Best TKL Mechanical Keyboard in 2023
Unless your professional life involves numbers, the ten key number pad is a largely redundant vestige of computing’s past most PC users, especially gamers, don’t use, a glorified dust repository tacked onto the right of keyboards out of habit. They evoke grey-suited accountants cooking the books in the stuffy, smoke-filled offices of the 80s, not the flick-shots, frantic Discord calls, and RGB light shows of today’s PC gaming scene.
Tenkeyless or TKL for short, keyboards cut out the ten key number pad entirely, adopting a more streamlined form factor prized by a growing number of gamers and eSports professionals. They cut out the dead weight and keep the keys that matter as you’d find them on a full-sized keyboard.
Aficionados swear by TKL mechanical keyboards because they allow the user to adopt a more natural hand/arm position – that slanted keyboard position that pops up every so often in eSports event B-roll – and play closer to the mouse, which tends to reduce strain and arm fatigue. Similarly, taking an ax to the number pad frees up precious desk space for the high DPI mousers among us. They are also the form factor of choice for some because of how portable and compact they are, ideal for pros and serious amateurs jumping from tournament to home to training facility.
If you’re tempted to try one out but aren’t sure where to start, we’re here to help with some choice recommendations for the best TKL mechanical keyboard currently out there.
Products at a Glance
Best TKL Mechanical Keyboard in 2023
- Durable construction
- Responsive and comfortable clicky switches
- Programmable RGB lighting and F-key macros
- Detachable cable
- Rubber feet with three-step angle adjustment
- Expensive
- Beautifully responsive Cherry MX Blue switches
- Detachable cable
- Customizable RGB lighting
- Sturdy casing
- Convoluted macro configuration
- Short cable
- QX2 linear switches
- Rugged aluminum alloy casing and UV coated keycaps
- RGB lighting with Discord integration
- Great for fast-paced gaming
- Non-braided, non-detachable cable
- Poor typing experience
- Razer Chroma RGB customization
- Durable clicky Razer Green switches
- Military-grade metal casing
- On-the-fly macro recording
- Non-detachable cable
- Expensive
- Cherry MX Red switches
- No gaudy RGB lighting
- Detachable braided cloth cable
- Anodized aluminum casing
- Media controls
- None
Our Verdict
Best TKL Mechanical Keyboard in 2023
Our top recommendation goes to the excellent Logitech G PRO Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. Logitech has leveraged its peripheral know-how to offer a TKL keyboard oozing with features, superb in-house switches, broad RGB customization, and little welcome extras you won’t find elsewhere. It’s money well spent.
For fans of the tactile and auditory feedback of clicky switches, the Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro S is a great option, if only for the fact that it features Cherry MX Blue switches. You also get RGB customization, a sturdy design, and a detachable cable.
For linear switches, our pick is the rugged SteelSeries Apex M750 TKL. Lots of great features here and RGB lighting in droves, too.
For all-out RGB flair, the crown goes to the Razer BlackWidow X Tournament Edition. Good build quality pairs with decent Razer Green switches and a minimalist design.
Last but not least, those that would rather avoid RGB should consider the Corsair Vengeance K65 with media controls, Cherry MX Red switches, and a premium cloth braided cable.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below or even share some recommendations of your own.