I’ve spent the previous few weeks with the Keychron Q5 Professional and Q6 Professional mechanical keyboards, and I feel they’re among the finest bang-for-your-buck full-size keyboards you may get in the present day. The Q6 Professional is a standard full-size keyboard format with a NumPad and navigation keys, whereas the Q5 Professional is a barely extra compact 1800-style format.
Each of them are gasket-mounted, with thick aluminum instances and a knob within the prime proper nook. You should buy both mannequin with Keychron’s purple linear switches, brown tactile switches, or banana tactile switches, they usually embody hot-swap sockets, RGB lighting, and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity by default. For those who do not thoughts a wire, you can even join them by way of USB-C. (Learn my information, How to Shop for a Mechanical Keyboard, if you wish to study extra about a few of these phrases!)
Why a Full-Measurement Format?
Anybody who needs a full-size keyboard format already is aware of they need it. In my expertise, it’s one thing you’re already acclimated to, not one thing you’re going to change to on a whim. These items are enormous and may have a devoted key for all the things, particularly in the event you make the most of the power to reprogram keys.
Sure, all the keyboard is totally reprogrammable. Keychron’s Q Professional line helps QMK/VIA, an open supply third-party software program that allows you to reprogram each key. QMK is a system for keyboards that enables customers to flash new firmware and keymaps, and VIA is a system that makes this reprogramming fast and seamless inside an online browser. These keymaps persist throughout units and have practically limitless potential when you’ve discovered the software program.
Due to the utility of QMK and VIA, I discovered the quantity pads helpful though I rarely use them to enter numbers. They’ll simply be reprogrammed and used as a dedicated macro pad, or for every other variety of makes use of. (It is value noting that with each QMK and VIA, you need to plug within the keyboard to reprogram it.) The position of the reset button beneath the spacebar on the highest of the printed circuit board (PCB) makes reprogramming straightforward, because you don’t must take all the keyboard aside (in contrast to fairly a couple of different keyboards that place the button in a hard-to-reach spot).
Even in the event you don’t plan to reprogram any keys, the quantity pad is nice for rapidly typing lengthy strings of numbers or if you wish to make the most of Alt Codes in order that you do not have to continually Google “Em sprint” and duplicate and paste the image on Home windows. (Scorching tip: The Alt code for an em sprint is Alt + 0151.)
The Typing Really feel
Each the Q5 Professional and Q6 Professional use a gasket mount, that means the principle keyboard meeting (plate, switches, PCB) is suspended contained in the case utilizing two compressed layers of froth as a substitute of being instantly connected to the case. This creates a bouncier typing really feel and isolates the interior meeting to create a softer, extra crisp typing sound.
Keychron’s gasket-mount system is pretty bouncy, that means the important thing presses really feel tender and relaxed. This meshes with the switches offered, which have pretty gentle springs, to create an total typing expertise that’s crisp and bouncy with out feeling low cost or flimsy.
The 2 boards I acquired have the Pink and Banana switches from Keychron’s Okay Professional swap line. The Reds are easy, efficient linear switches that sound poppy and really feel pretty easy. The Banana switches are tactile with a medium-strength bump and an excellent quantity of journey after the bump. I’d advocate both one since each are high-quality examples of their respective swap sorts that will probably be acceptable to numerous customers.
