Keychron Q1 is a prominent and highly anticipated custom mechanical keyboard that Keychron has just introduced to the custom keyboard player community this year. With the breakthrough when entering the production of high-end custom keyboards for the first time, will Keychron satisfy users with the quality and typing experience that Q1 brings? Let's explore the most advanced keyboard from Keychron with SiliconZ!
Keychron Q1 - The breakthrough keyboard from Keychron
We are all too familiar with the mechanical keyboard models from Keychron with the typical Mac layout and the main gray tone. The reception of users in recent years has motivated Keychron to bring the most premium custom keyboard on the market, and the Keychron Q1 was born. The Q1 is probably the most outstanding and innovative keyboard from Keychron.
Overall design
Keychron Q1 has a familiar rugged design of high-end custom keyboards but is no less sophisticated. Q1 is made from sturdy 6063 aluminum alloy, and is sharply CNC cut and undergoes polishing, anodizing and sandblasting along with 24 different rigorous manufacturing processes. All the quintessence in design and the best quality are brought by Keychron to its highest-end product, you will definitely be satisfied when you have this keyboard in your hands.
Q1 has overall dimensions of: 327.5 x 145 x 34.8mm | 1.6kg
Gasket-mount Plate
Plate is an extremely important component in custom keyboards, choosing a good plate will give you a good typing experience.
Gasket-mount is a fairly familiar design in high-end custom mechanical keyboards. If you are a true keyboard player, you certainly cannot ignore this design. For newbies, this design can be simply understood as: Instead of the plate and PCB being mounted together and screwed directly into the case, in gasket-mount, the plate and PCB will be placed between a foam pad called gasket-mount, 4 gasket-mount pieces will be placed at the 4 upper and lower corners and mounted between the top case and the bottom case.
You can look at the picture below, with the gasket-mount design, when we press on the key, the force will be distributed more evenly and every area we touch will respond to a light and equally smooth force, there is no hard or soft place like in the traditional design. Therefore, when typing, your typing experience will be better, every catalytic feeling is extremely satisfying.
Screw-in Stabilizers
When playing a mechanical keyboard, it is certainly impossible not to mention another equally important part, the Stab. Like other high-end mechanical keyboard models, the type of stab that Q1 uses is a type of stab that uses a screw-in structure, different from the usual clip-in type on other popular keyboards. With the screw-in structure, the stab bars will be screwed directly into the PCB board, so it feels more secure than the clip-in type. Therefore, the feeling when typing will be much better, providing absolute certainty and no feeling of shaking when we are also at a strong and fast intensity.
Facing-South Led RGB
This Led layout is also quite new and is only available on some high-end custom keyboards such as GMMK PRO. Instead of arranging the Led bulbs on top like the traditional style, in Q1 the Led bulbs are designed below (south). This layout helps to bring even Led colors and less light reflection and shadow when used with PBT keycaps.
Customize with unique Badget buttons
The badget button is a highlight when choosing Q1, Keychron will equip users with a customizable button, which can be changed to a basic button, a badget button printed with your request or a knob similar to the GMMK keyboard. You can customize this button to make your keyboard stand out and more personal.
Support software
Q1 supports both QMK and VIA firmware flash and key customization software. Supporting both of these software will help users easily customize buttons in both Windows and macOS. Users can assign function buttons to each key, assign commands to Shift, Tab keys,... customize RGB Led and more.
Connect
Q1 is only equipped with a single type-C port and does not support Bluetooth or 2.4Ghz, which is quite a pity for users. If you play custom keyboards, you have to make this trade-off. Most high-end custom keyboard models such as GMMK, KBDFans, Akko Design studio MOD001,... are not equipped with popular wireless connectivity functions.