I picked up this keyboard about three years ago, and has been in my laptop bag ever since. I'm a huge fan, and am looking to pick up a few more.
To be honest, this is the best keyboard I've ever owned. The action on the keys is is excellent, the size and key placement is perfect, and the finish on the keys is just flat comfortable. After all these years, its still going strong, I use it every day. No keyboard feels better to my fingertips. It can really take the punishment. It even stands up to my toddler's abuse when she plays her games with it!
For the price, it absolutely can't be beat. I would recommend this to anyone. A4 Tech KL-5 Mini Slim Compact Keyboard
I love the small size of this keyboard. No keypad, but that's my favorite feature! I never use the keypad anyway and smaller width is more important to me. This keyboard has the solid pre-Y2K feel that I'm used to. The keys are positioned like a REAL computer, instead of a tweaked wimpy laptop keyboard pretending to be a desktop. The keys can take a pounding too. After 10 months of daily use, all the keys still work just fine. If you are a touch typist, it feels very comfortable. To me, it has the old school feel of an electric typewriter or VT100 terminal keyboard. The small size makes it convenient if you have multiple keyboards on your desk. It even makes a good keyboard for a server rack. I give this keyboard 3 thumbs up for it's small size and durability! It works pretty good with Mac and Linux too. I plan to buy another one for the barebones computer I'm building next week.
I had started developing some muscle strain in my right (mousing) arm and so I was looking for a keyboard for work that did not have a number pad on the right side. This keyboard had received favorable reviews, so I decided to give it a go. After using this keyboard for a couple of days, the muscle strain was basically gone. In fact, I tried my old keyboard again a couple of weeks later, and the muscle strain started to return almost immediately!
While I'm generally pleased with the keyboard, I have to say that the key layout in a couple of places is a bit odd and takes some retraining. The shape and placement of the Enter key with respect to the backslash/pipe key is a little strange, as is the key arrangement to the left of the space bar. After using the keyboard for maybe two or three weeks, I was getting fed up with typos from hitting the wrong keys. I had considered returning the keyboard but after another week, I think I've more or less adjusted.
if you don't want to spend $100 for the happy hacking keyboard, this is the one to get. cheap and have the best key layout in my opinion. all the keys are not scaled down to fit a mini keyboard, they are the same size a full size keyboard.
for $13, this is bang for the buck
This is a piece of junk. I bought it to replace a keyboard with a broken key. I am back to the broken key keyboard. The A4Tech keys all stick. The tab key was especially erksome. Personally, the enter key is in the wrong spot on the A4Tech keyboard. I kept using the keyboard hoping I would get used to the Enter key placement but never did and the Tab key was hopeless.
The keys on here are designed with a misalignment. You know where the " | and \ " key is just above the ENTER key on most keyboards? Well, this keyboard has essentially switched the spots of those two keys(the ENTER key is to the right and squared above that key. So when I want to hit ENTER, I am actually hitting that " | and \ " key. After 20+ years of using typewriters & computer keyboards, this IS NOT an adjustment I am going to make.
Don't believe me? Look at the pictures Amazon has posted of it a little closer and compare it to the standard keyboard you are using now.
It would have been kind of the other reviewers to mention this since they seem to like the keyboard so much.
I bought this cheap and now I know why there were visible returns at the store I bought it at. They had a silver colored model of this keyboard there and the pics indicate that this weird design flaw is not present on that one, so I will be exchanging this garbage for that one.
If you CAN deal with this one aspect this model seemed to be relatively sleek and compact as advertised.
This is my second mini keyboard, my other one from a different manufacturer was wearing out. I liked this one because of the large enter key, some people complain about the |\ key being in a different place, doesn't bother me because I hardly use it. I like the big keys. I am very happy with this product, price is good too.
The A4tech keyboard works fine and does the job we expected. The keys feel a bit spongy but are firm with good feedback, and sized properly. The only issue is that it does not have the volume buttons like others in it's class. It also needs stickier feet to keep the keyboard from sliding around. - Keyboard - Usb Keyboard - Compact Keyboard - Mini Keyboards'
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