The Seneca keyboard debuts at $3,600, promises "insane engineering" and sensual typing

In a market segment where consumers often balk at Apple's $129 Magic Keyboard, luxury manufacturer Norbauer has unveiled a mechanical keyboard that completely redefines premium pricing in the tech accessory space. The Seneca keyboard, available starting today (March 24, 2025) with a base price of $3,600, costs more than many high-end MacBook Pros or even Apple's Vision Pro headset.

Founder Ryan Norbauer admits the price seems irrationally high:

On paper, nothing about this makes any sense. It is over the top. Needlessly lavish. Exuberantly irrational. And that is the point.

Rather than framing the Seneca as merely a typing device, Norbauer describes it as "a sentimental escape hatch to a beautiful and better place — a world of sensual luxury, insane engineering, and forgotten visions of a glimmering future."

The extraordinary price tag represents an equally extraordinary production process. Each keyboard requires hours of skilled work, with a single worker (supposedly) handling the assembly from start to finish. Every one of the 682 components, down to the individual screws, is custom-made and "hyper-engineered from first principles for maximum acoustic, artistic, and tactile refinement."

Even the key switches represent a complete reimagining of keyboard technology, claims the company. While drawing inspiration from the elastomeric domes of capacitive keyboards that provide a "satisfying tactile snap," the Seneca "reinvents and reengineers every component from the ground up." The result is described as blending "vintage character" with optimizations derived from what "21st century keyboard enthusiasts have learned can make keyboards sound and feel uniquely pleasurable."

Aesthetically, the Seneca merges mid-century modern design elements with influences from the '80s and '90s. Norbauer explains this design choice as an attempt to capture "nostalgic optimism for the future."

These decades saw incredible advances in aerospace, energy, computing, and communication technologies, accompanied by a pervasive belief in the inevitability of cultural progress, economic growth, and liberalization. The Seneca is my middle finger to the aesthetic homogeneity and economic over-optimization of 21st century life — Ryan Norbauer.

For most consumers, the Seneca will remain an object of curiosity rather than a practical purchase. But for the select few willing to spend supercomputer prices on a typing device, Norbauer offers what might be the ultimate keyboard grace.