Please check if your post is a help request.

As per the rules, "Help requests, keyboard buying advice, and simple questions must be posted in the daily post stickied to the top of the subreddit or it will be removed without explanation."

Please post the question here.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

As a new member to the community I have to ask, are there genuine reasons to use a size/layout like this in a productive work scenario or is this purely for fun and because "we can"?

Smaller keyboard means less finger travel. If you can master your layers you can be faster.

And more space on desk.

And you can have your mouse closer

Curious about the keycaps, don't look too different from DSA milkshake?

It's a less extreme version of something like this: https://youtu.be/8wZ8FRwOzhU

Weird keyboards solve individual problems.

Split (like Alice and 2 piece boards) can help wrist angle.

65 and 40 assume that you prefer portability or less hand travel, but are ok with layers to enable them. I skip 60 because you get no size benefit, but lose the arrows, don't see the point in those.

Ortho straightens finger motion, but makes alt-fingering harder. With staggered, each finger can hit 5 keys, 3 with ortho, but with no bending.

Akko is making a set just for the board

It's a balancing act between your ability to adapt to new workflows, and your own preferences.

On the one side of the equation you have to make room for all your preferred features.
On the other side, you don't necessarily need dedicated keys, to have those features.

My work keyboard is a great example of this.
I absolutely must have a numpad, to do my job efficiently.
The numpad on my work keyboard is a properly laid out ortho format (with a 2u NumEnter, 1u Num+ and 2u Num0), but it sits over top of the right hand alphas on my keyboard, on a layer.

That gives my keyboard all the features of my 1800s and F-keyless 100% boards, but in a 60% case, which was originally designed for an HHKB-layout.
The efficiency of the layout comes as a result of economy of movement.
I can literally type all the right hand alphas, the arrow keys, the nav block keys and the numpad keys without ever moving my right hand from the home position.

Ok, makes sense if you see it from that perspective, I was just wondering since I saw some vids on youtube that clearly were along the lines of "because I can". Thanks for clearing this up.

You see, thats the stuff that makes this whole topic so interesting imo. The way people have their personal preferences and make them actually work is just impressive while also playing around with different options and ideas.

I need to see some legs! Or at least the option to add some.

And of course QMK compatbility otherwise this is going to be a no-go because a 40% needs to be fully programmable to be a viable daily driver for anyone who wants to properly use one.

Also wish the top and bottom bezels weren't so big. No need for them to be...

Might have something to do with the mounting scheme, the board seems pretty thick as well. At least the side bezels are small, which are the more critical ones for me.

Small stuff is just plain cute too :)

VIA

Yeah I think you're right it's probably structural. And I agree the side bezels being smaller is much more critical though it would probably look nicer to me if the sides were bigger than the top...

no way in hell this is 2.4ghz. Only a few qmk boards are, and I doubt this will be the first mainstream one with it.

Three device Bluetooth

A knob.

Yes, aside from k8 pro, I know of none

Akko should spring mount it, will make it have lots of flex

We'll, that's cuz it's NOT a QMK board, lol

An endorsement for CTR

Without QMK this is dead on arrival. Nobody's buying a 40% they can't reprogram.

.... exactly....

Nice minivan

This. My desire for a 40 is to use with my surface or iPhone on the go - having a connect up a cable (which isn’t even an option on the iPhone) is a non-starter.

That's why I don't consider endgame to be a permanent state.

Had you asked me, before I won that Dilly at the meetup, I would have told you I was perfectly happy with the keyboards I had at the time, both at work, and at home.
I would have told you that because I WAS perfectly happy with both setups...at that time.

At this point, those boards don't hold the same level of contentment for me anymore.
I've gotten used to new features I don't want to give up, particularly the split spacebar.
That one feature opens up all kinds of new pathways to explore.

Akko is notorious for taking “heavy inspiration” from other companies and designers. They’re the furthest thing from innovative, but that’s par the course for most companies based in China

Yes I'm aware, but I'm still curious about the keycaps 😂

If I may ask, how many keyboards do you own (both at home and work), and do you actually circle around between them or do you have a main one and the others are for specific situations or for the collection?

Sticking strictly to mechanical keyboards, I have 2 1800s, my 60% ortho, a 3x10 ortho I won at a meetup a few months back, and a hand-built macropad I designed.
I also have a 60% case I just received that will house my next custom build.

I use the two 1800s at home, on two different computers.
I use the 60% ortho at work, and have the macropad sitting on my desk there, mostly as a decoration.
Once I finish my next build, I will be rotating that one into primary use at home, and sell one of my 1800s.

I used the 3x10 ortho for a bit, just to play around with, and get some ideas from.
That board is what threw me down the "design my own layouts" rabbit hole.
It triggered a bunch of "what ifs" in my head, which ultimately led me to my current custom layouts.