Keychron Q5 Pro and Q6 Pro Review: Well-Built Full-Size Keyboards

I’ve spent the previous few weeks with the Keychron Q5 Professional and Q6 Professional mechanical keyboards, and I believe they’re among the finest bang-for-your-buck full-size keyboards you will 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 instances and a knob within the prime proper nook. You should buy both mannequin with Keychron’s pink linear switches, brown tactile switches, or banana tactile switches, they usually embrace hot-swap sockets, RGB lighting, and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity by default. In the event you do not thoughts a wire, you may as well join them through 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-Dimension Structure?

Anybody who desires 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 modify to on a whim. These items are enormous and might have a devoted key for every part, particularly if you happen to reap the benefits 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 internet browser. These keymaps persist throughout gadgets and have practically 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 hardly 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, it’s a must 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 simple, because you don’t should take all the keyboard aside (in contrast to fairly just a few different keyboards that place the button in a hard-to-reach spot).

Even if you happen to 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 always 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 primary keyboard meeting (plate, switches, PCB) is suspended contained in the case utilizing two compressed layers of froth as a substitute of being instantly 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 smooth and relaxed. This meshes with the switches supplied, which have pretty gentle springs, to create an general typing expertise that’s crisp and bouncy with out feeling low cost or flimsy.

The 2 boards I obtained have the Pink and Banana switches from Keychron’s Ok 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 a great quantity of journey after the bump. I’d suggest both one since each are high-quality examples of their respective swap sorts that shall be acceptable to a lot of customers.