Finalmouse has announced a high-end keyboard that features its own display beneath the transparent keys. It can showcase interactive skins and even games. You can find all the information about this hardware in this article.
About a month ago, a keyboard from Finalmouse was leaked, which is said to feature its own display capable of showcasing “dynamic” skins. Now the manufacturer has officially presented the keyboard and revealed more information about the high-end keyboard.
What can the Centerpiece from Finalmouse do? While many modern keyboards have RGB LED lights purely for decoration, the Centerpiece features entirely interactive skins. These are realized on a dedicated display beneath the transparent keys, powered by the Unreal Engine 5 along with its own CPU and GPU.
Consequently, the resources required for the software are provided by Finalmouse’s latest hardware itself, preventing any performance degradation for connected PCs or laptops.
The mentioned skins for the keyboard come in the form of interactive animations that react to your pressed keys or even play games, as can be seen in the announcement trailer.
You can view this here:
The first reactions to the presentation of the Centerpiece are almost exclusively positive. For example, a user writes in the YouTube comments: “This is a masterpiece, but no longer [just] a keyboard.”
What are the interactive skins of the keyboard? The announcement trailer shows how a running lion is controlled via arrow keys in a kind of minigame, or how small waves form after a key press in a pool full of Koi fish, which the fish avoid.
You should be able to store three of these animations and games simultaneously on the keyboard. With a simple press of a button, it will then be possible to quickly switch between them or turn them off completely.
How many animations will ultimately be available for the Centerpiece is currently unclear. However, the manufacturer promises a kind of shop system for additional skins via the company’s proprietary Steam app called “The Freethinker Portal.” The community will also be able to submit their own designed skins and animations, make them available for others, and even monetize them.
Additionally, sharing skins outside of this shop system will be possible. For example, it is planned to be able to transfer skins to the accounts of friend Steam users. This transfer then takes place via the integrated USB C port. Consequently, the Centerpiece is a wired keyboard.
A selection of the interactive skins shown in the trailer can be seen here:
What is known about the keys so far? The manufacturer speaks of a unique key feel and a special acoustics of the keys. These are also unlabelled to create the greatest effect of the illumination. With software, all keys can be configured in any way – for example, for the German QWERTZ layout.
The keyboard is offered in a 75% format. This means it is smaller than popular TKL keyboards that still offer certain features of the number pad.
What other information is there? So far, Finalmouse has not released any further details regarding the technical specs of its latest creation; thus, display size, brightness, resolution, or refresh rate of the animations are currently unknown.
However, it is certain that the keyboard will be released in early 2023 at a price of approximately 350 €.
More gaming keyboards: Are you looking for more recommendations in the peripherals area? Then take a look at the following buying guide on MeinMMO. Here we explain which keyboards are currently worth the most:
