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Comment by AhtiK | Hacker News Reader

These keyboards come with Cherry MX switches. Very hard to find them cheaper than $1 a piece. For a 104 key keyboard that's already over $100 :)

In addition to better feel and ergonomics [1], switches also have better maintenance properties. If one goes bad, easy to replace. If something spills, easy to clean.

With non-switch keyboards once a key stops working unless it's just a hair blocking the contact, the whole keyboard needs to be replaced.

[1] Feel and ergonomics are definitely debatable, but I'm just super happy for the switch to Filco Ninja Majestouch-2 tenkeyless ~ a year ago.. Before that I was a big fan of cheap Logitech UltraX keyboards but a after even a day with switches, UltraX felt like something unconsistent, blocking and muddy.

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You are one example of people falling into the trap, sadly.

$1 a piece is the price you get in the US, and as an individual trying to buy Cherry MX switches from a company that already bought them for a lower price.

In china things are different, and when you are a company and buying in bulk, the price can go to as low as $0.2 for a switch.

This keyboard is ridiculously overpriced. I am against this because it clearly shows the guy just wants to exploit this "kickstarter" mindset and HN entrepreneurship culture of "price high" and people will think it's revolutionary.

This reminds me of the beats by Dre headphones.

Now when I think of it more, yep, thanks for the reality check and wholeheartedly agreed.

'The guy'?

Interesting choice of words for Jeff Atwood...

In case you thought this was unintentional, it was not. I chose to use these words specially because I am against people like you with this "God worshiping" mentality, wanting to treat people differently because they are awesome.

Jeff is awesome, but don't ask me to treat him any different.

That's a serious chip you got on your shoulder there.

It's a boutique product that they've put time and effort into and won't ship volumes.

You're on HN, figure out yourself what business model they'll have to adopt and what that means they have to do with the price.

> This reminds me of the beats by Dre headphones.

These are the same price as a standard WASD keyboard. There is no premium for the "Code, by Jeff Atwood" name. Also, they are comparably priced to "Das Keyboard" ($125) which is a comparable product which has been in production for a while.

Finally, if you want a "high-price geek-out" item, look at the "Optimus Popularis" keyboard, only ~$1090!

The biases in your reasoning lies in the fact that you are assuming I am considering "Das Keyboard" and the likes to be reasonably priced. I am not. Don't try to justify an overpriced item by showing me another overpriced item in the same category.

If you can find it $1 retail, wholesale is fractions of that price. (some parts can even be 1/10 the price)

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