What makes a keyboard premium? Maybe it is the key travel, a backlight or how clicky it is. For Microsoft, it is also the material that the keyboard is housed in.
At least, that’s the story it’s telling with its new $160 Signature Type Cover for the Surface Pro 3 and 4. The “luxurious” keyboard and touchpad combo is surrounded in a material called Alcantara, which Microsoft claims is durable yet soft and “ages beautifully, growing richer and darker over time.”
https://youtu.be/9IBLg4gCXiQ
According to Microsoft, the premium keyboard takes five weeks to produce, thanks to a complicated extrusion process for the material, which is also crimped, needle-punched and dyed before the final assembly. Because of quirks in the material, each case has a unique two-tone pattern that reflects age by getting darker and richer.
Not much has changed from the standard, $130 Surface Pro Type Cover other than the new material, which replaces the plasticy-yet-soft shell of the standard model. The same large glass trackpad and spaced keys give the cover a laptop-like feel for getting work done.
The premium keyboard comes as Microsoft sees increasing pressure from Apple with its iPad Pro lineup. Apple sells an iPad Pro keyboard case with a fabric overlay, but its model lacks a trackpad (in part because iOS doesn’t support input from a mouse).
The Signature Type Cover is available now for $159.99.