The Nuphy Air75 was one of our all-time favorite low-profile keyboards, but the company isn’t content to rest on its laurels. It’s back with V2 versions of its different keyboards and today, we’re looking at the Air96 V2, a compact full-size low profile mechanical keyboard. It features an improved sound and feel, brighter RGB, better battery life, deeper programming, faster wireless, and more. If you’re looking for a low-profile keyboard for work or play, the Nuphy Air series, and the Air96 in particular, is one of the best you can buy.
Specifications
Current Price: $129.95 (Nuphy - 10% off with code MMORPG10)
Nuphy Air96 V2 - Design and Features
The Nuphy Air96 V2 is a compact full-size mechanical keyboard with a low-profile design. Like the original, it includes a full numpad and function row but has had all of the space removed from between the keys so that it’s only a column wider than a standard TKL. It’s incredibly slim, measuring only 22.4mm (0.88 inches) at its thickest point, making it perfect for sliding into a bag and taking on the go.
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The V2 version brings with it a number of enhancements that make it the version to buy for the vast majority of users. The keycaps are now even better, made of doubleshot PBT plastic instead of the already-good dye-sublimated keycaps on the past version. They’re white and grey with splashes of color on the accent keys and it looks great, while also reflecting the RGB backlighting very well.
The construction has also been enhanced with additional layers of sound dampening foam. There is now a layer of PORON plate foam, IXPE switch foam, and a PET pad in between. These remove any sense of hollowness from the typing experience and make it sound more crisp and poppy. The spacebar has also been enhanced with silicone inserts to bring its sound profile in line with the rest of the keyboard. It’s not a carbon copy of the GhostBar found on Nuphy’s Halo series, but it’s similar in principle, quieting down its usually louder volume.
Wireless functionality has also been improved. It’s still tri-mode wireless, meaning that it can connect over USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.1 with up to three devices, and 2.4GHz wireless. But while the originally 2.4GHz dongle only connected at a 500Hz polling rate, this model connects at a full 1000Hz for only 1ms of input latency. Wireless battery life has also received a substantial boost, now being rated for 35 - 120 hours with RGB on and up to 220 hours with lighting turned off.
Nuphy has taken clear influence from the enthusiast community with the design of this keyboard. It’s evident in their approach to sound dampening, but also applies with the different switch choices the Air96 V2 offers. There are seven switches available, which include four custom, pre-lubed, long-pole options from Nuphy, as well as enhanced Gateron Low-Profile Red 2.0, Blue 2.0, and Brown 2.0. Each of these switches is pre-lubed and each offer 3.2mm of total travel, a hair away from the 4mm of a full height switch for a more natural typing experience despite its very slim design.
Nuphy’s custom switches are all the more interesting, and have been expanded since last generation with the new Moss switch. This switch is highly tactile, a bit like a Holy Panda in low profile form. There’s also the slightly lower weight Wisteria tactile, as well as Cowberry, and Aloe linears. The former is a lightweight switch that’s perfect for gaming.
The other major change coming with this revision is that the keyboard now supports VIA for all of its reprogramming. The V1 utilized Nuphy’s own Nuphy Console software, which worked fine, but VIA is an open source tool that makes reprogramming keymaps, assigning macros, and creating multiple layers exceptionally easy. You can even do it through a web browser! The best part is that there really aren’t many limitations to how you can map your keyboard, so you have multiple layouts for individual games and apps, and assign it in the way that works best for you. All of your changes save instantaneously, too, so once you’re done, you close the web tab and they’ll work on any PC regardless of OS or IT policy.
Like the original, the V2 features a metal top frame and a translucent bottom. There’s a mirrored weight/badge on the bottom, which is an especially nice touch, but don’t worry about the keyboard being too heavy to travel with. It’s really more for show. The bottom is frosted, so you can see some of the internals, which is neat. The V2 brings back Nuphy’s AirFeet, thin silicone strips on the tilt feet that allow it to sit on top of your laptop’s keyboard without pressing any of its buttons during use. The Air96 V2 is a bit too large for all but the biggest laptops, but it’s a nice feature to have nonetheless.
The switches are also hot-swappable. If you’d care to try a different kind, all you have to do is pull them out using a switch puller and press a new one into place. The difference between switches is noticeable, and with customization being such a theme with this keyboard, it’s something you may genuinely want to investigate in the future. Not having to buy an entire new keyboard is a great feature.
Nuphy Air96 V2 - Performance
The Nuphy Air96 V2, like the Air75 V2 before it, is simply one of the best low profile keyboards you can buy today. Nuphy has put a lot of care into the typing experience and its wireless performance, which directly translates to a better experience for you, the user. It’s a keyboard that doesn’t need modding; they’ve done it for you. It’s ready to go out to the box, delivering its peak potential without any extra effort required.
One of the things I really like about using it is the travel offered by the switches. 3.2mm is noticeably shorter than the 4mm travel distance of a full-height mechanical key switch, but it’s deep enough to become a nice middle ground between the low profile keyboards of yesteryear and the full-height mechs dominating the space today. If you’re coming to a low profile keyboard for the first time, it’s easier to learn and adapt to.
The wireless performance is excellent. Over Bluetooth, my keystrokes were sent without any noticeable delay. For productivity tasks (like writing this review), it performs on par with a wired keyboard. It also wakes from sleep very quickly, so you don’t have to tap keys and wait a few seconds for the keyboard to become usable. Using its 2.4GHz dongle, it’s virtually identical to using the keyboard in wired mode in responsiveness. It’s fast, lacking nothing compared to similarly specced wired gaming keyboards. The easy yet deep remapping support through VIA also makes creating custom keymaps and macros for games simple.
I’m a sucker for RGB, so I have to talk about it. Yes, yes, ideally you want to turn this off for the best battery life, but if you’re like me and plug your keyboard in at night anyways, you can run it at full brightness and enjoy its enhanced luminance and vibrance. Compared to last generation, it’s substantially brighter and looks better because of it.
The moss switches are excellent. I don’t know any other way to say it: I love them. They’re not as heavy a bump as Holy Panda switches and feel more rounded, but the bump occurs at the top of the key press, which makes typing on it feel almost bubbly. This is also very useful for warding off typos, which can be an issue as you’re learning to use this keyboard.
Which is my biggest gripe: there’s definitely a learning curve here. It’s not huge, but the keys are completely flat, which makes it easier to hit neighboring buttons by mistake. This is exacerbated somewhat by the condensed layout that removes all of the spaces between the keys. For a while, I have to look down to make sure that I was actually one my arrow keys because I was miss-pressing them so regularly.
This isn’t something that’s unique to the Air96 V2 and isn’t a reason to avoid buying one for yourself. The flat layout is quite normal for low profile keyboards in general and the compact layout is the same or similar across many different 96% keyboards. You should just be prepared to spend some time getting familiar with the layout. In a couple hours, I felt right at home.
Final Thoughts
The Nuphy Air96 V2 is an excellent keyboard. Low profile, compact, full-size wireless mechanical keyboards are already hard to come by. But Nuphy has managed to pack in a lot of enthusiast features that make the Air96 V2 the most comfortable and satisfying to actually use. Its deep low-profile switches are a middle-ground between it and full-size mechanical keyboards, which makes it an even better choice for someone considering it as their first of this type. If you’re in the market and need a numpad, it doesn’t get much better than this, especially at this price.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes. Some articles may contain affiliate links and purchases made through this will result in a small commission for the site. Commissions are not directed to the author or related to compensation in any way.
