What is the advantage to...

[poisened_blueberry]

Having a tenkyless keyboard? smaller size? bigger keys?? more space between the keys?
Enlighten me please

[Tym]

People like having the mouse and keyboard closer together. Less arm spread.

[Amarok]

Also, unless you do data entry or something with the number pad, you can get pretty darn fast using the number row. I don't like keys being in the keyboard twice.

[tp4tissue]

it's not as big a deal as some make it out to be...

if you don't need a num pad... then you'll have a TINY bit more space for mouse..

[aesthetics1]

People like having the mouse and keyboard closer together. Less arm spread.

This. I asked the same question when I started here. It seems silly at first, but the compactness, and having your mouse closer to your keyboard was definitely worth it to me. Also, custom keycap sets are usually a little cheaper - you don't have to buy the 10 key addons .

[Abacus1234]

Yeah, I just don't like the number pad at all. The only time I miss it is when I'm entering lots of numbers for an extended period, which almost never happens. I'll trade that for more desk space any day. I also play in quite a few League of Legends tournaments locally, and smaller keyboards are easier to travel with.

[bazemk1979]

people supposedly like things to be more tight, they don't want to stretch their arms.... Also they don't have that much space on their desks....

In my opinion 104 board looks way better than the TKL, I have TKL and nothing compares to full 104 board, I have enough space on my desk but my previous desk was smaller and I still had full board. Full board just looks right and more solid, especially if you have retro 2 tone color keycaps  on it, makes the 10 key pad sticks out.

[badcop]

people supposedly like things to be more tight, they don't want to stretch their arms.... Also they don't have that much space on their desks....

In my opinion 104 board looks way better than the TKL, I have TKL and nothing compares to full 104 board, I have enough space on my desk but my previous desk was smaller and I still had full board. Full board just looks right and more solid, especially if you have retro 2 tone color keycaps  on it, makes the 10 key pad sticks out.

i'm actually the complete opposite.  I use the number pad a lot (excel) but i think the 104s look goofy and over sized.  TKLs for me just look "right."  everyone is different i suppose.

[Grim Fandango]

Well, I reckon different people like them for different things. The reason I like them

-They save space on the desk
-I can have my mouse closer to the keyboard and the keyboard centered in front of me, which is comfortable
-I like the way they look

The trade off is a lack of the numpad. At home this does not matter to me, at work I need one.

[davkol]

it's not as big a deal as some make it out to be...

if you don't need a num pad... then you'll have a TINY bit more space for mouse..

10 cm. That's the width of my shoulder. That makes a hell of a difference, unless one has very wide shoulders (I don't).

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

[Chase5delta]

I went from a keyboard with tenkey, then to a tenkeyless, and then tried out the tenkey again. And my god, the keyboard with the tenkey just felt so akward, Tenkeyless are just much more comfortable to use in my opinion.

[The_Beast]

Gaming I like the mouse to be pretty far away from the keyboard. Typing is opposite but I also need every inch of desk space I can get.

[zoolzoo]

They look nicer. Slightly more ergonomic.

[RickyJ]

More ergonomic when mousing for sure.  Less arm spread while mousing, and less distance to move your mouse hand back to a typing position.  Benefits get even better with a 60% or 75% board.

[morpheus]

TKL is like heaven for a typist who doesn't use the number pad. Like everyone said, it just feels right.

[iri]

when you switch to left-handed mousing, the "less stretching for reaching mouse" argument is not valid anymore, but tkl / 75% / 60% boards still save your space and are lighter in your bag.

[davkol]

Unfortunately, most hotkeys are left-hand centric. Ctrl+X|C|V can be replaced by Ctrl|Shift+Insert, but that's all—the rest is much worse.

[iri]

and the rest is... what?

[Larken]

TKL is easier to center for typists and gamers - but that is largely dependent on how much the person needs the number pad. In retrospect, I would've saved myself quite a
bit of headaches and probably some cash if I had bought a seperate numpad and went for tkls all the way instead.

[merrickx]

Much of it is aesthetic for me, and when function and numpad keys are rarely used, that aesthetic doesn't really get in the way of utility.

Also, for those with small desks, it's very nice to have the extra space. A tenkeyless or 60% board is also very easy to transport  (I drag mine between two different workplaces and home every week), and the fact that I can reach any key on a normal keyboard while barely moving from the home row makes things a little more efficient, albeit a little less comfortable.

[noisyturtle]

Frankly, I never use my numpad unless I'm doing unicode characters for some reason which is quite rare. Additionally, there's ways around that anyway. I enjoy the extra desk space and less intrusion towards my mouse pad and having my arms closer together. I'll never buy another full size board, they are dinosaurs in my book.

[lazerpointer]

It's very antiquated.

Back in the days when the numpad was a standard, data entry was more manual, hence the need for a human interface device.

These days the computers already know which numbers to crunch.

[ksm123]

My desk has "keyboard shelf" below main work surface.

There is enough space there for full size keyboard or for compact keyboard and mouse.

I do not like to reach up to lay my hand on keyboard.