deskthority

Although my daily driver HHKB Pro 2 that I lubed and silenced is still going strong after 5 years of service, I decided to purchase a new HHKB Pro Hybrid Type-S to see if there have been significant improvements. I opted for the unprinted charcoal model.

Listed below are some brief first impressions after setting up the new board and typing on it for less than an hour. These are from my perspective; YMMV.

PRO:

+ Case, spacebar, and keycaps are all PBT.
+ Sound and feel are superb right out of the box -- no tweaking needed.
+ Same great HHKB form factor, style, and layout.
+ More solid construction than the old HHKB Pro 2

INDIFFERENT (for me):

o USB-C connector
o Bluetooth
o Batteries included

CON:

- No cable included
- Very high price (337 USD direct from Fujitsu)

I do not need BT, but I wanted Type-S, and thus far, it appears that Fujitsu is not offering the new all-PBT models with factory silencing. The non-silenced BT models are currently priced at 281 USD, and the non-BT non-silenced models are 211 USD. The factory silencing is worth the extra 56 USD, but IMHO the base price is much too high. For 337 USD, I would expect them to include a USB-C cable.

EDITS:

2020/03/12a: After additional testing, I find that the factory silencing is not as silent as my own.

2020/03/14a: Another minor quibble -- The media keys are still hard-wired only for use with the Mac OS. However, although I no longer use Mac OS (I use a mix of Linux and Windows), this does not matter much to me, as I almost never use media keys.

I agree with most of what you said. In my opinion the Bluetooth implementation makes it really convenient to use the keyboards with multiple devices. Device switching happens really quickly.

I also think that the ability to use the keyboard both with a USB cable and via Bluetooth is a big plus.

I'm OK with the price considering what you get.

@the_marsbar: Thanks for your comments. Yes, although the price might seem rather high, I have to admit that I have spent this much on far inferior keyboards in an effort to make them as HHKB-like as possible. By the time you add a premium metal case, new keycaps (often from 2-3 sets to create the desired effect), lube, sound-dampening, and possibly a programmable controller, it is quite possible to exceed the cost of a new HHKB Pro Hybrid Type-S, and it would still not be nearly as good.

Yes- this is what I don't get. People complain about Topre tax but spend way more money on inferior customs. I get it that a stock topre is not very instagramable but I will pick HHKB type-s over any custom under $337.