Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. Products

65% is my keyboard layout endgame, but manufacturers won’t deliver the goods

Niels Broekhuijsen
By

I’ve always been a full-keyboard kind of guy. Not to the point of using macros, but I’ve been religious about the full 104-key layout with a numpad, in hindsight, out of a purist’s mentality. But I’ve now been reviewing keyboards for the better part of a year, and I’m starting to doubt my faith.

You see, I — and most other people, I suspect — don’t use most of the keys on my plank. When it comes to the numpad, Num Lock goes unused, and the rest of the keys are found elsewhere, too. Of the F-row, I use F4 to close programs, and once in a while F5 for quick-saving in games while the rest, again, goes unused. And that island between the numpad and the main keys, I only use Delete – no other of the nine keys there. OK, maybe Print Screen from time to time, but it’s rare and I’ve mostly switched to the much-easier snipping tool.

Recommended Videos

I’ve long been married to the full keyboard, but now I’m contemplating divorce, and there’s a simple reason why: 65% keyboards. It’s what has made me think that the best gaming keyboard has yet to have been made.

Related

The joys and pains of choosing a keyboard

Of course, there is really only one 65% keyboard out there, at least that I’ve used. That’s the Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini.

But it’s not that keyboard in particular that I’m in love with. It’s a great plank, but Razer isn’t really my style, and I still have one major gripe with it for office use: It sits too tall for extended typing sessions. What I really like about it is its 65% layout. It has all the main typing keys, arrow keys, and a delete. Everything I need in daily life, and nothing more. I still miss the dedicated media keys and volume roller sometimes, but the appeal of the 65% layout is winning me over.

But the layout is new, and still uncommon in the gaming space. So, what about 60% as an alternative?

Well, it around this time last year I got hands-on time with Razer’s Huntsman Mini, and later with Corsair’s inconveniently named K65 RGB Mini. Both are excellent 60% keyboards, and using them in-game was a joy – they were small, and gave me more space to mouse around.

They were so good for gaming, in fact, that it made a serious difference to my performance in Insurgency Sandstorm. To this day, I still grab one of these smaller keyboards every time I fire up the game.

Switching keyboards all the time is a hassle.

The problem? I’m also a professional typist, and switching keyboards all the time became a hassle. Once I started using 60% keyboards, I was forced to switch keyboards every time I went from work to gaming. That’s what truly shines about Razer’s 65% keyboard. When it came through my office, I suddenly found myself switching a lot less, thanks to the inclusion of the dedicated arrow and delete keys.

In the end, I still do switch, but it’s not because of the layout – but rather because I’ve used a Logitech G915 plank as my primary keyboard for the last two years. I’m in love with the comfort of a low-profile mechanical keyboard and no full-height board will do anymore – my wrists kill me if I use a normal-height keyboard all day long. That’s why it’s about time companies like Logitech give us what we all want — the ultimate 65% keyboard.

Dear Logitech: Give me a G915 65%

A rough mockup of what I want the G915 65% to look like. The product does not exist. Image used with permission by copyright holder

Here’s the keyboard I want: a low-profile, mechanical, 65% wireless keyboard, but with dedicated media keys and a volume roller. Basically, a G915 65%. And I’ll pay for it, gladly. In fact, I think a keyboard like that could be priced at about $190 tp $210 and still sell like hotcakes. I’d personally even (begrudgingly) accept a $250 price point, just because there’s no keyboard like that out there.

Those arrow keys and delete key are essential, and they make the 65% layout so much better than 60%.

It will finally be a keyboard that can fulfill both gaming and office tasks, mostly without sacrifice. The endgame keyboard. Those arrow keys and delete key are essential, and they make the 65% layout so much better than 60%. It will finally be the one keyboard that can replace two.

But Corsair, you’re not out of the woods either just because you don’t make wireless keyboards. What’s up with that? (OK, I know about the K63, but it’s old and one is not enough)

For now, I’m not divorcing my trusty G915 yet. I can’t justify switching it out for a G915 TKL with the associated costs, but I am waiting. Here’s to hoping it won’t be long until Logitech and other keyboard companies hear my plea.

Editors' Recommendations

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Having failed to grow up, Niels never quit his gaming hobby and decided to turn it into his work as a freelance technology…
Ignore the scaremongers. 5G won’t interfere with weather satellites. Here’s why
Verizon 5G Node

5G will completely change the way we use our mobile phones, offering super high speeds that won't just mean downloading your favorite shows faster. But 5G comes with a host of concerns, from limited range and poor building penetration to worries of adverse health effects.

But now there's a new issue: weather satellites. An April article in Nature set the meteorological community into an uproar, as it detailed the potential fallout of a recent auction from the Federal Communications Commission of  24.25 to 24.45 and 24.75 to 25.25 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum. There's one problem: that's close to the frequency meteorologists use to detect water vapor in the air.
Disrupting the weather?
Water vapor emits a weak radio signal at a frequency of 23.8 GHz, which satellites detect. Water vapor imagery has become a crucial part of forecasting the weather, as it helps meteorologists better understand movement in the atmosphere, and provides computer models with crucial data to better forecast the development of storms.

Read more
How to apply and clean off thermal paste
Thermal paste application on CPU.

If you're building a computer, you need thermal paste, or heat paste, to ensure that your computer's processor doesn't overheat. It's a gloopy, silvery material that you squirt between the processor and the cooler to fill in all the micro cavities in their surfaces, which enables a more efficient transfer of heat from the processor to the cooler. The best thermal pastes work so well they let your processor run harder and faster, at lower temperatures, making your PC quieter in turn.

You need to replace the thermal interface material every few years, too, so if you haven't opened up your PC in a while, it might be time to give it a spring cleaning. Keep reading to learn how to apply heat paste and how to clean it. Plus, we'll go over other aspects of its use, such as how often you need to reapply it and if there are any alternatives to using heat paste.

Read more
How to check how much RAM you have on Windows and Mac
RAM installed in slots.

You can only know if you have enough RAM, if you know how to check how much you have. Fortunately, doing so is super quick and easy and then you can decide whether you want to upgrade your memory -- here's how to choose new memory sticks -- or whether you have enough for what you need to do.

You certainly don't need to buy more or new RAM just for the sake of it, and if you have enough for what you need, more memory won't make much difference anyway.

Read more