

While the Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2 from PFU was designed with the needs of coders and UNIX system administrators in mind, its many attributes appeal to everyday, practical-minded keyboard users as well.



The first thing that jumps out about this keyboard – besides its no-nonsense styling – is its size: just 294mm (11.76 inches) in width. A closer look reveals the main reason why its so compact... the portion of the keyboard where normally are clustered a numeric keypad, arrow buttons and a batch of function keys is gone!



Before you wonder what you'll do without those keys, think back to the last time you actually used them. Yep, me too – goodbye and good riddance!

To be more precise, the numeric keypad has been banished entirely while the various function keys have been shifted (no pun intended) over to the main keyboard, in some cases sharing functions with existing keys.



Next, the entire top row of Function keys (F1 through F12 on my board) has been done away with leaving the Happy Hacking Keyboard just five keys tall instead of six. The Function keys are still there, sort of, having migrated to the front faces of the number keys in the (now) top row. They're accessed via a new “FN” (Function, naturally) key sitting just to the right of the Shift key. The result is a keyboard 110mm (4.4 inches) tall compared to my beast that sprawls a whopping 6.5 inches. The result is a small but efficient keyboard that travels much easier than its bigger brethren.



Being compact is one thing, being ergonomic in all senses of the word is another and in this respect, the Happy Hacking Keyboard comes through with flying colors. The keys, for instance, feature conical springs that transmit the change in capacitance value when a key is hit to the electrode without actually contacting it. This helps reduce fatigue while the sound of the keystrokes themselves has been tuned to environmentally friendly sonic frequencies ranging from 2,500 to 5,000 Hz.









You can check out the Happy Hacking Keyboard's other specs here, but we'll mention that it's available in your choice of black or white – blank keys are optional in either color. Order yours through White Rabbit Express priced at $262 each. In the U.S., you can get yours on Amazon.

Source: PFU