instead of super for this reason, but that kind of sucks too because a good number of apps (like blender for example) use alt for many of their shortcuts. So if I got this, I would use meta for my WM stuff, and then swap alt with their "access layer 2" key to put that back where it should be. It wouldn't interfeare with my mussle memory for space either because my left thumb tends to hit my space roughly between the F and G keys, exactly lined up with there this space bar is, so the area to the left is wasted.
So yes, I like this idea, I might get one. I recently got a moonlander keyboard, and while the software is great, I vastly underestimated the learning curve of actually adapting to a layout that was so radically different. I also think their thumb section is too far away.
Excellent comprehensive review. Dear manufacturers, send Nick things he can keep. Stop with the review units already.
@The Linux Experiment The main benefit of the split spacebar is to assign one of the keys to something else: For me, the left side backspace. Think about how much you are stretching your hand away from the home row to make a correction every time you type. You will never go back once you get used to this.
Are these keyboards hot swappable ? I'd be interested, although shipping to France is actually extremely high...
U know..system76 good and well but its simply copys of in that case the keychron. Maybe even using the same board. rebrands. Same that their laptops are and nothing they rebrand will change how much behind the OS is behind microsoft. Apple at least made their hardware that took them apart and in some aspectrs ahead.
Also no, two spacebars when u can hit the single spacebar at both ends is just silly.
You don't type weird. I use only my index, middle, and ring fingers and sometimes my thumbs for the spacebar. More accurate and faster than "home row/traditional" for me
Say hello to the FOSS keyboard 👋!
Thanks for the video, Nick 🍉😉👍!
I am glad you reviewed a keyboard. The layout is a bit strange. Does anyone know why did they make the layout like that?
For this kind of money, unless you are highly uninterested in the details and want prepackaged, you can get a superb custom qmk/vial enabled keeb and the pleasure of lubing the switches to perfection.
I wish their heavy would sport the numpad on the left instead of standard position on the right. Then it would be somewhat unique as a prepackaged keeb.
Cool keyboard with lots of nice features, but I just don’t care enough to pay $300. Lots of nice high quality options for less.
I like the way the keyboard looks but the layout is weird and it is change for no reason, I hate that. Plus it's super expensive. Why the need to reinvent the wheel or fix what isnt broken? Is there some huge demand to change keyboard layouts? I'll pass.
“ANSI, the not ISO layout” is wrong. There are more than 2 standard physical layouts for keyboards.
You holding the product in the main shot was so unusual, and the little BUBBLE COMM? THAT was almost alienating compared to previous style for me. But, maybe it's a good thing.
Is there a variant of the keyboard:
- without leds
- whole enter button :D
- whole space :D
:D ?
Honestly as good as it looks the price is so expensive I would be using any other mechanic or customizable keyboard instead of this. I was interested at first but then I simply went for several other options.
Thanks, but I'm sticking with the Logitech K120 inherited from my Father.
Wow so saving your configs on the keyboard itself means you can use it on windows Mac and Linux just plug and play like
It's expensive, but also one of the only keyboards I've seen with a numpad in the exact same design I like... shoot
Can someone enlight me, what the difference between modern mechanical keyboard and 20-year-old keyboard is?
It exists only one Keyboard: ultimate Hacking Keyboard :)
Its Amazing POP OS is much better than Arch....cause Arch Sucks...
Nice keyboard. I’m buying one. You get what you pay for. $299 is not that much.
Did you ever watched how to pull keycaps? You use the wrong side.
I always did it like that, works well enough 😅
@@TheLinuxEXP And who cares if System76 gets their review units back all scratched :P
I mean, on one hand I am on board with justifying everything with "works well enough", and at the same time, as someone caring for his mechanical keyboard, it was a bit painful to watch you lever those poor keycaps off like that :D
But you're forgiven, cause you're not a keyboard guy! :)
I would like to get lite, but price is too much even without international shipping. Also I would like to get some 40% ortho more
A tiny hint that you can see from outer Jupiter orbit:
I think you might want to use some Auto-Spelling app...
Oof, no Scandinavian letter keys... I'd love to have one, otherwise.
Logitech K120: €10
This: 300 Yankee money.
Lol, lmao even
hate the space bar and this might sound silly, but the way the caps, shift, ctrl dont line up on the left with tab just feels so out of place. also the single coloumn home, pgup/dn keys kinda suck
No ISO azerty? Not a buy for me, if they'd release an azerty I'd probably buy it.
these look really cool, but honestly the price is a bit much. I applaud open design, though.
My keyboard in the '90s was heavy enough for self defense. I miss that.
The letters on the keycaps don't illuminate? For $300?
It is FOSS. So can I take it for free?
You can grab all the schematics and make your own, yeah
dropping 299 for kalih quality is a joke LMAO
It would be cool if System76 released a mouse to go along side the keyboards.
You could really "home row" someone with that. Do people still do that nowadays?
I've been waiting for this... although I got a Q6.
keyboard nerd here just stepping in to say yes there are defiantly better options available.
keyboard nerd here just stepping in to say yes there are defiantly better options available.
The side you used is the switch pulled, not keycap
The wire side was the switch puller.
Sadly, like so many others they doesn't seem have any options for international caps
100$ shipping :D costs more than a good keyboard
I am personally not a fan of floating key design. Cool otherwise.
They missed out on making the launch heavy a detachable numpad
Nick, I don't line the end screen music, I like the old music better!
Do you ever see keypads with all the keys for hexadecimal?
Je savait que tu était français, j'ai reconnu ton accent mais je n'était pas sûr. je ne pensait pas que tant de français que ça utilisait linux, pour moi c'était plutôt un truc beaucoup plus anglophone.
Please tell me it supports the compose key in the firmware :x
For 300 dollars I would have at least expected a capacitive buckling spring keyboard 😵
Not if you want hot-swappable switches. But yeah, I loved my NMB The Right Touch keyboard with space invader switches...
Don't use it like a cold weapon. It is heavy :).
As always writing a comment to support the channel
Man there's a lot to like about these keyboard:
100% open source soft/firm/hardware
Super customisable with on board settings storage
Solid build quality
These alone are absolutely amazing, I just wish they had a less cramped layout and a wireless option.
The RGB is eh, I would prefer without as it's just an unnecessary physical component that can break. I would turn it off tbh.
Agreed. The F1 key is too close to the escape key, and when you need help (F1) you're hitting bye (ESC) LOL. But honestly, they missed the boat when their "TKL" which is not really a TKL layout. And for the Launch Heavy... well numeric keypads are better served by a separate unit for if/when you need to enter some numbers (accounting/taxes/etc). For coding, I almost never use it and really need the home key section instead. I'd have to completely reprogram the Launch Heavy and even remove some keys and totally change the layout to get close to the true TKL layout. So sad as they ALMOST had this right.
I’m glad they made a lower cost minimal option,