Star Wars Keyboard with Touchpad LCD?

ThinkGeek has a lot of fun stuff for geeks, and while the grand majority of it is reasonably attainable, I came across a puzzling gem of an item posted earlier this week that both intrigued and confused me.

Meet the Star Wars Keyboard with an LCD Touchpad.

Of course, I instantly began to wonder why this was called the Star Wars Keyboard. While the LCD panel was displaying a vaguely Imperial logo (but better Alliance logo in another image), I didn’t see anything at all about this that screamed “Star Wars.”

Editor’s note: Well, the keyboard does look a little like something you’d find aboard an imperial starship, but maybe it’s only me…

The claim is that the keyboard is designed for the Star Wars Old Republic MMO, but quickly adds that it could be used for any MMO. The programmable macro keys are designed to make these sort of games easier to control.

And another great feature about the keyboard of course is the Touch LCD panel instead of the standard numeric keypad. You can program gesture controls into the screen or simply use the LCD to display alternative content such as a YouTube video or messenger tools. The image shows a Dragonball image in the screen because what else would you want to advertise a Star Wars Keyboard with?

The style of the keyboard is not inherently Star Wars in appearance, nor is it limited for use on Star Wars games. Furthermore, most people do not look at the keyboard when using it, so a secondary built in screen seems a bit redundant.

I was drawn to the style and layout of the keyboard, and while I thought the LCD touchpad and screen would be a great addition, I quickly got over it.

So aside from it not being very Star Wars, does this keyboard appeal to you? How about its $260 price tag?