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Keychron keyboard discussion
- Thread starter maflynn
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THIS!!! ! I ditched my MK so fast after typing on the Keychron. I forgot how much a joy it is to type. So happy I came across this thread. Everyone here has been so helpful.
I recently went down a YouTube mechanical keyboard rabbit hole and found myself wanting to make some upgrades to my Q1 Pro. As much as I love it out of the box, I knew I could love it even more with a few mods.
I made 4 simple mods:
1. Keychron Acoustic Upgrade Kit ($10.00)
An inexpensive way to add some additional foam to the keyboard that is pre-cut guaranteeing a fuss-free perfect fit.
2. Durock V2 Stabilizers lubed with Krytox 205g0 ($20.99 + $6.00)
No idea how much better these are than the ones that come installed on the Q1 Pro but everyone and their mother mentions these on YouTube so decided to get them.
3. WS Morandi Linear Switches ($38.70)
Up to this point, I've only ever been using tactile switches which I like. I actually really like the Keychron Banana Switches that came with my board but I thought it'd be fun to try something different. Again, a lot of YouTubers singing the praises of these switches.
4. Keychron Cherry Profile Double Shot PBT Keycap Set ($32.70)
Was never fully on board with the KSA profile caps that come with the Q1 Pro. Much happier with the lower cherry profile caps. I considered several keycap sets but there are not many that perfectly cater to Mac users. Decided to just stick with a simple black on white set from Keychron which looks pretty clean. They were also very reasonably priced.
I also bought painters tape (tape mod) and kilmat but did not end up using either. With these 4 mods, I was able to achieve the typing feel and sound I wanted out of my board. I was a bit skeptical, particularly of Keychron's Acoustic Upgrade Kit, but these mods have exceeded my expectations. I am super happy with my Q1 Pro now. Happy typing!
I made 4 simple mods:
1. Keychron Acoustic Upgrade Kit ($10.00)
An inexpensive way to add some additional foam to the keyboard that is pre-cut guaranteeing a fuss-free perfect fit.
2. Durock V2 Stabilizers lubed with Krytox 205g0 ($20.99 + $6.00)
No idea how much better these are than the ones that come installed on the Q1 Pro but everyone and their mother mentions these on YouTube so decided to get them.
3. WS Morandi Linear Switches ($38.70)
Up to this point, I've only ever been using tactile switches which I like. I actually really like the Keychron Banana Switches that came with my board but I thought it'd be fun to try something different. Again, a lot of YouTubers singing the praises of these switches.
4. Keychron Cherry Profile Double Shot PBT Keycap Set ($32.70)
Was never fully on board with the KSA profile caps that come with the Q1 Pro. Much happier with the lower cherry profile caps. I considered several keycap sets but there are not many that perfectly cater to Mac users. Decided to just stick with a simple black on white set from Keychron which looks pretty clean. They were also very reasonably priced.
I also bought painters tape (tape mod) and kilmat but did not end up using either. With these 4 mods, I was able to achieve the typing feel and sound I wanted out of my board. I was a bit skeptical, particularly of Keychron's Acoustic Upgrade Kit, but these mods have exceeded my expectations. I am super happy with my Q1 Pro now. Happy typing!
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If you like Cherry profile keycaps, I strongly recommend looking at PBTFans. The quality is superior to Keychron’s Cherry offerings, though can be 2-3 times the price depending on if you need some of the add-on groups (num pad, alternate modifiers, etc). But the quality and feel/texture is far superior.
I'm not particularly fond of any of the currently available colour ways from PBTfans. I'm always on the lookout though. I've never tried them so good to have your endorsement. Thanks.
Has anyone had trouble with their Keychron keyboard randomly losing the Bluetooth connection and either not typing for a minute or repeating a key for a while? I've had it happen on a rare occasion but today it happened 3 times. Is there anything to do like resetting it that fixes it or is it a sign something is dying in my keyboard?
If it's an original K-series, they have notoriously bad Bluetooth stability. Keeping the computer in close proximity to the keyboard may help.
The K Pro and Q Pro lines reportedly have better BT. I have a Q5 Pro, but I never use BT on it as I prefer a wired keyboard.
I have a K5 SE and the BT is more or less unusable IMO. The problem is that it is very quick to sleep and slow to reconnect. I've been wired for months and love it.
It’s a K4 Pro. I have an M1 MBP that I often take with me going places, and I have the left side ports taken up by DisplayPort and a backup SSD, so I like to have my one remaining USB-C port open for when I need it and for easier disconnecting of all my stuff when I need to take it with me. That said, having it wired most of the time and switching to BT when I do need it isn’t a big deal, it would just be nice if the BT was more reliable.
Also I’m considering getting a Q2 Pro to see if I can adapt to a lack of numpad and function row in order to make more space on my desk. I’m just waiting until Keychron gets a few more things in stock so I can buy all the things I want in one order and save on shipping. Sadly they don’t sell much of their accessories on Amazon.
I also considered a Q2 Pro as a secondary board but I love the Q1 Pro so much that I'd probably just get another one. While I could certainly live without the function keys, I do appreciate having them and use them quite often. Just an aesthetic thing, but I also prefer how the knob aligns with the top row on the board.
Yeah I use the media keys all the time as well, but when I’m working at my desk I have a third party monitor and speakers so neither the screen brightness nor the volume buttons do anything and I rarely adjust the keyboard backlight brightness. That leaves Mission Control, which I am much more likely to use with the trackpad, launchpad, which I don’t use too often either, and the play/pause, rewind, and forward keys. So I can totally map the last set to the knob, and then Mission Control and launchpad to the forward delete and home keys, since as a Mac laptop user I’m used to not using much anyway (fn+backspace = forward delete; needs to be mapped on a Keychron though). The only other thing left is that I do use the backtick a lot in programming so I would remap the escape key to that, and then if I remap caps lock to escape, I would have just enough keys for all the functions I need when working at my desk. It would still take some getting used to and obviously be more involved to set up than a Q1, but I’m up for the challenge, and if it turns out I don’t like it in the end, or get an Apple monitor, I can then give the Q2 Pro to my younger sibling who also wants one.
I bought a Q2 w/ knob a few months back on impulse. Saw a used one on eBay in excellent condition for a good price. Everything you want to program is doable on the Q2. Even the Esc key which, if I remember correctly, comes pre-programmed for Esc on keypress, ` on fn-Esc, and ~ on shift-fn-Esc.
The Q2 and Q2 Pro are nice in that they actually have 5 layers of programmability instead of the usual 4.
I used it for a while, and even pull it out every now and then, and while it's wonderfully compact, I find I miss the dedicated navigational keys, which I use more than I think I do. And believe it or not, I like having a dedicated key I can pull the emoji panel up with. So while it's wonderfully compact, it just doesn't have enough buttons for me. The 75% Q1/Q1 Pro, which is exactly the same width, I think works better.
I've settled on the Q5 Pro I posted above as my current end-game keyboard. At least for now. It's got everything I need without being quite as wide as a standard 100%. And even though I don't use the numpad on a daily basis, I find myself quite often tapping the numpad's enter key just by extending my right thumb while my right had is on the mouse.
Another thought has occurred to me. What if it's my Mac that keeps dropping the Bluetooth connection. This started happening shortly after I upgraded to macOS Sonoma. I wonder how to test which is the culprit. Buy more keyboards? lol
Edit. This is in regards to my previous comment https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/keychron-keyboard-discussion.2371272/post-32761552
Edit. This is in regards to my previous comment https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/keychron-keyboard-discussion.2371272/post-32761552
So I got me a set from PBTFans (along with the free red spacebar). So far I've been using them for only a couple hours and I think I like them, but the F row is harder to use now. The lack of symbols, spacing, or alternating colors makes it very easy to hit the wrong media key. Is there anywhere I can get double shot PBT cherry profile media keys for Mac? The closest thing I've been able to find are these ABS F/media keycaps, but even that after digging through a lot of crappy search results and Reddit.
Edit: Seems those ABS keys are OEM profile once you read their support docs. Cherry MX simply refers to the switches on the product page.
Edit: Seems those ABS keys are OEM profile once you read their support docs. Cherry MX simply refers to the switches on the product page.
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If you’re just using the keys on the top row, you can get away with OEM profile. The keys on top of the num row will be slight shorter of course, but should work ok for just the F row keys.
I found these ABS keycaps that should be Cherry profile but they don't state so explicitly but they are OEM profile https://www.maxkeyboard.com/mac-media-function-hotkey-shortcuts-keycap-set-12-r4-1x1.html
Edit: After a little digging on their site I found that their keycaps are all OEM as well.
I ended up buying this set from Nuphy since it's guaranteed to be cherry profile and the whole set plus shipping was cheaper than the above f row set. Also ABS, which isn't my favorite to type on, but the media keys aren't used for typing. https://nuphy.com/collections/keycaps/products/shine-through-pc-keycaps?variant=40481937850477
Edit: After a little digging on their site I found that their keycaps are all OEM as well.
I ended up buying this set from Nuphy since it's guaranteed to be cherry profile and the whole set plus shipping was cheaper than the above f row set. Also ABS, which isn't my favorite to type on, but the media keys aren't used for typing. https://nuphy.com/collections/keycaps/products/shine-through-pc-keycaps?variant=40481937850477
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I have a question. I have installed a ASUS Bluetooth dongle on my Lenovo mini pc, it does not have native BT. The ASUS dongle is visible in its device manager. My Keychron is obviously paired with my Mac Studio. How do I pair this Keychron with the PC. I see this keyboard will do up to 3 devices, and it is fn+1-2-3 for the 3 devices. OK so how do I pair this keyboard with my PC? I am using my puny Raspberry Pi keyboard and mouse, My Keychron is sitting here laughing at me this has got to stop. I don't really have the room for a 2nd keyboard, and mouse. I press the fn +1 key pair and hold for 4 seconds looking for a flashing ready to pair light but if there is one I sure can't see it on this K10.
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I am thinking that rather than fight this I need to upgrade my old mini PC to a new mini PC that has all of the modern goodies built in.
The user guide is on Keychron's website. It will have instructions on how to pair up to three computers with your keyboard.
The Bluetooth dongle I installed on the Lenovo is working as it should it is the K10 that is not cooperating. It is paired via bluetooth to the Mac Studio. I am unable to get the K10 to go into pairing mode via the fn + command, no flashing lights. I am not going to spend a lot of time on this issue I have a working keyboard on it right now. I plan on updating this old Lenovo to a new Ryzen/Radeon based mini PC with Windows 11.
I want this keycap set like yesterday. 😁 Looks very slick. Unfortunately, it’s been out of stock for a while.
https://www.keychron.com/collection...oem-dye-sub-pbt-full-set-keycap-set-developer
https://www.keychron.com/collection...oem-dye-sub-pbt-full-set-keycap-set-developer