Monokei & Singa Unveil the Neko – 40% Premium Keyboard From S$510

Monokei and Singa, two renowned names in the custom keyboard scene, are collaborating to release the Neko. It’s a custom keyboard with a compact 40%-ish HHKB layout – as Monokei puts it – and retailing from S$510, it is undoubtedly a premium keyboard.

That’s right, this compact keyboard starts at a whopping S$510, which comes up to about RM1,590. This is only for the Standard kit of the Neko too, which features aluminium top and bottom cases – which is offered in six different colours – a polycarbonate plate, and brass weights.

There’s also the more premium SE kit of the Neko, which comes with polycarbonate top and bottom in Frosted White, a copper plate, a copper weight, and a copper “cat weight” – as pictured above – for a cool S$620 (about RM1,935). If you want a hotswap PCB instead of a solderable one, that will cost an extra S$15 (around RM45).

Of course, that’s a lot of money, but you do get a premium compact keyboard. The Neko uses a gasket mounting system, along with a pretty neat-looking weight in the shape of a cat on the bottom of the keyboard. Launched alongside the Neko are also two aluminium keycaps, a “Neko Asobi” deskmat, and a smaller “Neko Maru” deskmat.

The group buy for the Neko by Monokei and Singa will start from 17 August until 10 September 2021; it is expected to start shipping sometime in Q3 2022. As for the aluminium keycaps and deskmats – if purchased separately – they will begin delivery in Q1 2022.