I’ve spent the previous few weeks with the Keychron Q5 Professional and Q6 Professional mechanical keyboards, and I feel they’re among the greatest bang-for-your-buck full-size keyboards you may get right now. The Q6 Professional is a standard full-size keyboard structure with a NumPad and navigation keys, whereas the Q5 Professional is a barely extra compact 1800-style structure.
Each of them are gasket-mounted, with thick aluminum circumstances and a knob within the high proper nook. You should buy both mannequin with Keychron’s crimson linear switches, brown tactile switches, or banana tactile switches, and so they embody hot-swap sockets, RGB lighting, and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity by default. In the event you do not thoughts a wire, you can too join them by way of USB-C. (Learn my information, Methods to Store for a Mechanical Keyboard, if you wish to be taught extra about a few of these phrases!)
Why a Full-Dimension Structure?
Anybody who needs a full-size keyboard structure 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. This stuff are large and might have a devoted key for all the pieces, particularly in case you benefit from the power to reprogram keys.
Sure, the whole 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 permits customers to flash new firmware and keymaps, and VIA is a system that makes this reprogramming fast and seamless inside an internet browser. These keymaps persist throughout units and have almost limitless potential when you’ve realized the software program.
Due to the utility of QMK and VIA, I discovered the quantity pads helpful despite the fact that I infrequently use them to enter numbers. They will simply be reprogrammed and used as a devoted macro pad, or for every other variety of makes use of. (It is price noting that with each QMK and VIA, it’s a must to plug within the keyboard to reprogram it.) The location of the reset button beneath the spacebar on the highest of the printed circuit board (PCB) makes reprogramming simple, because you don’t should take the whole keyboard aside (in contrast to fairly a couple of different keyboards that place the button in a hard-to-reach spot).
Even in case you don’t plan to reprogram any keys, the quantity pad is nice for shortly typing lengthy strings of numbers or if you wish to make the most of Alt Codes in order that you do not have to always Google “Em sprint” and duplicate and paste the image on Home windows. (Sizzling 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 primary keyboard meeting (plate, switches, PCB) is suspended contained in the case utilizing two compressed layers of froth as an alternative of being straight hooked up to the case. This creates a bouncier typing really feel and isolates the inner 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 gentle and relaxed. This meshes with the switches offered, which have pretty mild 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 Purple and Banana switches from Keychron’s Ok Professional change 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 a superb quantity of journey after the bump. I’d advocate both one since each are high-quality examples of their respective change sorts that will likely be acceptable to a lot of customers.
