NZXT Function Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

NZXT has had a lot of success in recent years, with their continued legacy of award-winning cases being further expanded by some of the best power supplies and AIO coolers on the market. However, they've also released some other big hitters, such as their motherboards, speakers, headsets, keyboards and mice, which are all proving popular for those wanting that clean aesthetic that the NZXT ecosystem provides. The original Function keyboard was great when it launched two years ago (review), but clearly, NZXT thinks they can do better, as today they're releasing the Function 2! NZXT Function 2 The Function 2 comes packed to the brim with high-end features too, such as their latest optical-mechanical pre-lubricated switches, doubleshot PBT keycaps, built-in noise dampening materials, an aluminium top plate and wickedly fast response times thanks to its 8000Hz polling rate support. While there's nothing really innovative or new here, it's certainly ticking all the right boxes for a high-end keyboard, and that's certainly nothing wrong with that! Features All Fast Everything NZXT Swift Optical Switches have a linear, lightweight feel with a 0.2 ms response time, a 100-million key press guarantee, and 1 mm or 1.5 mm adjustable actuation. 8,000 Hz polling rate transmits input signals 8x faster than most gaming keyboards, ensuring lightning-fast responsiveness. Feels As Good As It Plays Pre-lubricated switches and plate-mounted stabilizers guarantee smooth, quiet keystrokes. Double-shot PBT keycaps feature two layers of plastic to preserve legends and prevent fading over time. Dual-layer of sound-dampening foam enhances acoustics by absorbing unwanted pinging noises. Tape-enhanced PCB (aka tape mod) reduces hollowness for an elevated sound profile. Switch It Up Hot-swappable switches allow easy switch replacement without soldering using the included keycap and switch puller tools. Includes two extra switch types with different actuation forces (4 x 35 g, 4 x 45 g) for out-of-the-box experimentation that can be tailored to any play style. The current actuation force is 40g. Packaging & Accessories The box is classic NZXT with a mostly white box and some vibrant purple highlights. There's a large photo of the keyboard on the front, showing us the RGB lighting and overall design, and some of the key features are listed off to the right side. Around the back, there's a full rundown of the premium features, which we've already covered on the introduction page, as well as a picture showing the hot-swappable switch and keycap design. The box is very durable, with anything from two to four layers of durable folded cardboard providing plenty of protection. The keyboard is covered with a soft cloth bag, and the components are in a protective soft plastic wrapping. In the box, you'll find two colours of switch samples so you can play around with the hot-swappable design, as well as an NZXT branded USB to Type-C braided cable. A Closer Look & Performance First impressions are great, this is a very nice looking keyboard with a good heavy weight to it thanks to that black aluminium top panel and a durable chassis. It's pretty understated too, with a largely black design that is fairly minimalist, or at least as much as a device with over a hundred keys could be. NZXT has kept all their modern products quite simple, with straight lines and clean overall aesthetics, and it's the same for the new Function 2. There is a full-size wrist rest included with it, which features a textured design that looks like the surface of a golf ball, but again, this is a texture and design we see across a wide range of NZXT products, so it all matches up. I've got my lights pretty bright today, and you can see the keys have a UV coating on them giving them a little bit of a reflective surface, which not only looks nicer in real life than it does in these pictures, but the keys also have a very smooth and clean tactile feel to them too. The key caps are double-shot PBT, so they're very durable, but while NZXT is using their optical-mechanical switches, they use a standard MX fitting, so you could replace or add custom keycaps if you so desired. The top plate of the keyboard is lightly sandblasted aluminium, which looks very clean and tidy and matches the look of the keycap plastic really closely too. There is a full-size numberpad on the right, so very much a standard layout, but there is a TKL version too, which we'll be looking at next week! So there should be a version that suits your needs. Down the left side of the keyboard, you'll find three additional buttons; a master lighting control, a Windows key lock, and a mute button. There's also a side-scrolling wheel that is used for adjusting the volume. It's rare to see these buttons on the left of the keyboard, but actually, it makes more sense as a gamer. You can move your hand from WASD to the volume or mute quicker than taking your right hand off your mouse to reach the right side of the keyboard; at least this way you can still aim and shoot for those few moments while you're gaming! The detachable wrist rest is awesome, I can't work or game without one these days, and I'm glad to see (and feel) this one is so large, reached forward quite a long way, so my hands comfortably fit on it, and it has a hard-wearing soft-touch rubber finish that adds to the overall comfort and grip. Plus, it mounts to the keyboard magnetically, so snap it in place and you're good to go. There are four built-in profiles, allowing you to apply your key configurations, shortcuts, macros, RGB settings and more to each so you can quickly flip through your setups for work, video editing, MOBA, FPS gaming, or anything else you decide to configure. There are no dedicated multimedia controls, but you can use Fn-Shift to access secondary functions on a few keys, allowing you to quickly skip through songs, play/pause, etc. It's perfect for listening to music while gaming, removing the need to tab out to control your media player. On the underside of the keyboard, you'll find five thick rubber grips on the keyboard, which combined with its weighty design is more than enough to prevent it from slipping around. The wrist rest is (obviously) lighter, so it's good to see they've put a lot more (10) grips on it. There are some two-level kickstands here, allowing you to dial in some angle adjustment. The small inner foot has a little rubber grip of its own. As does the larger one. The keyboard does support the CAM software for customisation and RGB control, so it'll all sync with any other NZXT products you own. However, on the default profile, you'll get a nice transitioning rainbow effect. However, I think NZXT should have put a more on-brand purple lighting effect to match their company colours as the default. The four onboard profiles are configured to offer up a few different lighting effects, but as I said, the CAM software is all you need to customise these settings to your liking. NZXT is using some lovely pre-lubricated switches on this keyboard, so they feel a bit smoother and cleaner to type on than something like the Cherry MX Red. You wouldn't think you could get much smoother than MX Red, but you would be surprised what modern rivals have to offer if you've not tried them yet. With the mechanical switches rated with a 100m click guarantee, pre-lubed, and mounted in a durable aluminium frame, it's no surprise that they feel exceptional to type and game on. The 8000 Hz polling rate the response time is ridiculously fast, but keep in mind if you're using it in 8000 Hz mode, it can put more strain on your CPU, and while NZXT doesn't provide information on this, from my testing of Corsair's 8000MHz hardware, they suggest a minimum of an Intel i7 9th generation processor or an AMD Ryzen 7 2nd generation processor (or equivalent) for this mode. Regardless, if you're running a faster refresh rate low latency monitor, there are benefits to be had here. How Much Does it Cost? The NZXT Function 2 Mini TKL Optical Gaming Keyboard is available today with an MSRP of £139.99/$139.99, which is pretty reasonable given that The original Function that launched two years ago was £149.99/$149.99, albeit that recently dropped to £139 but has since sold out as it's end of life. However, it's even better value given the generational upgrades that are included, such as the more premium keycaps, the adjustable actuation, additional switches, increased polling rate and enhanced sound dampening. Overview The original NZXT Function keyboards were impressive when they landed two years ago, but the competition is stronger than ever these days, so it's good to see NZXT up their game and make the Function 2 an even more competitive product to keep up with the times. On the old model, the PBT keycaps were a £9.99 optional upgrade, but now they're included as standard in the retail model and not just from the NZXT Bld customization website. The old model used 3rd party Gateron Red Mechanical Switches, but now they're a specially designed NZXT Swift Optical Mechanical Switch which are even more premium, come pre-lubricated, are light and fast, and even come with a 2-point adjustable actuation (1mm or 1.5mm). The switches are now hot-swappable and while no additional switches come with the old model, you get two extra switch types in the box. There are four 35g actuation and four 45g actuation switches for you to play with, perfect for applying to WASD. The default switches are rated at 40g actuation force. However, you could drop in your own aftermarket switches too, if you so desired. Instead of one layer of sound-dampening foam, there are now two, as well as a tape-enhanced PCB which further reduces the hollowness of the keyboard and just makes it feel and sound more premium while typing. The CAM software is required for the more extensive keyboard customisation and lighting profiles, but these settings can be saved directly to the keyboard too. CAM software is decent now too, I wasn't a fan of it when it first launched, but it's certainly a lot more stable and works effortlessly with a wide range of NZXT products, making it perfect for syncing RGB profiles between them. Should I Buy One? If you have a first-generation NZXT Function, you'll likely be very happy with it, and there's certainly some benefit to upgrading to the new model, the differences may each be small, but they just add up to a more premium feeling and functioning keyboard overall. While the design is a little more understated than most, I like that aesthetic, but the underlying features are on par with the best of the best flagship keyboards built for those who design an enthusiast typing experience or eSports-worthy gaming performance.