PFU Fujitsu releases new HHKB Hybrid models

Photo taken from fujitsuscannerstore.com

I never thought I’d see the day but here we are. A new set of HHKB keyboards. Announced on the 9th of December (I’m a bit late to the party) there are 3 new keyboards.

HHKB Classic:
$190
HHKB Pro 2 but with USB-C and no usb ports! PBT Spacebar

HHKB Hybrid:
$231
Bluetooth and USB-C Reprogrammable PBT Spacebar

HHKB Hybrid Type-S:
$280
Bluetooth and USB-C Reprogrammable Upgraded silencing PBT Spacebar

Just like the HHKB Pro 2 you can have the Japanese or US layout and choose between legends and blanks.

Now it’s nothing entirely groundbreaking. Design wise, they’ve rounded the corners and removed the branding on the bottom row. For the classic model the only real change is the migration to USB-c. Sadly it is not reprogrammable and only has dip switches like previous models.

The Hybrid models are more interesting as they have bluetooth, USB-C and are reprogrammable.

For customising keymaps, PFU have created their own little tool (HHKBKeymapTool_100.exe), which is only available for windows. Try as I might I could not get this to work in wine so I wasted a few hours on that. Eventually I span up a virtual machine to test it out. And unfortunately you can’t do anything without one of the new models plugged in. So I have no idea of it’s capabilities.

So apologies this is the best I managed to get.

Where can I buy the new HHKB?

At the moment you can buy these on amazon.co.jp or the Fujitsu US Store
It appears Fujitsu/PFU is now managing the sales themselves instead of partnering with third parties. So sadly they are only officially available in Japan and the US.

Typed on SSK