I have a 40% ortholinear kb because it’s more ergonomic. My fingers are never have to travel more than 2 keys away from home row. There are enough built in layers that I never feel like I’m missing a key. All keys are remappable. Beyond that I think it looks neat - folks always ask about it when they see it. When using a mouse and keyboard, my arms are kept at a reasonable distance apart (overall hands are closer together), so I can work or game longer without feeling like my shoulders or back are strained.

I like the ability to remove or add the numb pad depending on the work or play.

I liked having less space between my hands (left hand on the keyboard, right hand on the mouse). I also rarely use the numpad and other keys, so the negligible sacrifice was worth it for better ergonomics.

I rock a full size realforce r2 at work AND and home because I feel more productive with a keypad and other helper keys. It’s less mental overhead. I’m not using the mouse much when I type (modal editor)

As a small keyboard user myself, I made the switch because I wasn’t using those keys anyways and the few that I were could easily be handled with layers. I have one of those desks with the sliding tray where the keyboard sits, so being able to free up space so the keyboard fits comfortably is nice.

Smaller keyboards:

• Encourage you to move your hands less. Part of this is allowing your mouse to be closer, especially if you’re right handed.
• Aesthetically look cleaner and less cluttered

There’s a lot more keyboards without the numpad and the block of middle keys - whatever they’re called - or with the middle keys reduced or squashed up awkwardly on the side, than full-size plain old 102- or 104-key layout keyboards.

I don’t like reduced-size keys or reshaping the block of six keys. My guess is that reshaping the block of six keys (Insert, Home, etc) is to mirror laptop layouts, so one doesn’t have to switch between different layouts mentally. No real need on a desktop, but on a laptop, space is often at a premium.

But getting rid of the numpad is something that I am definitely enthusiastic about.

There aren’t that many uses for the numpad. In my experience:

• You actually do a bunch of numeric entry. I think that very few people do this, but for those people, sure, it’s useful.

• A few games use it, largely because it happened to be there for numeric entry. Because laptops don’t generally have a numpad, shifting to keybinding schemes that use it have become far less common.

However, the numpad sits right where the mouse would ideally be if the keyboard is reasonably centered.

In general, I’d rather have my hands stay on the home row. If you have to use keys off in neverland, like arrow keys or F-keys or the like, you need to relocate your hands. Preferable to use modifier keys and chord them with regular keys in the “main block” of keys. If you’re a vi or emacs user, you likely don’t use the arrow keys for cursor movement.

There was also a trend back around, oh, early 2000s to have a bunch of extra keys added to the keyboard, stuff like Play, Pause, etc. That seemed to kinda fall out of favor.

Numpad not needed since already have number keys above the alphas (and you can buy separate tenkey pads if they’re really needed). The extra space on desktop gained by a shorter keyboard is far more useful. All of mine except two are TKL, the others are 60%. Below that you fall into specialist territory and having typed on QWERTY layouts with function keys for decades I think I’m a bit too old to unlearn and relearn typing, but some people find it fun to use weird and wonderful ortho, dactyl or 40% keebs with multiple programmable “layers”.

I use a 64 key keyboard. Barely have to move any of my fingers which is great for reducing my RSI. I hate how standard keyboards just have this one giant key for your thumb. Your thumb is your strongest digit and it’s just used to slap this slab. On the ortho keyboards I’ve become more used to recently often have a thumb cluster so you can have all of your modifiers and whatnot there. Less stretching with your pinky for ctrl, fn whatever (which is how I got my RSI). Having enter, shift, backspace and delete at my … Thumbtips … Is a game changer.

I’ve recently built and am transitioning to a 50-key split-ergo keyboard. I code for a living so, a bit of getting used to, to be honest. The big advantage is in ergonomics and portability. Fewer keys means that fingers have less travel distance.

No idea, I really like having the numpad and all of the other keys that the full layout has on my Varmillo VA108

Gamers generally want more room on the desk so their mice can travel further without needing to be repositioned.

I love having a numpad for extra keybinds in MMOs and for number inputs for work, but I’ve since switched to a TKL and never looked back.

I still miss the numpad but that thing can be bought separately, and not smashing my mouse into my keyboard is a big plus.

Looking into upgrading to a Wooting 80HE once that launches; it’s like a TKL that wants to be questionably special, but given Wooting’s reputation I’d wager it’d still be better than anything else on the market.

I don’t know but I feel the same. My main gripe is with media keys, because I don’t want Fn key combinations, but dedicated media buttons, which is increasingly rare. The most appealing keyboard I have laid eyes on recently is Das Keyboard which has a volume wheel, media keys and is full size, but it’s very pricey and not perfect still.

I switched to a TKL (tenkeyless) to reduce the distance between my hands when my right hand is on the mouse, and it feels so much better.

I got a programmable keyboard, so I remapped the keys around where my right hand rests to be the numpad keys when I hold the capslock key. That way I can still have the convenience of the numpad without having an actual dedicated numpad, although I’m still getting used to using it this way.

I use keyboards in the 40%-65% range. For me it is about reduced travel. Almost no travel for typing any key and minimal travel for the mouse.

I wouldn’t use a keyboard that small if it wasn’t for QMK, the open source keyboard firmware. We essentially have dedicated layer keys. A key when tapped or held remaps the keyboard. For myself that is usually caps lock and a couple keys on the bottom row. I select keyboards that have the space bar split into 3-4 keys for this to work. 4 is preferred to put backspace next to space.

With 40 keys and 3 layers that’s (40 keys - 3 layer keys) * (1 base layer + 3 activated layers) = 148 keys within reach of home row. A full size is around 120 keys.

I’m used to software using “leader” keys like vim and tmux, so it never really bothered me to use layers. I don’t get why anyone would want their hands always moving to reach keys since I started using layers.