Nuphy’s series of Air low-profile keyboards have taken the community by a storm and the Air75 v2 is one of the most popular keyboards in this category. Now they are releasing a third iteration – the Nuphy Air75 v3 and I’m here to review it.
Original review: https://www.hlplanet.com/nuphy-air75-v3-review/
The box it comes with is a bit more eco-friendly than what it was with v2. It contains:
- USB-C to USB-A cable for wired connection
- 8 extra keycaps (alt, esc, ins and a few others)
- quick guide + FAQ
- tiny screwdriver for the knob installation + knob module
- keycap and switch puller in one
I was given a beta unit and Nuphy reached out to say that there will be a low and high profile knobs included with each keyboard and USB-C to USB-C cable.
I have the ANSI layout unit, but there will also be ISO and JIS layout available. Tha’s very cool as I’ve seen countless Reddit posted asking for an ISO version.
Typing feel is a big win here, but so is sound. Compared to a bit rattly Air75 v2, this one feels more refined. The new gasket mount and internal foam dampening completely change how the board sounds and feels – less hollow and more consistent. It’s closer now to something like the Lofree Flow.
The frame is a combination of aluminum on top and thick translucent ABS on the bottom. It feels solid in hand and weighs more than the v2 – about 724g – but still light enough to carry in a bag. There are three adjustable typing angles now (4°, 8°, and 10°), and the board sits firmly even on a MacBook thanks to the improved “Air feet”.
You can get the Nuphy Air75 v3 with these switches:
- Red nano
- Brown nano
- Blush nano (silent switch)
Note: these switches are cross-compatible with Nuphy Kick75, but not with Nuphy’s Air60, 75, 96 v2 switches.
I got the red nano and here’s the sound test:
You can connect this board in three ways: USB-C, Bluetooth 5.0 (up to 3 devices), and 2.4GHz with a built-in dongle that slots flush into the back of the case when not in use. The polling rate is 1000Hz for wired and 2.4G, 125Hz for Bluetooth – good enough even for some gaming.
Battery life? Pretty decent upgrade. The 4000mAh battery now lasts up to 1200 hours with lighting off, or 60–100 hours with RGB on. That’s more than double what the v2 offered, and during my testing it held up well, but I obviously didn’t hit anywhere near 1200 hours.
Speaking of lighting, there’s north-facing RGB with 20 modes, and dual rhythm light bars on the top sides that show battery life, typing speed, and other status indicators. NuPhy says that future updates will add music visualization support. Subtle flex.
Now for the new feature everyone will notice – the hot-swappable knob. It installs easily using the included screwdriver and connects via gold pins. Straight out of the box it controls volume, but you can remap it using NuPhy’s own Nuphy.io software. Unfortunately the knob is quite wobbly, you can’t control it with one finger and it easily comes off. Kick75 has a much better and stable knob in my opinion. Btw, you can check the comparison between Air75 v3 and Kick75 here.
The software has lots of features and gets the job done, and I had no issues setting custom functions. You can record macros, set RGB and there’s even SOCD (Snap tap) function for gamers.
You get two knob options in the final retail box: one low-profile and one high-profile. I only had the high one for testing and it was quite wobbly, much worse than the one on Kick75. Hopefully the low-profile know will be more stable.
Customization-wise, this version doesn’t support VIA or QMK. That might be a deal-breaker for some, but the Nuphy.io app covers most essentials, especially for Mac/iPad users, who will appreciate the OS switch on the back.
As for color options – gone is the gray version. Now you can pick between Nova White and Nebula Dark. I went with Nova White and the subtle accents in yellow, red, and green give it a bit of character without overdoing it. There are extra keycaps included if you want to tone it all down.
A few small downsides: the case is snap-fit, so opening it up for mods isn’t recommended. Also, there’s no dust cover in the box and no extra switches like we saw with earlier models. Those are minor, but worth mentioning.
Also, I have had some connectivity issues, I had to switch USB ports for it to work wired and using a dongle I had a driver error one time, but replugging it and holding Fn+4 worked to connect it again with my Windows PC.
Overall, I can definitely recommend this as one of the best low-profile mechanical keyboards available right now. It’s a joy to type on.
Pros
- Major sound and feel upgrade
- Smooth, gasket-mount typing
- Software is pretty good with lots of features
- Great battery life
- Premium build quality
- Programmable knob
- ISO layout finally available (soon)
Cons
- Modding is discouraged due to snap-fit design.
- Limited to only two color options.
- Knob is wobbly
- $140 price tag, it’s $20 more expensive than Air75 v2 and $40 more than Kick75 (which is also pretty good)
- No VIA/QMK Support