When comparing Minimak 4-key vs Neo2 (Classic Neo), the Slant community recommends Neo2 (Classic Neo) for most people. In the question“What are the best keyboard layouts for programming?” Neo2 (Classic Neo) is ranked 7th while Minimak 4-key is ranked 23rd. The most important reason people chose Neo2 (Classic Neo) is:
Easily reachable programming relevant symbols, like {}'()|~"_[]<>, on the third layer.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro One of the easiest to learn from QWERTY
Only 4 keys have moved from their QWERTY positions, hence the name. All the advantages of QWERTY (except those 4 keys) still apply.
Pro Best for programming
Easily reachable programming relevant symbols, like {}'()|~"_[]<>, on the third layer.
Pro Type mathematical symbols natively
Pro Many layers
You can type more symbols and letters, that do not even exist on other keyboard layouts.
Pro Its possible to type letters from the International Phonetic Alphabet
Cons
Con The "HE" bigram is awkward
The H and E keys are in the same position as Colemak, so they both have the same-hand lateral motion problem for the second-most common English bigram "HE".
Con Developed primarly for the German language
English is considered a major target, but the homepage and docs are mostly in German.