There are a few reasons you might want a compact gaming keyboard. The obvious one being they’re far, far smaller than a full-size keyboard and therefore don’t take up as much space on a smaller desktop. That leaves you with more space to throw your mouse around at a lower CPI. You might also find you simply don’t need a numpad for your day-to-day; lopping it off entirely will save you space and often even money.
The main reason for these tenkeyless and smaller keyboards, however, is they’re straight up adorable. There’s no doubt about that. The main issue being that most keyboard manufacturers have a compact keyboard or five that they hope will convince you to part with your money, ranging from miniature macro machines to optical gaming-first options. We’ve tested six of these to help narrow down your options.
