Introduction

Unlike a lot of brands whose products I have reviewed recently, NZXT has been a mainstay of the TechPowerUp review database for 17 years now and I dare say anyone reading this review is familiar with the US-based brand too. NZXT has made its name with its cases in particular, although I know many adore its CPU cooler line too. In the years since we first started covering its products, NZXT has diversified its product portfolio to include gaming peripherals, motherboards, power supplies, and more. In fact, I saw NZXT announce its first keyboard nearly two years ago and was immediately interested in the Mini TKL form factor that is quite new to me. It just so happened that NZXT reached out to inform me about a successor coming up in the form of the Function 2 keyboard series and this time I simply had to have one in person to do a full review!

What’s a Mini TKL keyboard, you ask? I had the same question two years ago. A TKL (tenkeyless) form factor keyboard has 87 keys in the US ANSI layout and can be visualized as a full-size keyboard with the number pad chopped off. The various other keys are present in multiple groups with space between them. What NZXT has done is effectively put them all together such that the Insert-Page Down set of keys have gone from two rows of three columns to three rows of two columns. It’s not a typical 75% keyboard either since keycap spacing is more regular than usual. In fact, NZXT has even managed to squeeze in an extra key somehow in here while still saving space on your desk. Then we get to the Function 2 part which means there are a lot of updates from the previous Function series of keyboards. Gone are the mechanical switches in favor of optical switches, and we get user-customizable actuation with it. The white color version also now happens to be all white as opposed to black keycaps paired with a white case before. The keycaps are updated to thick PBT plastic and NZXT says there are more quality of life improvements here too. Let’s find these out together in our review which begins with a look at the product specifications in the table below. Thanks to NZXT for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp!

Specifications