The System76 Launch is a keyboard built for the future

3 years ago 437

If you're looking for your "forever keyboard," Jack Wallen believes System76 tin motorboat you into caller typing heights.

I'm going to preface this by offering up my accustomed informing erstwhile I reappraisal keyboards. The Ultimate Hacking Keyboard has acceptable the barroom truthful high, it's astir unfair for different manufacturers. Setting speech my UHK, System76 has created what mightiness we beryllium the champion keyboard connected the market. The Launch is simply a vessel of a small instrumentality that packs truthful overmuch goodness into a amazingly tiny signifier origin without risking your wrists successful the doing. It's comfortable, it's configurable and it's beautiful.

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But then, what other would you expect from System76? After all, it is the shaper of the top desktop instrumentality connected the market. Why wouldn't it travel that up by adding a keyboard worthy of the Thelio?

And that's what the institution has done, by launching the Launch. System76 created what galore volition see to beryllium the cleanable machine interface. Not lone person they squeezed a ton of keys and functionality into a tiny footprint, but they've besides made it highly configurable, open-source, brilliantly lit, and adjacent turned the happening into a high-speed USB hub.

Here's a speedy rundown of the features:

Two antithetic switches to take from (Royal for a muted click and Jades for a most-satisfying click).
Cyclable RGB colour spectrum backlighting.
Solid milled aluminum body.
Attachable magnetic ft for a 15-degree incline.
Split abstraction barroom (so you tin usage either for a antithetic function).
Two high-speed USB-C and USB-A ports.
Custom cardinal layouts with a useful Keyboard Configurator (available for Linux, macOS and Windows).
Easy cardinal swapping (with included cardinal puller).
Four layers of customization (including personalized app shortcuts and hardware functionality).
Tenkeyless layout.

That unsocial should merchantability you connected the Launch. If you're 1 who likes to tweak each facet of your computer, wherefore not widen that to the keyboard? With the Launch, the sky's the bounds to customization.

But successful truth, the people of a bully keyboard isn't the customization, but however it feels beneath your fingers. For me, that's wherever the Launch truly shines. Granted, I'm utilized to a keyboard that offers absorption and an audible click. But see this: I benignant much than a cardinal words a year, truthful a bully keyboard is an implicit indispensable for me. I've tried keyboards that see soundless keys with adjacent to nary travel. I enactment with Apple keyboards that consciousness arsenic if, immoderate second, the keys volition get stuck oregon simply halt functioning. In short, I've tally the gamut of keyboards, and the Launch instantly roseate to the apical of my database astatine archetypal click.

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That's however bully this keyboard is. And the quality to tweak the hardware to conscionable your nonstop needs is icing connected an already performant and businesslike cake.

Longevity built-in

After pounding distant connected this keyboard for a week, it became wide the Launch is simply a keyboard built for the future. Because you tin customize it to perfectly suit your situation (be it based connected an operating system, a task oregon a location), you tin beryllium definite this keyboard volition germinate with you. But that's not the lone crushed the Launch is present to stay. This keyboard is simply a tank. The switches are stone solid, and the chassis is milled from a coagulated portion of aluminum. In different words, it's going to past ... and past ... and last.

Space barroom genius

My Ultimate Hacking Keyboard has a divided abstraction bar. However, that is owed to the divided quality of the keyboard. Thing is, that near spacebar goes wholly unused. System76 saw imaginable successful this, divided that cardinal successful fractional (Figure A), and made it specified that you could remap it to different function.

Figure A

If you're arsenic into ratio arsenic I am, you cognize wasted keys person nary spot connected a keyboard. System76 splitting that abstraction barroom into 2 configurable keys was a changeable of genius.

None of this should travel arsenic a surprise, fixed however overmuch attraction and effort the institution puts into everything it produces. System76 has a heart, and it beats beardown for open-source and its customers. And if you're looking for your adjacent everlastingly keyboard, bash not place the Launch. Although you mightiness cringe astatine the $285 terms tag, fixed this could beryllium the past keyboard you ever buy, the terms is good worthy it.

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