NZXT Function 2 Mini TKL Review

When we reviewed the original NZXT Function Mini TKL, we praised its layout for keeping the keyboard compact while still including some useful features, such as dedicated shortcut keys and a volume roller. Now, NZXT is back with the Function Mini 2 TKL ($129.99), an upgrade to the same minimalist keyboard we fell for in 2022, and the improvements here make it even sweeter than the original. The combination of optical key switches, shine-through keycaps, and a high polling rate is rare to find on a full-size keyboard, let alone a sawed-off model like this one. So, like its predecessor, the Function 2 Mini deserves an Editors’ Choice award for compact gaming keyboards.

Design: Small Keyboard, Big Features

The NZXT Function Mini 2 TKL is a compact gaming keyboard, a category defined by how many keys the layout ditches or keeps relative to a full-size layout; examples include “tenkeyless” (TKL) or 60% designs. As a TKL board, the Mini 2 shares the same layout as the original, down to the placement of its dedicated media shortcut keys. No improvement is necessary here, as the Function Mini TKL already introduced a great layout that keeps all the necessary keys you’d want, as well as the nifty volume roller on the top-left edge.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

If you aren’t a fan of TKL or smaller keyboards, the Function Mini 2 TKL also comes in a full-size version, with an added wrist rest, for just $10 more. Like the original, the Function Mini 2 TKL measures 1.5 by 13 by 4.8 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.6 pounds. Premium gaming keyboards tend to be on the heavier side for the sake of stability—see the OnePlus Keyboard 81 Pro, for example—and the Mini 2 follows this model. Augmented by the five rubber feet on the underside, the weight made the keyboard feel stable enough while typing and gaming during our time with it.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Each of the keycaps features a shine-through legend, meaning that the LEDs under each keycap cause the letters to glow when backlighting is turned on. While this is not a unique feature, the Mini 2 takes full advantage of it by adopting a remarkably clean legend design. The legends are unobstructed, with no noticeable shadows, and the light shines through in a uniform way. The RGB effects are smooth as well, transitioning from one color to the next with ease thanks to per-key RGB. The alternative, zonal RGB, limits colors to specific areas of the keyboard at a time and reduces the number of possible effects. Zonal RGB is common on less-expensive gaming keyboards.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The Function Mini 2 TKL is a strictly wired keyboard, with no Bluetooth or 2.4GHz connection options. One nice touch is that it uses a removable USB-C-to-USB-A cable, which is great if you’re taking it on the go, as you can pack the cable and the board separately. Along with the USB cable, the box contains a keycap puller, a separate key-switch puller, and two plastic bags of key switches (four per bag) with two different levels of actuation force depending on the switch.

Actuation force defines how hard you need to press a switch to activate it, and NZXT offers some suggestions for how to use the extra switches. In a nutshell, you’d use the light-touch Yellow switches (35 grams of actuation force required) for keys on which you need the quickest response times. If, say, quick in-game movement is paramount, you’d place them in the WASD key positions. They could also go elsewhere if specific abilities or weapons are ones you frequently use, like a shortcut key for grenades in a first-person shooter.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The 45-gram Red switches are intended more for ability keys that you don’t want to accidentally press. The stock switches are NZXT Swifts, which split the difference, at 40 grams of actuation force. The inclusion of extra switches is a nice touch for serious gamers, but casual players can safely ignore them; paying attention to actuation forces is probably outside of most folks’ comfort zones.

All of the switches here (including the pre-installed ones) are optical, which means you can change actuation distances, much like on the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini. This feature lets you adjust when a key press is registered to suit your preferred playing style. By default, this distance is 1.5mm, but you can adjust it down to a shallower 1mm for quicker key presses.

For someone who does a lot more typing than gaming nowadays, I found my preferred actuation point to be 1.5mm. At 1.5mm, it’s a lot harder to mistype by grazing a neighboring key. A Monkeytype test I took on this board gave back a score of 64 words per minute, which is slightly above my normal average.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

A lack of wireless functionality would normally be a downside on a compact board, since it’s so portable. Keyboards this size are commonly toted around, perhaps to a competition, and the ease of connecting via Bluetooth or a dongle in such situations is a plus. However, a wireless-connection option would almost certainly be unable to harness the Mini 2’s high maximum polling rate—the device’s ability to transmit a signal to a computer. At a typical polling rate of 1,000Hz, your keyboard is transferring 1,000 signals a second, but the Function 2 Mini TKL is capable of a lofty eight times that. At that rate, the only way to effectively transmit the data is via a wired connection, unless the company were to provide a special, nonstandard wireless dongle.

Exploring the Robust NZXT Cam Software

All NZXT products use the same software utility for customization and fine-tuning, called NZXT Cam. The software utility is handy for more than just changing the RGB effects on your keyboard. You can track things like CPU usage, GPU usage, and fan speeds in real time, and you can keep your NZXT accessories current with firmware updates.

(Credit: NZXT)

Specifically for the Function 2 Mini TKL, you can adjust the actuation point of the optical switches, add macros, disable specific keys and, of course, change the RGB effects. You can also assign settings to different keyboard profiles. The keyboard has enough onboard memory to store four different profiles that you can cycle through by holding down the Function key and the F1, F2, F3, or F4 key for the respective profile. You can create additional profiles and save them to a device like a flash drive, or to your preferred cloud storage provider.

Verdict: A Nice Compact Type for the Right Price

The NZXT Function Mini 2 TKL may have the same bones as the original Function Mini TKL, but what’s changed adds up to a worthwhile improvement on an already great keyboard. One of the few downsides is the lack of a wrist rest (especially since the full-size version has one). You’ll also find no USB pass-through port, and you may notice that the switches have a very slight pinging sound to them, albeit faint enough to ignore over time. It’s more distinct than annoying, to my ear. But you may want to test-type a sample board, if you can, to see if the sound is pleasing.

These drawbacks, though, are easy to overlook considering how excellent the Function Mini 2 TKL’s core features are. Stellar RGB and extensive customization in a small footprint make this an easy Editors’ Choice winner.