Astrohaus has been selling portable, distraction-free writing devices under the Freewrite brand for years. Most have been described as portable typewriters or modern takes on word processor hardware.

But the new Freewrite Wordrunner is something different: instead of a standalone device, it’s a mechanical keyboard designed for use with PCs or mobile devices. Astrohaus is debuting the keyboard at CES and plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign in February and begin shipping the Freewrite Wordrunner to backers by the end of the year.

While there’s no shortage of mechanical keyboards to choose from these days, many are made for gamers or hardcore keyboard enthusiasts. The Wordrunner stands out as a model that’s made first and foremost for writing.

For example, the function row has custom keys that let you navigate text-based documents quickly without relying on keyboard shortcuts. For example, instead of hitting a 2-key combo to undo or redo, you can hit a single button. There are also keys for find and replace and navigating to the start or end of a paragraph. There are also three macro keys that can be mapped to custom functions.

There’s also a red joystick in the top left corner for controlling media playback, and perhaps most unusually, a “Wordometer” in the top center that tracks your typed word count using a mechanical counter. It’ll keep your count until you hit reset, which could come in handy if you want to make sure you’re meeting your goals for hammering out your novel, I guess. There’s also a timer for tracking “writing sprints.”

The keyboard has a USB-C port for wired connections as well as Bluetooth for wireless, and it can be paired with multiple devices so that you can switch from typing on your PC to typing on your phone with the press of a key. The keyboard officially supports Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, although I imagine you should be able to use at least the basic features with Linux as well.

The Freewrite Wordrunner has an aluminum body, 88 keys and a tenkeyless design (there’s no number pad), as well as a built-in palm rest. It measures 14.7″ x 12.6″ x 0.7″ and weighs 1.9 pounds.

via Engadget and Pocket Lint