In the past few years, the trend in keyboards has been toward smaller layouts with fewer and fewer keys. The vaunted numpad, which you can remap to become anything you want, is now gone from many models and there are many keyboards without arrow or function keys. But what about those of us who, like me, think that the best mechanical keyboards should be going in the opposite direction, adding more keys for macros and quick program launches?

Today, I’m typing this article on a prototype build of the MechBoards Hyper7 R4, a 17.6-pound (8 kg)keyboard with 178 keys, the most of any keyboard on the market, perhaps the most ever made. The keyboard is being made and sold as part of a 500-unit production run by UK-based MechBoards. Most of the units in this run (the fourth incarnation) are already spoken for and headed to pre-orderers. But, as of this writing, some are still available at the company’s site. Because I tested a prototype and because this is a limited-production item at the end of its run, we’ve chosen not to give this product a star rating.

The Hyper7 R4 is a beautiful and highly unique keyboard that makes you feel like the ultimate power user as soon as you put your hands on it. The keys are laid out in six different blocks, with a bottom set of three blocks that includes the alphanumeric keys and an upper of three blocks of programmable keys that are elevated and titled up at a roughly 45-degree angle. Placing this keyboard in front of my four-monitor desktop setup made me feel like I was ready to take over the world with the right combination of button presses.