Mechanical keyboard clicky switches Bluetooth#

Mechanical keyboard clicky switches Bluetooth#

Foremost is that the Q1 is wired-only, since the thick anodized aluminum housing doesn’t allow for a Bluetooth connection. VIA and QMK are not as straightforward as some of the configuration packages offered by gaming keyboard manufacturers, but it’s nice to have the ability to change things up. We did this using the VIA editor, and found it fairly easy to edit and load your own layouts.

While this wasn’t a major factor in our reviewing, if you feel like remapping keys, assigning macros or tweaking the backlighting, you can do so using the open-source QMK configuration software. Keychron keyboards share an easily accessible physical switch for cross-platform compatibility, and use the modern USB-C connector for wired connections. You may still get some stares in an open-plan office, but you are unlikely to alienate housemates or family members. More practically, Keychron’s Q-series keyboards are the only models we found that are actually quiet enough to use with clicky switches around other people who aren’t mechanical keyboard enthusiasts. The heavy build and gasket-mounted plate really isolate the switches, showing off the characteristics of each type more clearly than other keyboards since you’re feeling the switch, not the keyboard - if you’re into experimenting or just very persnickety about your switches, you can really feel the difference here. We spent many hours with the stock setup of the Q1, but given that these are meant to compete with custom keyboards (you can buy a barebones housing to build as you see fit), we also tried a wide range of switches and keycaps in both keyboards, in heavy and light spring weights, and in linear, tactile and clicky flavors. The Q-series comes with a redesigned set of very comfortable PBT keycaps and your choice of Gateron G-Pro switches, which we found very smooth in operation the combo made for an effortless typing feel during our testing. The Q1 (and Q2) are unique among the keyboards we checked out in that they are so well damped that you won’t annoy your family and colleagues even if you prefer clicky switches. A weighty anodized aluminum housing, along with a gasket-mounted switch plate (neoprene pads isolate the plate from the housing itself) and smooth, noiseless screw-in stabilizers makes the Q-series keyboards not just luxurious-feeling and sure to stay put on your desk, but significantly quieter than any other Cherry MX-compatible mechanical keyboard we tried. The Q1 (along with its siblings, the 65% Q2 and the TKL Q3, which are equally good if you prefer larger or smaller layouts) is rather different from the rest of the Keychron lineup. In fact, after trying more than 50 keyboards over a six-month period, the 75%-layout Q1 was the one we kept returning to - it was simply the most pleasant to use in every respect.

Keychrons’s Q-series keyboards are so comfortable and quiet to type on, so easy to configure to taste and so solidly built that unless you’re an enthusiast who is after something specific from a custom build, we really don’t see any reason to spend more on a mechanical keyboard. We found a whole bunch of great models, so regardless of your typing style, we’ve picked out the best mechanical keyboard for you.Ī note: Manufacturers offer keyboards in a wide variety of layouts (which we’ll get into below), but where multiple layouts were available we focused on 75% keyboards - the layout you’re familiar with from laptop computers. We spent the last few months of workdays typing, navigating and otherwise putting 50 (yes, it’s too many) popular and not-so-popular mechanical keyboards through their paces (we also wrote this very article using the relevant products under review). Mechanical keyboards - in which every key uses an individual physical switch to send information to your computer, rather than activating a contact on a membrane as in a modern laptop keyboard - have been growing in popularity as gamers, developers, writers and a growing number of enthusiasts have pushed back on the thinner-is-better aesthetic of modern computer design, looking to the past for a typing experience that’s bigger, louder and easier on the fingers.