DAS is a company that, since inception, has strived to make the highest quality peripherals for the price. We had the opportunity to put the new DAS Keyboard 4C Ultimate through its paces.
The 4C provides the following features:
- Tenkeyless Design
- Greetech Blue and Brown Switches
- Blue – Clicky Clack – 60gf Operating Force, 60 gf Tactile Force
- Brown – Soft Tactile – 45gf Operating Force, 60 gf Tactile Force
- NKRO option
- “Each key is scanned completely independently by the keyboard hardware, so that each keypress is correctly detected regardless of how many other keys are being pressed or held down at the time.”
- Gold-plated mechanical switches lasting up to 50 million keystrokes.
**Our test unit was sent with the NKRO option and Blue Switches.**
We decided that, while we love gaming, a big part of our everyday usage of a keyboard comes down to, “how does it feel when you are typing?”. So, I brought it to work. For four days, I used it just as a generic keyboard. It felt great, the response while typing was smooth and once I got attuned to the sound, I was able to overlook or tone out the clicky-clack of the keys. The tactile feel when typing was definitely a welcome addition to my experience. I know that it seems like it wouldn’t make that much of a difference, but it was.
After my four days of general typing, I hopped into gaming. Shooters are my preference as most of you know, CS:GO being the highest on the list. I booted up the game and started running through my backlog of campaign missions. I spent a few hours in game, burning through a bunch of missions, and I was very impressed by the keyboard. I did not encounter any issues with cross-key or rollover (very happy that the NKRO was an option for this unit) and the tactile feedback really let me feel more of what I was doing.
I’ll be honest; I do not own a mechanical keyboard, and before doing this review I never saw the value in spending the extra money. After spending the time with this keyboard, I will definitely be investing in one for myself.
Pros:
- The Weight: The keyboard plate is made from anodized aluminum. This makes the keyboard heavy enough to not slide around on the desk after simply being bumped.
- The Feel: The tactile feedback from the Greetech Blue switches was perfect for both my gaming and typing experiences.
Cons:
I personally could not find any cons solely based on the features during the time that I used the keyboard.
The Price Point:
- Comparing the price point to other mechanical keyboards of the same nature (no backlight, simplistic design), DAS Keyboard 4C Ultimate is priced somewhat steeply. Though when you are investing in a DAS, you are picking up a unit that is built to last.
From experience, BaseLAN has been using a DAS keyboard (that we were lucky enough to receive) at our demo booths for a number of years. Between travelling to and from events, and being used and abused by the Convention and LAN going public, it is still in immaculate shape. The other keyboards for our demonstration PCs have been replaced multiple times but the DAS is still going strong.
Personal Thoughts:
I would have preferred the tenkey design; my daily usage and gaming life tends to use the numpad a lot, whether it be for number crunching at work or macros/binds for gaming. I missed it. However, this does not weigh into my review at all. This is a great keyboard and I highly recommend it.
David Alberto is a Contributing Editor for aybonline.com. You can often find him making people cry in Counter-Strike. Roll percentile dice to see if his opinions change, your chances are slim.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Should this piece have been an AYBReviews rather than a BASELine? AYBReviews normally feature performance-lab-level testing and results, which is difficult to do with keyboards since no tests like that exist for them. We tested this to the limits of available testing; is that a good enough marker for an AYBR? Let us know in the comments! –JM
