14 DAY TRIAL // Most mechanical keyboards I've covered were made for gamers, especially if they had LED backlighting, but here's one that targets a different demographic.
Now, though, there's finally one that is meant for other people, specifically developers of software. We say it's the first of its kind, but we might be wrong. Anyway, it's the first I've found anyway.
Called CODE, it was made by the folks at WASD Keyboards in collaboration with Jeff Atwood, the man behind the "Coding Horror" blog. Atwood was actually the instigator if I'm reading this right.
The keyboard lacks aesthetic embellishments but has 102 mechanical keys and white LED backlighting, to make the keys perfectly visible during the blackest nights of code typing.
The switches and other electronics are placed on a thick 2-layer fiberglass PCB, with a steel backplate to ground it.
Both USB and PS/2 connectivity is included, and there's no label on the Windows logo key, because it doubles as Command (on Mac OS X).
For extra compatibility, a row of DIP-switches at the back of the keyboard change the keyboard layout from QWERTY to Dvorak or Colemak. Disabling the Win key, and changing Caps Lock to Ctrl, are also among the possible changes.
Basically, the CODE Keyboard has all Atwood and WASD Keyboards could think of what could make it widely compatible and easy to use.
Moving on, the newcomer boasts 6-key roll-over; and N-key roll over when wired to PS/2, plus context-menu key doubles up as a Fn (function) key. Thus, there are six multimedia keys on top of the existing ones.
Buy it for $149.99 / €149.99 if you're interested. The package includes the keyboard itself (colored black), a PS/2 adapter, a USB cable, and a tool to remove and place keys, as well as clean or mod the keyboard. Perhaps the best part is that the CODE works entirely without drivers or other software.