The Completely satisfied Hacking Keyboard line from PFU America is geared toward customers who need a compact, however highly effective and customizable keyboard with an important typing really feel. The most recent model of the HHKB (because it’s abbreviated) is the HHKB Studio, designed to compress each keyboard and mouse performance into essentially the most compact footprint doable. Like its predecessors, this keyboard is not low cost—its listing worth is $385—however it affords a mixture of options you will not discover in different keyboards.

Let’s have a look.

HHKB Studio check drive

The HHKB Studio makes use of USB-C or Bluetooth and battery-powered connections, with each cabling and batteries included. Bluetooth pairing works with as much as 4 distinct gadgets, and it may be used to command each Mac and Home windows techniques interchangeably.

I used to be keen on the soft-touch, smooth-sliding linear mechanical key swap mechanisms used within the HHKB Hybrid Kind-S mannequin I beforehand reviewed. The Studio makes use of the identical switches, however you’ll be able to swap in your personal normal MX-stem switches—as an example, to provide the non-alphanumeric keys a bit extra click on, or to make the Esc key more durable to actuate. The keycaps shipped with my unit used a gloss-black over matte-black shade scheme that you’re going to both discover elegant and classy or subsequent to not possible to make out. There isn’t a key backlighting, however a brightly lit room helps.

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The super-compact 60-key structure means no devoted cursor controls or quantity pad. Key controls for the arrows are accessed by the use of perform key combos. Additionally, the left Management key now sits the place Caps Lock often does; you employ FN + Tab to entry Caps Lock if wanted. Every FN key combo is printed on the underside entrance of every keycap, however once more the black keycap colours on my unit made them robust to learn with out direct lighting.

For cursor management, the HHKB Studio provides two different options. One is the pointing stick mouse, as popularized by the unique IBM ThinkPad. It is set between the G/H/B key cluster, and complemented with thumb-reachable mouse buttons set beneath the area bar. It takes some observe to work with, however for primary mousing about it is handy, and the keyboard comes with 4 substitute caps for the stick mouse.

The opposite cursor management function is 4 “gesture pads” alongside the entrance edges and sides of the unit. Slide your fingers alongside the left aspect and left entrance edges to maneuver the cursor; slide them alongside the fitting aspect and proper entrance edges to scroll the present window or tab between home windows. You can even freely reassign the corresponding key actions for these actions.

The gesture pads are highly effective and helpful sufficient that I hardly ever relied on the arrow-diamond key cluster and even the pointing stick to maneuver the cursor. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to set off the gesture pads by chance. A few instances I innocently bumped the aspect of the unit when shifting it, and ended up sending keystrokes to a unique window.

Many hackable keyboard fashions use the VIA normal, that means you’ll be able to change your keyboard’s structure or behaviors by way of an online browser app. HHKB doesn’t assist VIA, sadly; the keymapping and management software offered for it runs as an installable desktop software.

Backside line

Like its predecessor, the Completely satisfied Hacking Keyboard Studio packs performance and an important typing really feel right into a small kind issue. This model ramps up the performance even additional by letting you eliminate a mouse. However you will should resolve if $385 is a worthy worth.