MSI's GT80 Titan Notebook Becomes World's First To Include Mechanical Keyboard

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I wish my laptop had a mechanical keyboard!", but have been left depressed with the dearth of options? If so, MSI's latest gaming laptop is worthy of your consideration. Called the GT80 Titan, MSI has impressively embedded an entire mechanical keyboard in its base, complete with CHERRY MX brown switches (light bump, non-clicky).

Behold, what I feel to be one of the most interesting laptops ever:

I admit that I've joked with myself (because I'm a little odd like that) about having a notebook with a mechanical keyboard, but I never actually thought it was something that should happen. I am not sure I would have even guessed it would happen, because a mechanical keyboard is very clunky, and could dramatically impact the visual appeal of said notebook. I think that rings true here; I'm honestly not feeling the aesthetics of the GT80 Titan at all.

That said, this is one of those compromises that people would have to make to gain access to a far better keyboard while on-the-go - while being able to avoid the clunky setup that's created when you have to hook up an external. There are some other things to consider: With its mechanical keyboard, the GT80 Titan is far more prone to keycaps literally falling off or going missing than any other notebook. On the flipside, cleaning this keyboard would be far easier than standard notebook keys, since you actually would be able to remove the keycaps.

For what it's worth, this isn't just some ordinary mechanical keyboard; instead, it comes from SteelSeries, a company that knows how to design great peripherals. Because of the GT80 Titan's 18-inch size (you read that right!), a full numpad is included, although it's touch, rather than mechanical. You might notice something else a bit strange here: There's no touchpad at the bottom. Instead, the numpad doubles as the touchpad, which is a pretty cool design.

At this point, MSI is really not giving us too much else to go on; there's no mention of specs, although given its massive size, and its goal as being a gaming notebook offering precision control, I think it goes without saying that it's going to ultimately bundle some high-performing parts.

So - who wants one?