Altair and Altair-X
Current status: Group buy from April 29 to June 3, estimated shipping on Q1 2025
(https://i.imgur.com/CDAoNo9.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/RMJ16DF.jpg)
After half a decade of development and over two years of use as a daily driver, Altair and Altair-X represent ai03's current benchmark in keyboard design for productivity and comfort.
Going beyond just internals or mounting methods, the Altair family blends a fully-split ergonomic key layout with high-end keyboard visuals and internals to take typing comfort to the next level.
This is the group buy thread - for the full context, wall of text, and mass of photos regarding the project that would be a bit too much to mirror here, please see the IC thread (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=122278).
(https://i.imgur.com/mUV5E7b.jpg)
Vendors/Product pages
- CannonKeys (https://cannonkeys.com/products/altair)
- Mechboards (https://mechboards.co.uk/collections/newest-products/products/altair-split-ergonomic-keyboard-group-buy)
- KBDfans (https://kbdfans.com/products/altair-altair-x)
- Acid & Co. (https://acidand.co/products/pre-orderaltair-altair-x-by-cannonkeys-ai03)
- Swagkeys (https://www.swagkey.kr/690451267/?idx=844)
- Sandkeys (https://sandkeys.me/product/altair-ai03/)
- Keebz N Cables (https://www.keebzncables.com/collections/altair-altair-x)
- Keygem (https://keygem.com/products/altair-altair-x-by-ai03-group-buy)
- Yushakobo (https://shop.yushakobo.jp/products/9073)
Pricing and Kitting
Base kit contents:
- The case halves
- Polycarbonate plates
- Brass weights per half
- PCB and daughterboard per half, along with their ribbon cables
- USB-C to USB-C cable for interconnect use
- Custom carrying case
- Rubber feet and gaskets
- Screws and hardware for assembly
Full pricing:
Altair (5-row)
- Case - 315 USD for dark grey and rose gold, 325USD for e-white
- Learning keyset - 30 USD
- Extra plates - 40 USD for a pair of PC, 55USD for a pair of alu, 25USD for a pair of FR4
- Extra hotswap PCB pair - 55 USD
- Foam layers kit (midfoams, bottomfoams) - 28 USD
Altair-X (4-row)
- Case - 300 USD for dark grey and rose gold, 310USD for e-white
- Learning keyset - 27 USD
- Extra plates - 37 USD for a pair of PC, 52USD for a pair of alu, 21USD for a pair of FR4
- Extra hotswap PCB pair - 51 USD
- Foam layers kit (midfoams, bottomfoams) - 26 USD
Common Accessories
- Extra gaskets kits - 7 USD
- Extra USB-C interconnect cable - 5 USD
- Extra USB daughterboards - 11 USD
- Wooden wristrests pair - 28 USD (Note: Please check wood QC guidelines here (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0238/7342/1376/files/altair-wrist-rest-qc.png?v=1714425008)
- Extra rubber feet (a whopping 24 per kit to account for 6 per each wristrest) - 5 USD
Specifications
Typing angle: 7deg
Materials: Aluminum case, polycarbonate plate (by default), brass weight
Manufacturer: Hongtu
Weight (both halves combined): ~1.2kg (Altair 5-row) | ~900g (Altair-X 4-row)
Dimensions (per half): ~143.6 x 126.4 x 30.0mm (Altair 5-row) | ~143.6 x 107.4 x 27.9mm (Altair-X 4-row)
PCB: 1.2mm thick; hotswap
Colors:
- E-white
(https://i.imgur.com/VFmLob2.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/LyoEj7U.jpg)
- Dark Grey
(https://i.imgur.com/ZqqIG1l.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/TOUa7iA.jpg)
- Rose Gold
(https://i.imgur.com/ZU6s5sV.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/CAM8cYj.jpg)
Custom keyset designs:
(https://i.imgur.com/W0ibdRL.jpeg)(https://i.imgur.com/QCcz4OF.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/nKhsqcA.jpeg)(https://i.imgur.com/rumI5Hf.jpeg)
An Important Note
While I'll be mirroring project updates here, please don't forget to check on updates from whichever vendor you are purchasing from - there may be region-specific updates at some point, for example for logistical delays that only affect one vendor or another.
I also have a Discord server (https://discord.gg/qA5JD9y) if you want to come drop by to ask questions in real-time.