Hall Effect keyboards are quickly taking over the market for gaming keyboards, and it’s happened fast enough that they’re starting to blend together. That’s why it’s so refreshing to see the Nuphy Air60 HE, a low-profile compact keyboard that offers all of the features you’re used to in a slim, responsive design. It’s not quite as portable as the original Air60 and offers slightly less keystroke travel distance for Rapid Trigger and Dynamic Keystrokes, but it sets itself apart as a compelling option for fans of low-profile keys and the compact 60% form factor.
Nuphy Air60 HE – Design and Features
The Nuphy Air60 HE is a compact, low-profile keyboard that should feel immediately familiar to both laptop and Apple users. Despite its thin frame, it’s a fully mechanical keyboard, complete with hot-swappable switches and all the programmability you would expect from a gaming keyboard. It’s also one of the first low-profile keyboards to offer magnetic Hall Effect switches and an 8000 Hz polling rate.
Its physical design is almost exactly like the non-magnetic Air60 V2. That means it’s exceptionally thin, with a front height of only 13.5mm and a rear height of 18.8mm. It features a 60% layout, which means that it lacks a function row and arrow keys, the latter of which the V2 incorporated and I wish was included here. Instead, all of the missing keys are available as hotkeys that are accessed by holding the Fn button.
The keycaps are impressively high quality. They’re made of thick PBT plastic, which is denser than the ABS traditionally used for gaming keycaps, and give keystrokes a satisfying solidity. They also use dye-sublimated legends, which means the ink thermally infused into the keycap, preventing them from fading over time. The density also makes the keycaps more resistant to finger oils and shining over time, so even with daily use, they don’t wind up looking greasy and prematurely worn out.
There is a learning curve, however. Like most low-profile keyboards, there’s no contouring between the rows to help you find your placement without looking, only a minor scoop to guide you toward the center of each keycap. Because of this, it’s a bit easier to make typos if you’re not already a touch typist (and sometimes even if you are).
The top case is made of aluminum and internal silicone dampening helps give the keyboard a reassuring heft for its small size. Though it measures just 11.7 x 4.2 inches (much smaller than even a traditional TKL) it weighs 1.18 pounds (534g). The bottom of the case is frosted ABS plastic and is semi-translucent to add a bit of depth to its appearance. There’s also a mirrored weight with “AIR60 HE” etched in the center and some text around the edges, though this “weight” is really more about appearances than meaningfully enhancing its mass.
There are also a pair of dual-stage tilt feet that allow the keyboard to sit directly on top of a laptop’s keyboard deck to replace its built-in keyboard. The feet allow you to choose from three typing angles: 3.1° with both feet down, 7° using the smaller feet, and 10° with the taller set. With both sets down, Nuphy’s AirFeet, which are thin silicone strips that rest between the rows of keys on your laptop, prevent accidental key presses when using the keyboard atop a laptop.
The color scheme is different this time around, eschewing the white, silver, and black of Nuphy’s other low-profile keyboards for a silver and purple with translucent accent keys included as options for even more flare. The standard keycaps give me SNES vibes even though it’s not exact but adding the handful of translucent keys definitely gives it a unique, futuristic look. There are also a handful of Mac keycaps in the box if you’re an Apple user.
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Internally, the Air60 HE uses customized low-profile Magnetic Jade switches with a surprisingly deep travel distance. Despite being around half the height of a normal keyswitch, which typically offers a total travel distance of 4.0mm, the Magnetic Jades depress 3.3mm when bottomed out. This makes them feel much more familiar and easier to adapt to if you’re coming from a full-height keyboard.
You can order the keyboard with standard Magnetic Jade switches or Magnetic Jade Pros, and I would recommend that latter to anyone who values control. While both switches sound and feel very nice, the standard Jades have a very low 30g actuation force. A standard Cherry MX Red, for example, is 50% heavier with a 45g actuation force. The Jade Pros, on the other hand, trigger with 40g of force and require 60g to fully bottom out. This makes them less error prone, though admittedly a hair less faster if you’re looking for your keys to actuate at the touch of a feather. They’re also made of POM plastic, which is smoother and has a more pleasant sound when typing quickly.
The use of magnetic switches opens up all of the features you’d typically find on Hall Effect gaming keyboards: Rapid Trigger, dynamic action keys, SOCD, customizable actuation between 0.1mm to 3.3mm, and more. You can also set the keyboard to run at a 8000 Hz polling rate for even greater responsiveness. The keys are also completely remappable using an online configurator inspired by VIA – a community-favorite programming tool – but with even better lighting tools and a full suite of magnetic customizations.
Nuphy has also gone the distance with configuring the keyboard for quiet but pleasant acoustics. There are multiple layers of sound dampening silicone that isolate the switch sounds only. This simultaneously makes the keyboard quieter — a boon if you share your gaming space with someone else — and softer to the ear (as if the keystrokes sound almost rounded).
All of these features do come with some compromises. Unlike other Nuphy keyboards, the Air60 HE is wired only. It’s inherently not as versatile a result and I would have loved to see 2.4GHz wireless incorporated in some way, even if it meant dropping the polling rate to 1000 Hz (you’re not likely to tell a difference anyway). On the back edge, where you would usually find your wireless switch, there’s a profile toggle instead. You can set it to M1, M2, or M3, which default to Mac, Windows, and Gaming profiles.
Nuphy Air60 HE – Software
The Air60 HE is programmed entirely online using Nuphy.IO. It’s part of a continuing trend that I just love: there is no downloadable software to run in the background, you go to the website, give it access to the keyboard, and all of the features are offered right there in your web browser.
In this case, that means full key remapping, macro recording, and configuring all of its different Hall Effect-based gaming features. Nuphy has done a good job of polishing the experience so that it feels complete, including real-time animations of how far you’re pressing each key to better help you determine which depth feels right for custom actuation points and Dynamic Keystrokes (DKS).
Remapping keys is as easy as can be. You can map actions on up to four layers for each of its three selectable profiles. If you don’t want to lose functionality, at least one layer is mostly untouchable. Another layer will need to carry any missing keys (like the function row) you need, as well as media and lighting controls (this is Layer 1 by default). This leaves you with about two and half layers for free programming potential on one profile and an additional four on both of the remaining ones. Assuming you want the basics described above on each profile, that still leaves you six wide open layers of keymaps. If you don’t mind flipping the switch on the back to get back to “typing mode” that jumps all the way to ten free layers that can be customized for games and applications.
If there’s a feature you’ve seen on a magnetic keyboard in the past — short of the Wooting 80HE’s Tachyon mode — there’s a good chance the Air60 HE has it. There’s Rapid Trigger to reset keys almost instantly, DKS to tie two actions to the downstroke and two to the upstroke for any key press. Actuation can be set anywhere from 0.1mm to 3.3mm with a simple slider. Macros are also available and can be adjusted with custom delays to make sure they work exactly as intended.
The one thing I dislike is Nuphy’s own version of “Tachyon Mode.” This is a direct pull from Wooting and it doesn’t work the same. Pressing this button in the settings menu automatically sets the keyboard switches to 0.5mm actuation points and turns on other settings, like Rapid Trigger, to quickly make it “game ready.” While the functionality is fine, I find it misleading to use the exact same term when Wooting’s version changes fundamental values like the keyboard’s scan rate. Call it something else and it would be fine, Nuphy.
Nuphy Air60 HE – Performance
The Nuphy Air60 HE is a high performance gaming keyboard that also works very well for typing once it’s configured for it. The keys can be sensitive, as in “brush your fingers on them” sensitive. You can see this in the calibration screen. At their very lightest, it’s hard to imagine anyone using them. But that’s the level of fidelity and responsiveness that they offer.
At this point, a lot of its key features are well-trodden ground. Rapid Trigger works just as well here and feels just as responsive as the Wooting 80HE, Logitech Pro X Rapid, or Steelseries Apex Pro. DKS and SOCD work reliably (though the former puts you at risk of getting kicked from competitive games), and setting custom actuation points is fast and easy thanks to the intuitive browser-based software.
The biggest appeal of the Air60 HE is how good it feels to use. The Magnetic Jade Pro switches I tested were impeccably smooth and the depth they offer is fantastic. There are full-height key switches from smaller brands that offer the same depth, but with how slim this keyboard is, having keys with so much travel is both surprising and makes it much more pleasant to use for newcomers.
And their sound is almost soothing – yes, soothing. Here’s the thing: the vast majority of low-profile keyboards sound similar. But then there are a special few that rise above and make themselves stand out with surprisingly nice acoustics. The Lofree Flow was the best, at least until now. With the Air60 HE on the market, the two are in a dead heat.
But what matters most is how it feels to play games with and how it performs in the heat of the moment. On that front, the Air60 HE impresses but it isn’t something I would instantly recommend for every gamer. There was no additional delay or lag compared to its full-height competitors, it’s just as fast as you would hope it to be, but this is a Hall Effect keyboard for low-profile fans first and foremost. If you’re not already sold on the compact format, you might find its completely flat profile and shorter travel distance to be not worth it.
The completely flat profile of the keycaps can be an issue if you’re not already used to it, and even if you are, it can still cause incorrect keystrokes at times. There isn’t the usual height difference between keys, which makes it easier to errantly hit a key compared to a full-height gaming keyboard. This is something that gets better with practice, but if you’re hammering keys during a particularly intense round, the last thing you want is to land in between two keys and accidentally trigger both. That will happen at some point.
The other trade-off is that, while 3.3mm of travel distance is very good, a full-height Hall Effect keyboard will still offer more. If you’re programming actions to trigger at a certain depth, even a full 4.0mm can feel tight, and the Air60 HE is even less and noticeably so.
Outside of gaming, however, I found it to be very good for normal typing. I would personally opt for the Air75 HE and its larger layout (since it has a function row, arrow keys, and some navigation/editing buttons), but setting the actuation point to a deeper 3.0mm helps mitigate typos and misclicks from the layout. With practice, some of those accidental presses still happen from time to time, but I was able to become quite accurate. Of course, that’s for typing, not gaming, where a 3.0mm actuation point actively works against responsiveness.
The lack of wireless is also a major missing feature. The low-profile design is inherently portable, and to the company’s credit, the keyboard’s USB port is on the side to easily plug in to a laptop, but without wireless connectivity, part of the appeal of the design is missing.
