The System76 Launch is a very interesting keyboard to say the least and I suppose we also see first-hand what happens when everything is designed, manufactured, sold, and supported in the USA as opposed to China. We get a keyboard that I'd argue is a decent buy maybe for $200 based on the current market, but costs $285, owing to the higher wages being paid out to everyone involved. There's also a non-zero chance of more logical working hours having gone into the making of this keyboard too, and no doubt there will be many who would be happy to see a "Made in USA" product. I am just not sure all of that verbal support will necessarily translate to wallets opening up to purchase this for the asking price.

The list of pros heavily outnumbers the cons here, and there's no denying the Launch is a good keyboard by many different measures. Indeed, first impressions are strong, owing to the nice unboxing experience and the rich accessory count. When taking out the keyboard you realize it's also not quite like the rest of the offerings in the market due to the open-source nature of the chassis, PCB, and firmware, also appreciated. There will be many who will be glad to have a premium keyboard supporting not just Windows and macOS, but also various Linux distributions including the company's own Pop!_OS. Yet for the vast majority of people reading this review, all this doesn't matter much, given they are unlikely to deviate from the retail keyboard/Windows OS combination and have no plans to customize beyond what is offered via software. Here, at least on the first-party configurator, things could be improved upon too. Overall there are enough challenges for the asking price to be a deterrent against a recommendation. There are niche use cases where the Launch would absolutely convince though.