HHKB

I’ve heard so much about HHKB, so I’m overly excited to have finally tried it.

No, I didn’t buy another keyboard (yet). I’m happily using my first and second custom builds at work and at home respectively. It is just one of my colleagues has been so kind to share his HHKB Professional Hybrid Type-S.

I’ve been using it for several days in the office, and wanted to share my impression.

First of all, it looks great. Snow-white, with blank keycaps, it is clean and minimal. Type-S stands for silent, and it is quiet, but I find my RD75 even quieter.

The Topre switches are one of the reasons this keyboard is so hyped. And they are interesting. I certainly wouldn’t mind typing on them even longer. But they are not enough to make a switch.

The main issue is that such layout is not for me. The chords to press ⌃⇧Tab, for example, or simply arrow keys are awkward. Of course, there are many blog posts claiming that one can get used to it. Sometimes, they mean after a few days of weeks, while others are talking about a year. And I’m absolutely not convinced that it is worth it.

The biggest issue, however, was that HHKB would never be the only keyboard I use. I’m pretty happy with my existing set, and I quite often need to type on the go on the MacBook’s built-in keyboard. Re-learning arrows and Ctrl position many times per day is a no-go for me.

So, thanks and it was a great pleasure, but I’m back to my old good friends.

And, yes, I struggled all the way through and typed, edited, and published this entire post on the HHKB.

This is post 36 of #100DaysToOffload

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