Hey everyone, I'm Mike Caputo, and today we're looking at the
much anticipated Keychron Q1 Pro.
Now Keychron has been in the game for about six years,
and they're releasing a follow-up to the Q1, which is
supposed to deliver an even more refined type experience,
at least, that is what they say.
So in today's video, we're gonna look at the
typing experience, the build quality,
and everything in between to figure out whether or not the
Keychron Q1 Pro delivers on that promise.
So whether you are new to mechanical keyboards or your
mechanical keyboard aficionado, I got something for you.
So let's get started.
Now, just so you and I are on the same page, this video is
not sponsored by Keychron.
They did not send this keyboard out to me.
They did not pay for any type of advertising.
I bought this keyboard of my own accord and through their
Kickstarter campaign, which happened earlier
in the year.
Now let's talk about the features.
Starting with pricing.
This might be one of the best value keyboards in the world of
pre-board mechanical keyboards coming in at $199, fully built
with keycaps and switches.
And unlike the q1, it works with wired and wirelessly
connecting up to three devices using Bluetooth.
And it comes with an internal 4,000 milli amp hour battery,
which, hey listen, that's a pretty big size battery.
We'll talk about the usage in just a few minutes.
Additionally, the Q1 PRO comes with one of my
favorite features, which is the rotary knob that is not
only tactile, but it's also pressable.
Out of the box, the Q1 PRO comes configured to work with
macOS and this button itself will allow you to change the
volume up or down.
T
he keyboard is made from 60 63 aluminum that has
CNC machined, polished, annodized and
sandblasted to create a premium look and feel, especially when
you consider the price point of $199 for this prebuilt.
it weighs just over 3.8 pounds or 1.7 kilograms, and it's so
heavy it's not gonna slide around your desk because of the
rubber footies that are on the bottom of the keyboard.
Now a portion of that weight is attributed to the upper and
lower aluminum housing that is used, but also a portion of
that weight is gonna come from the several layers of sound
happening foam, the pcb, the switches that all result in
kind of a very pleasing auditory experience that I
think you're gonna enjoy.
Minus the space bar.
But more on that in just a few minutes.
The Q1 Pro is available either in an ANSI or an ISO layout and
it can be purchased either bare bones or fully built.
And the bare bones versions worth noting is $20 cheaper
coming at $179.
Now there are three different colors available.
There's a color that I have which is Shell White.
There's also carbon black and silver gray, which I think
carbon black may be a second runner up, but Shell White for
sure is the winner for me.
Let me know what your favorite color is down the
commons below.
Now the Q1 PRO is RGB illuminated and those RGBs are
south facing, which means they face me.
So if I'm the user, I get a very pleasing experience
looking at the keyboard, either from close or
at a distance.
Now you can configure the RGB lighting modes by pressing
function plus the Q button and you can further change the hue
saturation and brightness and even the speed of the RGBs.
Now I like to keep my RGB lights on, which is why I use a
coiled aviator cable from space cables, which is used to
power and transfer data.
Now, if coil cables aren't your thing, the keyboard does
come with a USB-C straight through cable that is gonna
be color matched.
It is braided as well so it is very high quality.
And additionally, there is a USB-C to USB-A dongle that is
available in case you wanna plug it into your computer.
Now, in terms terms of key caps, the key caps are
KSA profile, which means that they're much taller than most
OEM or even Cherry key caps.
And from my experience, it's gonna take some getting
used to because they're especially troublesome to type
on if you're coming from a low profile keyboard.
That is because the KSA profile are their spherical and design
and it just takes a little bit more to get used to.
You're certainly gonna have errors when you're typing if
you have not typed on KSA profiles before.
Overall, I find the design and the aesthetics of this
keyboard very appealing.
It does gimme that 1980s retro vibe.
It almost reminds me of an Apple two E keyboard,
which just reminds me of being a kid.
Now, along that same retro vibe, you can choose from
three different hot swappable switches that all offer you
unique typing experience.
I ended up going with the Keychron banana switches as I
wanted an experience that was closest to the baby
kangaroos from Gateron.
For the most part.
I like the way that the Q1 pro sounds out of the box with the
banana switches minus the space bar.
The space bar is a little bit too pingy for my own personal
preference and I thought it maybe to get a little bit
better if I changed out the bananas for the baby kangaroo
in the space bar specifically.
Let's hear that one.
Now that's better, but it's just not quite there yet.
Still sounding, I think a little bit pingy.
So I swapped out the stock space bar for the ghost
bar from Nuphy.
Now that is more like it.
Now, depending on your personal preference, you may or
may not like the amount of flex that is in the board when you
are typing down.
Because of the way that the keyboard is designed with the
double gaskets, you certainly get a lot of flex in it.
And if you look while I'm typing, you can see that
the board is flexing while typing.
Now, it wasn't too bothersome for me in seeing that is my
first key Kron keyboard.
I don't necessarily have a good basis of comparison, but if you
own another key Kron keyboard and you're experiencing this,
let me know what you think I getting.
I don't necessarily mind.
It's not bothersome where I would wanna return
the keyboard.
Y
You can further customize the keyboard and the software on
the keyboard using the Q M K V I A software that's available
to browser-based really, you open a brave Chrome,
you plug in the keyboard into your computer and you
authenticate your keyboard and really you're up and running in
just a matter of a few minutes.
You can customize anything from the key bindings, the rgb,
the lighting, you can test the keys, you can
reset the keyboard.
It's very self-explanatory and it's actually think of
a valuable software.
If you wanted to change any of those things, you can even add
macros to the keyboard as well.
Now, in terms of pros and cons, there's really no
perfect keyboard out there.
There's no end game because no keyboard is perfect and that
means that there's gonna be something wrong or something
that you might not like about it.
And here are the things that I would consider when looking for
a keyboard at this price point.
At $1 99, this keyboard, I would say it's somewhat
accessible where people can enter into the mechanical
keyboard realm and get familiar with the keyboard that has high
build quality, got great aesthetics, and I
would say it's, you know, very customizable.
Second, I would say this is keyboard is nice because it has
global applicability cuz it's available in an ANSI and
an ISO layout.
And you can buy it either in bare bones or fully configured
for $179 and $199 respectively.
That means that whether you are someone who is familiar with
mechanical keyboards or you are brand new to it, you can find a
keyboard and find a configuration that should
suit your needs.
It does have the ability to customize the keys and the
software using either the QMK or the VIA software, which I
think is often overlooked for some keyboard manufacturers cuz
the Mac is usually left out for some reason.
I don't know why.
But on the flip side, there are some cons that you
probably should consider.
One better life goes from 300 hours when you are using it
with no RGBs on to about 90 hours when you are using
with RGBs on.
And that battery life, I would say is probably
less than stellar.
So you really have to, you know, if you like
the RGBs, you really have to consider either A, using A
plugged in, or B, having to charge it all the time,
which might be a pain in the butt depending on what
your setup is.
Second thing is that there's no wireless dongle to
use with this.
There's only Bluetooth and wired connectivity, no dongle
that may or may not work for you depending on your computer
configuration itself, including the key cap profile,
which I think is gonna be a turnoff for a lot of people who
once they pick it up, because it is gonna be a very
different typing experience.
You know, depending on what you're coming from.
The space bar, as I illustrated super pingy and does require
some level of, I say finessing to get it sound decent.
And then third and finally that the lower part of
the keyboard, the lower housing, you can't
actually adjust it.
There are no kickstands to raise it up anymore than what
it is from the footies that are on the bottom.
Overall, I really like the look and feel of the Q1 Pro.
I like the typing experience minus the space bar,
which we talked about.
I do think that from, you know, personally speaking,
after using this keyboard for about two weeks, I do like
the 75% layout.
I do think that the directional keys are much more better
placed than other keyboards that I've used in the past.
They're not necessarily as compact and feeling as tight or
as maybe claustrophobic if that's the way of
thinking about it.
But I do think that this is probably a good keyboard for
other people to check out, at least to look at and use
this as a basis of comparison.
I wanna know what you think.
Let me know down the comments below.
Now I do have a playlist here for other keyboards that are in
the sub $200 range.
Click on that if you wanna see other videos.
My name is Mike and I will talk to you in the next one.