Feature

Three compact keyboards for a home set-up

With 60 per cent of the keys in a standard keyboard, these are great for people working in small spaces and help prevent strain

Ducky One 2 Mini.
Keychron K6.
Razer Huntsman Mini.

If you do not have a large desk, but need to use an external keyboard to make working from home more productive, you might want to consider getting a 60 per cent keyboard.

It is a mechanical keyboard that has 60 per cent of the keys found on a full-sized keyboard, giving it a much smaller footprint.

It is great for people using their dining table or confined spaces at home for work. The keyboard suits gamers too - especially first-person shooter fans - as they would not need the absent numeric pad and usually absent arrow keys.

The compactness means you can keep your mouse and keyboard - and arms - closer together. This helps prevent shoulder strain.

Naturally, the keyboard has some shortcomings. For one thing, it is probably not for those who use the numeric keypad a lot.

It can also be more troublesome to use at times. To accommodate the limited footprint, even the top-row F1 keys are typically missing.

However, these keys can be accessed by pressing the Function key with a corresponding key that the manufacturer has assigned, so you will not be actually missing any keys.

The Straits Times looks at three 60 per cent keyboards that might suit your needs.


1 Ducky One 2 Mini

Price: From $179

Keys: 61

Connectivity: USB-C

Weight: 590g

This is widely regarded by fans and critics as the best 60 per cent keyboard in the market, with competitors emulating its design and function.

It has a premium aluminium build and its keycaps are made of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), which is more durable than the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material of conventional keycaps. It is available in many different switch options, including the popular Cherry MX and HyperX (version tested) mechanical switches. And it comes with RGB backlighting.

All the missing keys can be accessed by pressing the Function key. It even includes mouse functions - press the Function key with the Q or E keys and you will get a left or right mouse click. This is something rarely found in 60 per cent keyboards.

The best part about the One 2 Mini is it does not need software for customisation. You can programme and record macros with the on-board interface and save up to six profiles directly to the keyboard. You just need to keep its manual close by.


Keychron K6

Price: From $99

Keys: 68

Connectivity: USB-C, Bluetooth

Weight: 530g

I bought this when it was a Kickstarter crowdfunding project in January. And it has been a great space-saving workhorse for my office laptop in my work-from-home set-up.

The best part of the Keychron K6 is that it retains the arrow keys - the only model in this round-up to do so. As I usually need to edit text, having arrow keys to move between words is a boon.

It is a wireless keyboard and supports both Mac and Windows machines. A switch on its left side lets you toggle between the two operating systems.

It has plenty of switch options, from Gateron to LK Optical, and backlighting options, from white to RGB, to choose from.

The only downer is its ABS keycaps, compared with the more durable PBT ones. The build is a tad plasticky and lacks the premium feel of Ducky's One 2 Mini.

Nevertheless, this is probably the best value-for-money 60 per cent keyboard.


Razer Huntsman Mini

Price: From $189.90

Keys: 68

Connectivity: USB-C

Weight: 448g

The Huntsman Mini is Razer's first 60 per cent keyboard and it follows a design scheme very similar to Ducky's One 2 Mini.

It features Razer's secondgeneration Linear Optical or Clicky Optical (version tested) switches, instead of the popular Cherry MX mechanical switches. I like the Clicky Optical, as it offers the same clicky feel that I love with Cherry MX Blue switches, but requires less force to register a press.

The Huntsman Mini also uses doubleshot (double-layered) PBT keycaps with a textured quality that makes it a joy to type on. With its aluminium base, it feels even more premium than the One 2 Mini. Plus, it comes with Razer's Chroma RGB Lighting.

Like any Razer peripheral, it supports Synapse software for customisation, such as changing the assignment of keys and syncing the lighting effects with other Razer peripherals.

The Huntsman Mini can store up to five profiles directly, which you can activate by pressing the Function key and a menu key, without needing to use Synapse.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 02, 2020, with the headline Three compact keyboards for a home set-up. Subscribe