After weeks of incredibly obvious teasers, PFU America has revealed the HHKB Studio Snow Edition, a white version of one of the best and weirdest keyboards I've ever used. A new color may seem like a small thing, and it is. But it answers one of the most common complaints about the HHKB Studio, which was previously only available in black with black legends. The Snow Edition is available now for $329 on PFU's website and Mechanicalkeyboards.com.
The HHKB Studio, which I tested last year, adopts the layout of the cult classic Happy Hacking Keyboard, adds a trackpoint and ThinkPad-style mouse buttons, and swaps the Professional Series Topre dome electrocapacitive switches for standard Cherry MX-compatible mechanical ones Switch off and adds four reprogrammable “gesture pads” to the sides of the keyboard. It also features Bluetooth.
It sounds like an unholy mess, but it's great. The trackpoint is so good that you don't need to take a mouse with you when traveling, the gesture pads are…fine, and the custom MX switches somehow feel right for a happy hacking keyboard, despite being linear.
It may sound silly, but just one more color makes the HHKB Studio even more attractive. The Studio was only released in anthracite last year and is not quite as nice in this color as the HHKB Professional (the Topre version), which is available in anthracite, the classic gray beige and snow. The white-silver case and white keycaps with light gray lettering of the HHKB Studio Snow Edition are a step in the right direction. (No word on a beige version; I asked.)
Blank keycaps, as well as keycaps with black lettering for better visibility, will be available in early November for $70 each. It's a shame you can't immediately purchase the Snow Edition with one of these alternative keycap sets, because the official caps are basically your only options.
The HHKB Studio does not work with most keycap sets because the G, H, and B keys are shaped to fit around the trackpoint and the space bar uses a non-standard stabilizer spacing. Keyreative is releasing some compatibility kits for its KAT profile keycaps, but that's about it for third-party options. At $329, it would be nice if you could choose your keycaps when purchasing.
Keycap limitations aside, the HHKB Studio is a great keyboard and I'm happy to see another color option for it. However, you still have to want the trackpoint.