I'll start with my credentials so you know where I’m coming from. I am a… PC gamer of ~25 years, playing FPS games since ChexQuest; RTS since AOE2; and MOBA (Aeon of Strife) before DotA even existed; software engineer of ~15 years (Visual Studio, Eclipse, vim); R&D manager of ~3 years, (proficiency in MS Excel and GSheets). My experience and user-needs span the gaming, coding, spreadsheet, and typist arenas. I have little to no experience in photo/video editing. I expect my keyboards to work well for both home and office use-cases, and I like home vs office layouts to match for consistency.

75% vs. Wooting 80HE vs. TKL

Across 75%, 80HE, and TKL variants, the left side of the keyboard (e.g. 60% + F-row portion) is basically identical. F-row keys may be exploded, grouped horizontally, both, or neither. Depth of a keyboard is a factor here, but folks with a strong opinion on a particular F-row concern are more rare than common.

The right side of these layouts is where things get interesting...

Here are what I consider the primary points of variation with a focus on what "right-side" keys are truly necessary for gamers, coders, and white-collar workers. This establishes a "mandatory six" right-side keys, the loss of which would be a significant loss of efficiency.

Let's consider, then, how each of these layouts addresses these considerations. First in tabular form, then with bullets and some "soft" considerations...

• 75%

  • Smallest footprint, best centering KB to chair/monitor

  • 4-5 right side keys available, doesn't cover "mandatory" 6

  • 1.75u right shift key => worse accuracy/ergonomics

  • Non-standard (vs. 100%) right-side keys

• Wooting 80HE

  • Compromise footprint between 75% and TKL

  • 7 keys available covers "mandatory" right-side keys

  • 2.75u right shift key => better accuracy/ergonomics

  • Standard right-side key position

• TKL

  • Largest footprint, poor centering of KB to chair/monitor

  • 9 keys available covers "mandatory" right-side keys

  • 2.75u right shift key => better accuracy/ergonomics

  • Standard right-side key position

  • Fully separated arrow keys, may be strong preference

So where does that leave us?

It seems that the 80HE layout takes the keys you don't really need and removes them to get you 50% closer (from 3 "added" columns down to 2) to a 75% footprint while keeping the more familiar layout for the "right-side" keys that remain instead of squashing them all in a single, "tall" column as is done in 75% boards. 80HE does squish the arrow keys a bit to the left, but it critically keeps that full 2.75u right-shift key which should add considerably to typing accuracy and long-term ergonomic comfort. To reduce the footprint any further, you start giving up much more meaningful things: standard "right-side" key layout locations, standard-sized right shift key, and single-keypress access to several keys which this coder, spreadsheet jockey, and gamer would say are mandatory.

While I'm old enough now to be a bit codgery about change, approaching this with less emotion and more critical analysis has me asking the question: could/should this become the new standard tenkey-less layout with the "old standard" going the way of the dodo? The Wooting team disrupted the keyboard industry once, perhaps this is them about to do it again in a different fashion. If so, let's try not to be too much like Stewie! -- I don't like change!

P.S. There's already another board coming out with this exact layout over at EPOMAKER. A savvy meme-r might use the phrase "it begins..." -- EPOMAKER DynaTab 75X (also, Melgeek Cyber01)

P.P.S. If you got this far... what do you think about taking advantage of this time before release to rename the keyboard something that better conveys the above message that this IS in fact a TKL, but what Wooting believes to be a better version of it? Per MandyDeth's note that the Wooting design is 68% + F-row, the most appropriate name I can think of is:

Wooting 78HE TKL