Utterly Pointless - HHKB Studio Review

The HHKB is easily one of the most divisive keyboards on the planet. It's held up as anything from the greatest typing implement ever built, to overhyped hipster garbage and everything in between. Apparently PFU saw that division, and decided it wasn't divided enough.

Full disclosure: I got this keyboard used for $136 shipped. It's missing it's trackpoint - but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make to avoid paying the ludicrous $329 MSRP. HHKBs are notoriously expensive keyboards and the Studio certainly continues that trend, but it proved to be more than a little controversial among longtime fans when it was revealed this keyboard would be abandoning the longtime use of Topre capacitive rubber domes in favor of MX switches.

To hardcore HHKB fans, that's practically sacrilegious - and I almost can't blame them. Topre was one of the HHKB's defining features and without it - what exactly are you even paying for? It seems to me that PFU at least partially recognized this and aimed to make the HHKB Studio a more versatile tool with broader appeal rather than something that just caters to a small, but very vocal minority of keyboard enthusiasts - but not without losing the spirit of the Topre boards.

Regardless, I would've never bought one of these things had this one not just practically fallen into my lap. MX keyboards aren't really all that interesting to me (if my review history is any indicator) and certainly not one at such a high price point. Still, having owned a HHKB Professional Hybrid Type-S for nearly a year now, I figured it would be worth a look for the comparison alone.

Aesthetically, this keyboard is a huge visual upgrade over the prior Topre models in my opinion. The Professional Hybrid had a nice minimalist wedge design that honestly never really reflected it's $299 MSRP. In this regard, PFU thankfully gave the keyboard a much needed "glow-up" with the Studio.

The new keyboard has a substantially larger case than the Professional Hybrid at 12.0 inches wide, 5.2 inches deep, and 1.6 inches tall in the rear with a more aggressive trapezoidal wedge shape and an interesting stacked two-tone design. The front bezel has been enlarged to make room for the mouse buttons and the battery bump of the Professional Hybrid has been completely done away with. It's also devoid of logos and stickers unlike the old keyboard, save for the large "HHKB Studio" wordmark molded onto the underside of the keyboard. 

But that extra size does mean more weight. The Studio is substantially heavier than the Professional Hybrid at roughly 2.0 pounds versus the 1.4 pounds of it's predecessor. A big part of this is due to the switch to MX, and PFU opted to use a very rigid metal mounting plate for the keyboard. As a result, it feels very tanky and the difference in heft is immediately noticeable coming off the all-plastic Professional Hybrid. 

The larger casing also has a nice effect of being much easier to place across the top of a laptop keyboard: something that I've found the Professional Hybrid and other 60-percent keyboards struggle with. For example, it will completely cover the keyboard of a 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro with room to spare, so the feet are actually resting almost entirely off the laptop body, rather than the it's keyboard. Quite nice if you're like me and think the Magic Keyboard feels like anything but.

I have to say; I really do love how this keyboard looks. I mentioned in my Professional Hybrid Type-S review that the HHKB was at least partially inspired by the design and layout of the Apple Macintosh M0110 keyboard and the Studio now looks even more like a hyper-modern version of it. It's chunky without bordering on being absolutely ridiculous, and I think it's now a real piece of eye-candy as a result.

But it wouldn't be a proper HHKB if it wasn't needlessly weird too.

The part that's hanging over the desk surface? That's the rubber. Amazing.

If you want some extra typing angle, the Studio retains the two-stage flip out feet of the old keyboard with additional rubber on the bottom to help prevent slipping - except it doesn't work. The rubber strips on the front are so narrow that they barely even make contact with the desk surface when the feet are down, and the rubber on the feet themselves? They don't even touch the desk surface, and the keyboard skids around like it's on ice when the flip out feet are in use. 

Seriously? How do you manage to fuck THAT up?

As a result, I exclusively use this keyboard flat with the feet up. It still has a pretty generous typing angle so it's not a huge deal, but PFU really has no excuse for getting something as basic as non-slip flip out feet wrong.

The legend for the interface and profile switching combos is now stashed underneath the bottom lid.

The keyboard is also still reliant on a series of dip switches underneath the bottom cover that enables or disables certain features of the keyboard such as the touch bars, trackpoint, the power saving modes. There's a good reason for this however as it allows the keyboard to remain largely platform agnostic, which was the main driving force behind the original HHKB and it's use of the kooky Unix layout. You'll still have a little bit of control over the keyboard's functions even if you're using a platform that doesn't explicitly have drivers for it, like Linux, iOS, or Android.

What makes even less sense is how a keyboard that costs this much still uses AA batteries in this day and age. Four of them to be exact, up from two on the Professional Hybrid Type-S. I didn't balk at this much at the time when I reviewed that keyboard and granted; they do last for a very long time at about three months according to PFU - but the more sub-$100 keyboards that I've used with proper rechargeable batteries in them, the more ridiculous this looks. To not only still be using a consumable power source, but require more of them over the previous model? That feels like bad comedy.

Perhaps some of the new features of the keyboard can help soften some of it's very on-brand weirdness.

Like I stated earlier, I can't review the trackpoint since mine is missing but I can provide a little insight about it. If you've ever used a ThinkPad, its the exact same setup as that little red nub smack in the middle of the keyboard with three mouse buttons beneath the space bar. Those buttons are a little interesting too since they use low-profile Gateron brown tactile switches. As a result, they have a much deeper click than you might expect from mouse buttons. They are hot-swappable too so you can replace them with something quieter if you so choose.

For me personally, I'm not a huge fan of trackpoints so I wasn't losing much sleep over this particular keyboard missing it, but if you want one - this is one of the few keyboards currently on the market that has one. In case it's presence is actually a deal breaker for you, the entire stem is evidently removable according to this Reddit post, even though PFU doesn't specify that it is. I would just err on the side of caution doing so, just in case its easy to break.

There are small raised lines molded into the case to help identify where the gesture pads are.

What's far less useful in my opinion are the four gesture pads that now line the front and sides of the keyboard. The idea with these little touch sensitive strips is to give you another element of customizable control for your apps. In theory, you could set the pads to control volume, zoom, 3D object rotation, vertical or horizontal scrolling - whatever you can think of. It's not a bad idea and credit to PFU; they do actually work better than I was expecting based on a lot of initial opinions I've seen of them.

But if I'm being totally honest, the gesture pads just aren't nice feeling to use. Just imagine your finger dragging along the rough texture of the casing with zero audible or haptic feedback. If that doesn't sound overly gratifying - you're right, and they're easy to accidentally trigger if you move the keyboard around. That's before you even consider the fact the gesture pads are pretty redundant when the keyboard is likely already being paired with a mouse or trackpad. It's a solution to a problem that's already better solved by different devices.

Oh yeah, I guess we should talk about the software now. It's a small improvement from the Professional  Hybrid's configuration tool with a slightly more intuitive GUI and the very welcome addition of four on-board profiles and two additional function layers. This fixes a big annoyance with the old keyboard in that you had to have just one-do-it-all profile, with anything extra that you needed crammed onto a single layer. Now you have three times the layers and additional mappings at the push of a few keys. Nice.

If you're starting to feel like there's a catch, you wouldn't be alone. I feel like there's always a caveat with every feature of this damn keyboard at this point - and this is no exception.

The software still annoyingly only works over a wired connection, so once again you must have a USB-C cable with you at all times in order to be remap this thing on the fly if needed. And that's assuming the machine you're using the keyboard on even supports it. The app is also lacking in some other basic keyboard customization options like macros, and even just basic sensitivity adjustments for the trackpoint and gesture pads. Those are actually keyboard commands buried two layers deep by default. Again, that helps with the keyboard remaining largely platform agnostic but even a little convenience like that goes a long way.

As is typical HHKB fashion, the Studio has PBT keycaps with dye-sublimated legends, both of which are extremely resistant to long term wear. Of course, being that I own the charcoal colorway, these black dye-subs are extremely hard to read against the charcoal-colored keycaps. It kind of gives the keyboard a sort-of neat minimalist appearance at a distance, but it's absolutely comical trying to read these in anything but optimal lighting.

In terms of quality however, I think they're a solid step up from the old Topre keycaps. The walls of the keycaps are noticeably thicker, and the molding feels just a little sharper. Were it not for the gaping hole left in the middle of my G, H, and B keys by the missing trackpoint, I'd feel highly compelled to keep them.

Why would you do this.

Unfortunately, the keycaps are subject to some pretty weird compatibility issues. The trackpoint gets in the way of the middle cluster of keys so you won't be able to use it with aftermarket keycap sets that don't specifically accommodate it - unless you feel like breaking out a Dremel. Apart from that, all the modifiers and alphanumeric keys are the same size as standard ANSI despite from the lack of a backspace key. Once you get to the bottom row however, things start to get really stupid.

PFU also chose to retain the HHKB's 6u spacebar despite the switch to MX, where keyboards tend to use the more common 6.25u spacebar. What makes this decision even more frustrating is they used 6.25u stabilizer spacing, so you're basically forced to use spacebars and control keys made specifically for the keyboard. This is absolutely obnoxious. Half the fun of MX is the absolutely ludicrous amounts of keycap options on the market, and it kind of feels like PFU is trying to keep things chained within their ecosystem as tightly as possible.

In place of Topre are these new HHKB original silenced linear switches rated at 45 grams of actuation force at 3.6 mm of total travel. Considering these are likely intended to supplant the revered old capacitive rubber dome switches - which have been in use for over two decades at this point, PFU must've done a pretty damn good job on these switches.

Or did they?

"Hello me! Meet the real me!"

Take a close look at the top of the switch housing and... that doesn't say PFU or HHKB. It says Kalih.

Now it's entirely possible that PFU commissioned Kalih to craft a switch to their own specifications for the HHKB Studio. That's a completely reasonable thing to do for a company that doesn't normally build its own switches. That being said, Kalih already makes a switch called the Deep Sea Pro Islet - which looks nearly identical to these switches and coincidentally; is also a 45 gram silenced linear with 3.6 mm of total travel. They are supposedly distinct in terms spring specification but at $25 for just ten switches on their website - you start to wonder just how different they really are.

Either way these are really good switches. Damn good, even. They're very smooth, quiet, and the force curve plus the soft bottom out feel are not at all dissimilar to Topre. Even the sound isn't far off either despite this keyboard being noticeably quieter than the silenced Topre switches in the Type-S. It retains an awful lot of that same kind of meaty, baritone sound that makes keyboard nerds drool.

That being said, it's very clear these switches are not Topre in how they quite obviously lack any sort of tactility. The totally-not-Islets just feel like very good silenced linears, nothing at all the uniquely rounded and smooth break of a Topre dome; a real letdown for those hoping for a very faithful recreation of the feel of the old keyboards.

This of course presents a great opportunity to test out another one of the HHKB Studio's new party tricks: hot swappable sockets. I wanted to give the keyboard some more Topre-like tactility, so I replaced all the switches with the tactile version of the Deep Sea Pro called the Whale - which ran me just $40 for 72 switches. If that doesn't tell you how deluded PFU's pricing is, I don't know what will.

I don't intend to spend much time talking about these switches, but these left me utterly baffled as to why PFU chose the linear variant of Deep Sea Pro instead of the tactile one. It's still not an exact match, but the Whale switches feel so much closer to stock Topre in terms of actual typing feel with the heavier lead in and relatively rounded tactile breaking point - if not even more solid feeling thanks to the stable sliders and stiff metal mounting plate (a trait shared with the not-Islets).

Now I'm a little biased here as I much prefer tactile switches for typing over linears - but I'd go as far as to say these switches completely transformed the HHKB Studio for me. It went from just a really pleasant typing linear keyboard to being dangerously close to never leaving my desk for the foreseeable future. But all this exposes the HHKB Studio's single biggest flaw: none of this is unique.

Custom keycaps can really make the Studio pop.

I already strongly questioned the value of the prior HHKB Professional Hybrid Type-S. I simply felt like it was not worth the exuberant price tag, even though it's Topre switches offer a typing experience you can't really find anywhere else. Now with the switch to hot swappable MX switches, that value prospect goes from questionable to downright fucking silly.

Reason being is the market is absolutely packed to the gills with hot swappable wireless 60-percent keyboards. Many of which I'd argue are built just as well and featured - if not better than the HHKB Studio. For example, my Aula Mini60 HE Pro is built like a brick, uses hot-swappable hall-effect switches with adjustable actuation, 2.4 GHz wireless along with Bluetooth and wired, and a built-in rechargeable battery - all for $50. Or hell, you can absolutely piece together an even better quality wireless 60-percent keyboard with the same style of mounting and the Kalih Deep Sea Pro switches for well under the price of the HHKB Studio. 

Affordable, quality 60-percent keyboards are an HHKBs worst nightmare.

"OK, but none of those keyboards have the HHKB layout."

If that's what you've been telling yourself, a few minutes spent remapping your keys will prove to you otherwise. And I guarantee you're not going to be bothered by the extra (and correctly sized) keys on the bottom row that frankly should've always been there to begin with - unless you've somehow been typing exclusively on one of these since birth. That leaves the trackpoint and the gesture pads as the sole unique selling points, and neither of which I feel like are useful enough to rescue the $329 MSRP.

Strip away the fluff, and there is literally nothing this keyboard has that makes it worthwhile over the alternatives. It runs off disposable batteries, isn't built that much better than a sub-$100 keyboard, and it's supposedly special switches are more-or-less a light retooling of something you can buy from Kalih for a fraction of the price. Even the Professional Hybrid Type-S - as equally overpriced as it is - somehow swings easier because of how unique the switches are.

The HHKB Studio exists purely off branding and vibes with no meaningful substance. It's a complete farce of a product, and one that doesn't even make sense to the people it's supposed to appeal the most to. The Topre crowd didn't fall for it, and neither should you.

What's Good

• Excellent, satisfying silenced linear switches.
• Great range of connectivity and OS compatibility options.
  
• Even quieter than it's silenced Topre equipped predecessors.
• Hot swappable MX sockets on an HHKB!

What's Crap

• Touch strips don't offer a whole lot of obvious utility.
• Non-standard layout limits keycap options.
• Still uses AA batteries.
• Incredibly bad value, especially compared to alternatives.

Verdict

The sheer number of gimmicks and questionable design choices do nothing to justify the extortionate price tag of what's otherwise a really nice keyboard.