Computex — Would you believe that the most interesting keyboard at Computex came from a company known primarily for its motherboards? When we visited Gigabyte’s Computex showcase at Taipei 101, we were surprised to see a new mechanical gaming keyboard decked out with Cherry MX red switches.
Behind every key on the Aivia Osmium sits a mechanical switch, Gigabyte says, including the five macro keys in the upper left corner. Next to the macro row lie two analog wheels: one to adjust the brightness of the blue backlight, and another to control the audio volume. Analog headphone and microphone jacks can be found along the right edge.
The audio ports are linked to pass-through connectors, and so is the built-in USB connectivity. USB ports are commonly found on modern keyboards, but the Osmium’s are SuperSpeed-compatible. This is the first keyboard we’ve seen with USB 3.0.
Gigabyte told us the Osmium will set you back around $100, which seems impossibly inexpensive given the cost of other backlit mechanical keyboards. We’ll try to get our hands on one to make sure it’s not too good to be true.