Go big or go home: Alienware recently constructed a massive mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse (for promotional purposes, of course) and enlisted a top esports team to help real-world test them. Alienware's own AW420K mechanical keyboard and AW720M gaming mouse served as inspiration for the super-sized creations – 14:1 replicas of the real things.
The team 3D scanned the components and simply multiplied everything by 14, which sounded great on paper but proved difficult to build.
The spacebar weighs about 20 pounds, took a full three days to 3D print, and uses a 1-inch diameter copper pipe as its stabilizer bar. Each standard key on the board is nearly a foot wide and has four inches of mechanical travel, but the toughest part of all was making the oversized mechanical switches.
The build team used two pieces of snug-fitting PVC pipe and a large rubber band for the stem, and even baked in a piece of tape measure to give it that metallic clicky noise when fully depressed. The full board measures around 17 feet wide and requires multiple people to move it. The mouse, meanwhile, features two mechanical click buttons, functional side buttons, and a to-scale scroll wheel.
The end result is what Alienware claims is the largest mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse combo in the world.
Alienware brought in members of Team Liquid, a pro esports team, for a few rounds of DOTA 2. Five members of the team manned the keyboard and mouse (three on the board, two on the mouse), and competed against the team coach, who had to deal with multiple handicaps to level the playing field.
Those interested in the regular-sized versions of Alienware's gaming accessories can pick up the Tenkeyless board in white or black priced at $99.99 directly from Dell. The tri-mode AW720M wireless gaming mouse is also offered in matching white or black colorways and will set you back $129.99.