I have to say that nothing looks quite this impressive right out of the box. I was sent the “ice” version which has blue LEDs and a blue, translucent casing. Even before plugging it in, I had to say that this was very nice looking. Though the backlight was not on, the keys were still easy to read and I could type very nicely. Turning it over, you can see that the bottom of the keyboard is diamond plated steel screwed into the plastic casing, and rubber dots are its only slip prevention. We’ll see how well those hold up.


The USB connection glows blue upon plugging it in and the keyboard shines extremely brightly. I once reported a keyboard as blindingly bright. Deck completely owns the backlighting on that keyboard, hands down. I never thought I would see a keyboard that was this bright when considering that it is lit by LEDs underneath the keyboard. A really impressive glow. What’s more? The keyboard has no need for any drivers whatsoever. Windows recognizes it as a normal keyboard and away you go.
 
More impressions
Looking around the keyboard, there are a few things that I missed when I originally looked it over. The font on the keyboard lettering and symbols is very different and I am not able to identify what font they used. Now, at first, I thought this was going to bother me, but it actually didn’t bother me. The letters are nice and large and the font does not interfere with the readability of the keyboard at all. Deck offers a number of options when ordering including a more standard typeface and even (if requested) the Dvorak layout. Correction: Deck no longer offers the Dvorak layout, nor the more standard typeface keys. Also, the font on the keys was custom made for them. The ability to customize even before the keyboard arrives is nice.

The other benefits of this keyboard include its complete modifiability. Deck wanted to provide a keyboard of not only superior quality, but one that you could truly make your own. They wanted to make sure I was able to experience this aspect of the keyboard so they sent along some extras including a clear plastic housing ($15), a Linux keycap replacement set ($10), and a bag of 12 Green LEDs ($6). I will show you some pics of what I was able to accomplish later.