Retro Typewriter Keyboard in Purple: 104 Round Keys That Make Shorthand Work Fun Again

Lavender desk setups keep winning Pinterest, and the purple retro typewriter keyboard is the piece that ties them together. Round keycaps like vintage Olivetti, one matching mouse, one soft color family from keyboard to tumbler: the photo above is the recipe in full. The SOLIDEE wireless set delivers that look in a real, working package: 104 keys, a number pad, and a 2.4 GHz USB receiver, around 40 euros on Amazon.de at the time of writing.

What is it like to type on a retro typewriter keyboard?

Round keys look awkward and then stop being awkward. Each cap is sculpted like a shallow bowl, so your fingertips land in the center instead of sliding off the edges, and the offset angle of the layout was designed for exactly this shape back when typewriters were the interface. After an hour the typo rate evens out, and after a day the keyboard stops registering as unusual at all.

The keys press on a quiet membrane structure under the caps. Bottom out is soft, the return is snappy, and the whole board produces a muted tap that stays friendly in shared spaces. The board includes a number pad, which compact vintage style keyboards skip, so spreadsheets and data entry stay on one row instead of an emulated laptop cluster.

Does the purple typewriter keyboard work for real work?

It behaves like a proper office keyboard. The 2.4 GHz receiver plugs into a USB port and the set pairs within seconds, no software, no pairing menus, no Bluetooth menu scavenger hunts. Latency is low enough for spreadsheets and writing, and the connection stays stable across a room. Two devices share the one receiver, so a single port serves both keyboard and mouse.

The board tilts on pop out legs at the back, and the set ships with a soft wrist rest that matches the lavender colorway. Batteries are standard AA, both devices sleep on their own when idle, so the pair lasts months instead of days on one set.

Who should buy the purple retro typewriter keyboard?

Anyone building a pastel or lavender desk. The set is the affordable entry into the cute typewriter aesthetic: the same look as limited drop keyboards that cost 150 dollars or more, without the group buys or the waitlists. Students, content creators, and home office workers who want a desk that photographs well all get a working tool first and an aesthetic object second.

The strongest pairing is with the accessories in the photo above: a lavender crystal lamp throws patterned light on the wall, and a purple tumbler carries the color story across the desk. Match the mouse pad to the keyboard and the whole setup reads as one designed object instead of a collection of gadgets.

What are the weaknesses?

The colors are printed on plastic, not dyed through, so heavy keycap polish shows white rings over years of abuse. The US QWERTY layout means German users lose their umlaut keys and need remapping tools. And at 3.9 stars across 280 ratings, expect the usual budget set lottery: occasional receiver range complaints and a small share of double typing reports.

Verdict

The SOLIDEE typewriter set is the cheapest way to get a genuine lavender desk setup that also types well. Round keys every day for a week either converts you back to flat caps or ruins flat caps forever, and the 40 euro price makes that experiment cheap to run.

✅ Pros:

• Full 104 key layout with number pad, works plug and play through one USB receiver
• Sculpted round keycaps reduce typos once you adapt and look straight out of 1972
• Quiet membrane action keeps shared rooms and late night typing polite
• Matching mouse and wrist rest complete the pastel color story
• Around 40 euros, far below the limited drop aesthetic keyboards

❌ Cons:

• US QWERTY layout only, German users must remap symbols
• 3.9 star average, budget lottery with occasional range and chatter complaints
• Printed keycap colors will polish white over years of use
• No Bluetooth, no charging cable, batteries need replacing eventually