Comfortable Hacking Keyboard Hybrid Kind-S is aimed toward these with extremely particular wants from a keyboard: a compact keyboard structure; quiet however snug typing; and the necessity to swap between a number of Bluetooth-connected units on the fly. Its price ticket will increase eyebrows ($385 record), but it surely affords a bundle of options which might be in any other case onerous to search out in a single keyboard.
The HHKB (because it’s abbreviated) makes use of a key structure much more compact than most laptops. The entire unit is compact sufficient to throw right into a knapsack. Perform keys, arrows, and plenty of different controls are accessed by means of a particular “Fn” key. Delete is instantly above the Return key. There’s additionally no devoted Caps Lock key; that’s accessed by urgent Fn+Tab.
As soon as I bought used to the HHKB structure, although, typing on it was fairly good. (I wrote this evaluate with it.) An enormous a part of the HHKB’s value is its Topre electrostatic capacitive swap mechanisms, which generate a nice quantity of tactile suggestions whereas additionally decreasing typing clatter. The general noise degree is on a par with a soft-touch pocket book keyboard. Sadly, there’s no key again lighting.
DIP switches and Fn key combos allow you to select between Mac or Home windows key units. For example, when Home windows is the chosen key set, the Mac Possibility secret is repurposed to change into the Home windows menu key. Sadly, the few multimedia key bindings included by default—quantity controls, mute, and eject—are Mac-only.
One actually highly effective HHKB characteristic is its multi-device assist. You may pair the keyboard by way of Bluetooth to as much as 4 totally different units—desktop PCs, telephones, something that pairs keyboards by way of Bluetooth—and swap between them with a Fn-Management-number key combo. It’s an interesting possibility for individuals who battle with KVM switches or who need to use the identical keyboard at work and at dwelling. You can even join the HHKB on to a system by way of USB-C, though USB-C cabling isn’t included.
One other highly effective characteristic is the HHKB’s key mapping utility. You may create customized key layouts when you don’t like the prevailing one. For example, I remapped one of many Alt keys to behave like a devoted Caps Lock key, and mapped the Fn+WASD keys to work as arrows, because the default arrow key bindings should not very snug for my fingers. Key units may be saved to recordsdata, or changed at any time with the manufacturing facility setting.
The Comfortable Hacking Keyboard Hybrid Kind-S is splendidly compact, snug, and quiet. I like its key mapping and Bluetooth switching capabilities. However I discover its $385 price ticket actually onerous to swallow.
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