Ever Trend Zone Apple Accessories has a reputation for being a bit of a pricey side. For example, a Magic Keyboard $129 or more may be considered expensive if a third-party model under $20 is available. However, Norbauer’s Seneca keyboards actively make Apple’s prices look like the dollar store level…
The Seneca Mechanical Keyboard will be available today from the $3,600 From. For that price you can buy a very well-finished MacBook Pro or Vision Pro.
Founder Ryan Norbauer admits that this sounds crazy.
On paper, there’s nothing to be said about this. It’s above. Unnecessarily luxurious. enthusiastically unreasonable.
And that’s the point. If you are looking for a keyboard to only solve practical needs on the ground, Seneca may not be for you (…) it is intended to be a beautiful, sentimental escape hatch to a better place.
Why is it so expensive?
Its complex mechanism can only be assembled and adjusted by a single craftsman, starting from start to finish, for hours or more of a skilled job: hours of a single craftsman.
All components are custom made (up to individually machined screws) and hyperengineered from first principles for maximum acoustic, artistic and tactile refinement.
Even key switches are designed and manufactured by Norbauer. These are not the mechanical switches you would expect from a premium keyboard.
The elastomer dome on a capacitive keyboard uses controlled disruption at a given inflection point of the downstroke, giving a satisfying tactile snap. Furthermore, the unusual physical design of the key system (freely slipping linear bearings made of resin that flattens the helical coils relative to the sensor pads) produce distinctive and satisfying sounds.
Seneca takes the architecture of these switches as inspiration, but reinvents and reengineers all the components from scratch. This allowed us to build a keyboard with fundamentally vintage characters, but we can play keyboards optimized for everything 21st century keyboard enthusiasts have learned, and feel unique and fun.
This design is intended to blend elements from the 80s and 90s with elements from the mid-century look.
But I don’t just think these semiotic codes (please forgive me) are inherently beautiful. I love them because they capture Feeling: Nostalgic optimism for the future.
These decades have made incredible advancements in aerospace, energy, computing and communication technologies, accompanied by broad belief in the inevitable nature of cultural advancement, economic growth and liberalization.
You can see and hear it working here:
I personally do not order, but I can order from the company website later today.
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Via bold fireballs. Photo: Nobower.
