Meet the Keyview 13 Touch, a mechanical keyboard that’s tired of being referred to as an accessory or peripheral, and has adopted considerable main-character energy to become the star of your setup.
At its core, this peripheral chimera remains a keyboard, featuring a hot-swappable 75% or 82-key ANSI layout with PBT keycaps and mysterious “Yellow” switches — accented by RGB backlighting (and side lit similarly), and including a useful rotary dial at the top right of the device.
For some, that’s enough of a product as it is. However, the Keyview 13 Touch is barely getting started, with its additional 13-inch touchscreen being the tip of a bizarrely compelling iceberg.
Keyview 13 Touch: The keyboard of Theseus
When does a keyboard stop being a keyboard and become something else entirely?
The Keyview 13 Touch takes its keyboard offering and straps so many extras on top that you’d assume Aura Displays, the company behind it, was originally looking to make laptops, but after a failed delivery of mainboards and processors said “Screw it, let’s assemble anyway.”
The result? A 4.6-pound amalgamation of keyboard, monitor, docking station, and storage that’ll make you look like a closeted laptop lover living in denial.
The 13-inch, 24:9 touchscreen features a 10-point multitouch IPS panel with a 1920x720 resolution, a 60Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 300 nits. It’s also hinged, allowing it to lie flat above the keys or tilted up to 90 degrees. It even has a kickstand to gain a little bit of extra height and improve the keyboard’s ergonomics.
Micro monitors like this can be surprisingly useful, and ever since I got my hands on the Asus ZenBook Pro 14 Duo OLED a few years back, I’ve been enamored by the idea of adding a small ultra-widescreen secondary display to my setup. I just couldn’t stomach paying nearly $500 on the 14-inch, 32:9 ASUS ProArt Display at the time — so this, genuinely, appeals to me.
From there, the Keyview continues to blur the lines. It also features a built-in M.2 SSD slot for expanded storage, an SD/TF interface for storage cards, a 3.5mm twin USB 3.0 (5Gbps) ports, and two USB-C ports, one of which has 60W of Power Delivery. There’s even a small 1W speaker. For what reason, I’m unsure.
KeyView 13 Touch: Where to find it
While it might look bizarre, and it may seem overkill, the Keyview 13 Touch is one of those oddly compelling products that will have your mouse cursor hovering over the add to cart button and teetering over the thought to click.
I may even make that click myself. I’ve a soft spot for tech that’s a little odd, and the Keyview's display is something I’ve been looking to add to my setup for a while. If nothing else, it’s a conversation piece.
If you’re interested, the Keyview 13 Touch is available now for $399, 20% off its typical $499 price, from the Aura Display online store.
