It's $500!! Man I'm all about paying extra for gamer bling. I buy a new gaming mouse every 4 or 5 months so I ain't judging anyone but $500 for a keyboard? If I could crap cash I would still have a hard time paying that much for a keyboard.
Wow, that makes mine feel cheap by comparison.
Today my
WASD Keyboards Code V2 with green switches costs $130 + another $135 for the
solid milled anodized black aluminum case. Then I paid another $30 for the set of YMDK
Dolch-patterned backlit/shine through PBT keycaps on Amazon.
So, grand total for my keyboard setup is $295 today.
This is a little cheaper than when I bought it. Back then there was an option to have the keyboard come with the aluminum case pre-installed (which I can't seem to find now) and that combo cost me $305 + shipping ($334.58 shipped). So back then my total config cost me about $365.
Installing the case is really easy. Just a few screws, so that is not an issue.
As for the YMDK keycaps, I like their feel, sound and their appearance (at least when new) but they don't seem to wear well for PBT keycaps. I've had them installed since mid to late January, and the space bar is already worn a bit shiny where my fingers usually impact it during typing.
The keyboard and case are pretty much my endgame config. As far as caps go - however - I'm casually keeping ym eyes open for good alternatives.
Keycaps can be shocklingly expensive, presumably because injection molding them (if you have the double shot, not printed or dye suyb varieties) requires molding 104 different keys, either with different molds, or the same mold with different inserts. This is going to be labor intensive, and reduces the amount of economies of scale you can achieve. We are used toi plastic parts being mass prosduced and cheap, but for this reason, keycaps cannot meet this expectation, unless you are producing
absolutely massive quantities of identical keyboards, which defeats the purpose of the "unique customization" hobby many have.
I wish I could just buy spare color-matched space bars as thats the only key that seems to be wearing shiny for me.
There are feequent group buys for keycaps on places like Drop (previously massdrop) but most of the good quality keycaps I can find from highly reputable vendors are - for some reason - double shot, but not shine through, and I really like my shine through keycaps (with minimal underglow)
Anyway, I digress. Back to work.
