So I lost my effing mind last week and decided to take the plunge on a pair (!) of HHKB Pro 2 Type-S keyboards, one for home and one for work. I'd been thinking about trying a Topre board for a while and had been debating with myself endlessly over the Realforce 87U, HHKB, and HHKB Type-S. I'd pretty much settled on the HHKB, but I wanted something quiet, and after many repeat viewings of YouTube videos and an Elite Keyboards price drop, I talked myself into the Type-S.
My current keyboard of choice, which I've been using for a couple years now, is a Filco Linear R Limited Edition tenkeyless. I got it when it first came out and have been really pleased with it. I like the light touch required to activate the keys and the build quality is very good. The design is simple and attractive. With practice, I've gotten pretty decent at gliding over the keys without bottoming out too much, but during really heavy typing sessions when I'm focused less on gracefulness and more on speed, I still hit bottom more than I'd like. It's a hard bottom and the keys are pretty noisy, especially on the return trip back to their default position. Other than that, it's been a great keyboard for typing and occasional gaming. Prior to that, I had a Das Keyboard with MX blues. Not a huge fan. The high-pitched click of the keys isn't a sound I'd describe as pleasant, and I didn't like the force required to register a keystroke. It's also massive, and I like having my mouse and trackpad within easy reach, hence my move to a tenkeyless board.
The HHKB is very light, but still feels like a quality keyboard. The keycaps feel more solid than the Filco, which I was expecting because they're PBT. The Type-S is only available in white, and while I've never been a huge fan of off-white hardware in general, I really, really like the look of this thing. There's something classic and understated about it. That said, I wanted to spice it up a bit. I'm a Dvorak typist and it's a pain in the ass to find keycaps with Dvorak legends, so all my keyboards starting with the Das have had blank keys. Being a coder, I've grown pretty dependent on arrow keys during my daily work, and I was worried about fumbling around for the embedded arrow keys on the HHKB, so I bought a set of blank black keycaps and used 10 of them to replace the embedded arrow keys and function key, making them more obvious during quick glances downward. I also replaced the Esc key with a blank red key. After I swapped the keys today, I realized that I'd quite unintentionally, but very happily, ended up with a keyboard that kind of looks like a reversed NES controller
I didn't get to use my new board during work today as much as I would've liked, but I did get in a bit of coding and a few e-mails. Writing this post has been my first opportunity to really spend some significant time with the HHKB, so I'm still getting used to the feel of the keys. As has been said many times by others, it feels like a very high-quality rubber dome keyboard with a nice tactile bump. I don't consider this a bad thing. I like how it feels. Hitting bottom with the Topres is definitely way more forgiving than it is with the reds, and the whoosh/thock sound of the silenced keys is understated, but satisfying.
It's way too early to decide which I prefer. The Topres take a bit more effort to depress; I can't glide over the keys as quickly as I do with the Filco or I miss keystrokes. At the moment, I'm not typing as fast as I can with the reds, but I think that will improve as I adjust. I'm sure that once I adjust to the HHKB, I'll switch back to the reds for comparison and bottom out like crazy.
The compact layout is awesome. I appreciated the more open desktop and more natural mouse position when I moved to a tenkeyless, and I appreciate having even more space with the HHKB. My arms don't have to travel far at all to reach my mouse and trackpad, which I have positioned on opposite sides of the keyboard. I'm adjusting to the lack of dedicated arrow keys. Even at this early stage, it's becoming pretty natural to place my right pinky on the Fn key and use my index and middle fingers to operate the embedded arrow keys. I think I'd appreciate a layout more like the HHKB Lite, though, withs its dedicated arrow keys. I've already adjusted to the position of the delete key, and I'm guessing a few sessions in a Debian terminal will help me adjust to the Ctrl key's position quickly as well.
The dip switches are helpful. I'm a Mac user, and I usually have to swap the Cmd and Opt keys in System Preferences for a typical keyboard to work. It's nice having a hardwired solution.
One last thing that might sound a bit weird (but maybe not to you guys)...the Type-S has the most satisfying Enter key I've ever used. I don't quite know how to describe it. Solid and soft at the same time, with a really nice bottom.
Of course, it always comes down to one question: is it worth the price? You can buy 3 Filcos for the price of one Type-S. I really like the HHKB so far, but I'd be hard pressed to say it's definitely worth $400. Even the current $270 sale price for the standard version is probably pushing it a bit
for most people. Therefore, I can't really answer that question for you. In my case, I plan to keep it and give myself plenty of time to adjust. I don't consider my money as wasted at all. My guess is that I'll end up rotating it with the Filco reds as my moods change.
