Das Keyboard 4 Professional first impression

Finally received the Das Keyboard 4 Professional.  I opted for the brown switch version.  So, this would be my first exposure to Cherry MX switches based mechanical keyboards.  The keyboard box that came in took quite a beating.  Dents all around the corner.  Oh, well....  Looked it had a rough ride from TN to here.  Upon opening the box, I don't see any damage to the keyboard itself.  So, I am not too concerned.  The red foot ruler is an interesting concept.  It basically doubles as the flap or feet for the keyboard as well as a ruler.  The ruler markings are not colored with another contrasting color, but one can feel them.  So, if someone would use this to measure something, he or she better have really good lighting and eye sight or have very good sense of touch.  :)  Straight edge or ruler can come in handy sometimes, but for now, I can't think of any reasonable use case right of the bat that will make me flip over my keyboard and pull it off.  The ruler attaches to the keyboard by magnets.  So, there's some clever thinking going into it.  I am likely not going to use it on a regular basis, but it's good to know that it's there if I need it.  I guess that's Das Keyboard designers' intention putting it there.

The board itself has some mass to it, have it a weighty feeling.  Good.  It won't likely slide around like a hockey puck on ice when I type.  The top cover is metallic, likely aluminum alloy of some sort, since it's cold to the touch.  The surface is matted!  Yay!  Glossy surfaces really do look great, but I am not a fan in practice.  Again, because I am lazy, I rather not having to clean the surface unless it really does need cleaning.

The key legends are easy to read.  Alpha-numeric key legends are centered, but the keys such as control or shift, they are place on the lower left or right lower corners, depending on the side of the keyboard to give it a more symmetric look.  The volume knob is also metallic, but the media buttons are flat, very close to the top cover of the keyboard.  I am guessing that those keys are not Cherry key switches.  They look like little micro button switches.  I have no idea who made them or what exactly they are without taking the board apart.  Let me enjoy the keyboard first.

OK, let's plug this in the computer's USB3 port and start the computer.  Here we go!