CODE mechanical keyboard promises low noise

Jeff Atwood from the Coding Horror blog teamed up with WASD Keyboards to introduce the CODE Keyboard, a new no-nonsense 102-key mechanical keyboard that promises quick, comfortable typing, with a consistent tactile feedback and none of the clicking noise associated with traditional mechanical keyboards.

The CODE Keyboard uses the rare Cherry MX Clear mechanical switches, they combine solid actuation force with quiet, non-click activation, and a nice tactile bump on every keystroke. The keyboard's switches are mounted to a steel backplate and a dual-layer PCB that provides strong solder joints if you want to modify it yourself. This results in a weight of 2.42 pounds (1.1kg).

The keyboard supports both USB and PS/2, it offers 6-key rollover when used via USB and N-key rollover in PS/2 mode. Other special features include white LED illumination for every key, a detachable USB cable and some DIP switches on the back to configure the keyboard (like switching from QWERTY to Dvorak, or disabling the Windows Key).

Sounds like a pretty decent keyboard but the biggest drawback is that it's quite expensive - the MSRP is $149.99. The first batch is already sold out though.

You'll notice that the key between Ctrl and Alt has no label, that's because it can be used as both Win (on Windows) and Command (on OS X), by flicking a row of DIP-switches at the back. The same switches can be used to change the keyboard layout from QWERTY to Dvorak or Colemak, disable the Win key, and change Caps Lock to Ctrl. Its context-menu key doubles up as a Fn (function) key, which gives it six multimedia keys over existing ones. In the package, you get a detachable USB cable, a PS/2 adapter, and a tool to remove and place keys, to clean or mod the keyboard.

Source: TPU