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How can the answer be improved? Bluetooth connectivity means it works with not only your Mac, but also with your iPad Type on Your iPhone or iPad Using Your Mac Keyboard Type on Your iPhone or iPad Using Your Mac Keyboard Use your MacBook or Apple keyboard to type on your iPhone or iPad, without wrestling with the touchscreen.
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Your guide
If you spend most of your day typing or coding, a mechanical keyboard is a worthwhile upgrade over a cheaper, less comfortable keyboard. After spending months testing 19 of the most promising options, we found that the Varmilo VA87M is the best tenkeyless mechanical keyboard thanks to its excellent build quality and compact, minimalist design. It’s also available with a ton of switch options and colorful high-quality keycaps to match your preference.
Our pickVarmilo VA87M
The tenkeyless VA87M has top-notch build quality and a tasteful, minimalist design. Easy mac and cheese. It’s available with a wide variety of switches and keycaps.
Buying Options
The Varmilo VA87M is available with many different switch types, including Cherry MX Clear, MX Brown, MX Blue, MX Black, MX Red, and more. If you don’t already know what switches you like, we recommend Cherry MX Brown, because they offer a satisfying tactile bump without making too much noise for a shared space. We also love that the VA87M is available with a variety of fun keycap sets and matching cases. It comes with a removable Mini-USB cable and a wire keycap puller, and it works on Windows and Mac. The VA87M isn’t fully programmable, but it does have clearly labeled media keys, and you can customize a couple of functions. The VA87M typically costs around $130—about average for a great mechanical keyboard—though some switch types, keycap sets, and backlight options cost a bit extra.
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Runner-upLeopold FC750R
The FC750R has similarly excellent build quality and design, but it doesn’t offer as much switch or keycap variety as the VA87M, and its media keys aren’t labeled.
Buying Options
If the Varmilo VA87M isn’t available, we recommend the Leopold FC750R. It has equally excellent build quality and a similarly compact, minimalist tenkeyless design, and it comes in all the most popular switch types. It’s available with a few different tasteful, high-quality keycap sets, though it doesn’t provide as much variety as the VA87M and has no backlight options. Like the Varmilo, this Leopold model has a removable Mini-USB cable and works on both Windows and Mac. But the FC750R’s media keys aren’t labeled on the keycaps (or explained in the manual), so you’ll have to memorize them. The FC750R typically costs around $120, though some switch options cost an additional $5.
Budget pickiKBC CD87
The iKBC CD87’s build quality rivals that of keyboards twice the price, but it lacks the switch and keycap variety of our other picks, it has a built-in cable, and its media keys require two hands to activate.
Buying Options
Our top picks are well worth the cost because you’ll use your keyboard every day for years, but if you’re on a tighter budget, get the iKBC CD87. This tenkeyless keyboard offers build quality nearly as good as that of keyboards twice the price, as well as PBT keycaps and the most popular Cherry MX switch options—both rarities for a keyboard under $100. Its media keys require two hands to activate and aren’t clearly labeled, its cable isn’t removable, and it lacks stylish keycap options and a backlight, but the CD87 is usually around $50 cheaper than the Varmilo VA87M and Leopold FC750R.
Also greatiKBC CD87 BT
This version is almost identical to the iKBC CD87 but with the addition of Bluetooth, a removable USB-C cable, labeled volume keys, and DIP switches.
Buying Options
*At the time of publishing, the price was $107.
If you want a wireless mechanical keyboard, we recommend the tenkeyless iKBC CD87 BT. It’s identical to our budget pick in build quality and size, it comes with the most popular switches, and it can pair with up to four devices via Bluetooth or connect via its removable USB-C cable. Unlike on the regular CD87, its volume keys are labeled and accessible with one hand, and it has DIP switches to customize the behavior of certain keys. At around $120 typically, it’s reasonably priced for a Bluetooth mechanical keyboard, too.
Unfortunately, availability is an issue with most great mechanical keyboards. Most are made in Taiwan or China and shipped to the United States in batches to be sold by specialty retailers such as MechanicalKeyboards.com. If our picks aren’t available in the switches you want or with the keycaps you want, you can preorder at MechanicalKeyboards.com, keep an eye on that seller’s incoming-shipments page, or set availability alerts on Amazon using a price tracker such as CamelCamelCamel or Keepa. We tested our picks against more readily available options and found that these models were of significantly higher quality and worth the effort to track down, but if you can’t wait that long for a new keyboard, take a look at the other great options we found during testing.
Everything we recommendBest Mechanical Keyboard For Mac And WindowsOur pickVarmilo VA87M
The tenkeyless VA87M has top-notch build quality and a tasteful, minimalist design. It’s available with a wide variety of switches and keycaps.
Buying OptionsRunner-upLeopold FC750R
The FC750R has similarly excellent build quality and design, but it doesn’t offer as much switch or keycap variety as the VA87M, and its media keys aren’t labeled.
Buying OptionsBudget pickiKBC CD87
The iKBC CD87’s build quality rivals that of keyboards twice the price, but it lacks the switch and keycap variety of our other picks, it has a built-in cable, and its media keys require two hands to activate.
Buying OptionsAlso greatiKBC CD87 BT
This version is almost identical to the iKBC CD87 but with the addition of Bluetooth, a removable USB-C cable, labeled volume keys, and DIP switches.
Buying Options
*At the time of publishing, the price was $107.
The researchWhy you should trust us
I’ve tested hundreds of keyboards, mice, and other accessories for Wirecutter since 2014. Since I began covering mechanical keyboards for Wirecutter, I’ve accumulated eight mechanical keyboards and a macropad—all but one of which I chose the cases, switches, and keycaps for and then assembled, soldered, and programmed myself. While testing for the 2019 update to this guide, I fell in love with a brand-new type of switch, and I now have plans to buy a ninth mechanical keyboard. This is too many keyboards! I’ve spent thousands of hours typing on all these different types of keyboards and switches to land on some reasonable recommendations for people who need only one keyboard.
Who this is forBest Mechanical Keyboard For Gaming
Mechanical keyboards, called such because they have individual mechanical switches under each key, are more enjoyable to type on, more durable, and more customizable than the typical membrane, butterfly, or scissor-switch keyboards that come with laptops or desktops. If you spend all day typing, it can be satisfying to customize the size, switches, keycaps, and layout to your exact needs.
Best Mac Keyboard 2018
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