Digital Gamer, Chapter 99: Freedom to Customize Dual-mode Keyboard - Keychron K4Pro Measured

☛ Everyone pay attention I , always happy ha ha ☚

Foreword:

For many people who love mechanical keyboards, it is very happy to have a mechanical keyboard that suits them. But for the mechanical keyboard brands on the market, the modular keyboard is the mainstream. Keyboard, customized keyboard is king, what is customized keyboard? In fact, it is the DIY of the keyboard. A keyboard is composed of a keyboard kit (shell + PCB board + positioning board, etc.), shaft body and keycap. You can combine the shaft body, keycap, casing, etc. at will, so that the keyboard can be made according to your own wishes. become.

As a brand of customized mechanical keyboards, Keychron has a very good audience popularity among many fans. The reason is! Of course, its keyboard DIY is free and easy. The shaft body, keycap, shell, PCB board, etc., can completely set up a mechanical keyboard according to your own hobbies.

Today's protagonist is the 100-key combination dual-mode customized mechanical keyboard-Keychron K4 Pro, let's take a look at how I disassemble it to let you see its true colors.

Let me talk about the conclusion first: what kind of person can choose it? Looking at the advantages and disadvantages, you can directly pull to the bottom conclusion.

One is for those who like to do it by themselves, and those who like to toss, support hot-swapping, changing the shaft body at will, and DIY programming keys online at will, so you can create your own custom keyboard.

The second is people who have a small office space but need number keys, 100 keys, compact design, it can be said to be a powerful tool for office.

The third is people who like personalization and express themselves without restraint. The dual-mode design of Bluetooth and wired has high flexibility, and the keycaps can be matched at will to achieve changeable visual effects.

unboxing:

The packaging of Keychron K4Pro is very stable in design. The black packaging box with gold-plated brand text and keyboard pattern is very intuitive and impressive at first glance.

The back of the box is the functional characteristics of the keyboard, which makes people know more about the keyboard, supports Win/Mac, RGB lighting, 100-key combination, dual-mode design, and more attractive personality design.

The keyboard family portrait, as a customized keyboard, supports Bluetooth and wired dual-mode, and provides a screwdriver, hexagonal wrench, 3 Mac keys, power cable, manual, key puller, shaft puller, promotional coloring pages and other items.

detail:

As a dual-mode customized keyboard, K4Pro adopts a compact design in size, with a compact and simple layout of 100 keys. While retaining the number keys, the size of the keyboard is also guaranteed; different keycap colors make the keys more recognizable It is taller, and the two red keycaps are the finishing touch to the visual effect; the distance between the front keys is tight, and the tapping process can meet the needs of different palm shapes, which is more recognized.

The common 104 arrangement and the compact 100 arrangement have reduced size, but still retain the most common functions, and there is also an independent light button in the upper right corner, which can realize different RGB lighting effects by pressing it.

The integrated design on the back of the keyboard, the design of 3 bottom feet and 2 two-stage folding feet can make the keyboard have different curvatures, which can effectively reduce the pressure on the wrist, and the ergonomic design is more suitable for long-term use; multiple screws Fixed, the keyboard can be disassembled with a screwdriver.

As a dual-mode keyboard, a dual-mode switch is designed on the right front of the keyboard, supports USB/type-c connection, and provides 2 switches, one is to switch to win/Mac switch, the other is Bluetooth and wired switch, select the function It is simple and convenient to use, and different needs can be realized by flipping the switch.

The K4Pro switch uses the self-developed KPro switch. I chose the brown switch switch, which is more convenient for me to use in the office. The KPro switch has a very smooth pressing experience, moderate feedback, good mute effect, and moderate key travel. Hitting will not be too tiring, just suitable for my tapping in the office, and will not affect the normal work of colleagues.

The K Pro shaft is designed to be lubricated at the factory, which enhances stability and reduces swinging; in terms of design, the tea shaft cross shaft, combined with a transparent upper cover, has better and stronger light transmission, built-in rigid spring, elastic Stable, the contact copper sheet contact response is fast, the shaft base is stable, not easy to shake, and the workmanship of a single shaft is meticulous, which can effectively guarantee the use of tens of millions of knocks for a long time.

The shaft body adopts a 2-pin metal sheet design, which supports hot-swapping. It can be easily taken out by using a key puller. It is also quite simple to install. Align the position of the metal pin and press it to fix it, which is simple and convenient.

As a commonly used large key position, the high-end silver-plated PCB satellite shaft design is lubricated at the factory and has strong stability, which can ensure that the large key is not easy to shake, the hand feels more stable, the typing feedback is moderate, the sound is pleasant, and there will be no shaking. Feel.

The shaft body supports hot swapping. Use the shaft puller to clamp the protrusions on both sides, and you can gently pull out the shaft body. If you don’t like the brown shaft, you can replace it with a green shaft or a red shaft, and you can replace it at will. There is no need for welding to change the shaft, and the experience of changing the shaft is simpler and faster. The more friendly design also supports most of the three-legged or five-legged shafts on the market, which can reduce the cost of subsequent shaft replacements.

The keycap adopts a three-color design, and the personalized keycap is highly recognizable. The OSA height comes with a fingertip mechanical design, the contact point between the keycap and the finger pulp is larger, the pressure is more uniform, and the comfort is relatively high; the PBT material two-color injection key Cap, PBT content ≥ 40%, higher wear resistance, not easy to oil, dirt-resistant and will not fade at the same time.

Double-color injection molding process, OSA height design, and built-in ribs on the keycaps, suitable for long-term use without worrying about problems caused by oiling and wear.

Dismantling:

As a customized keyboard, K4Pro provides more possibilities for DIY in design. Noise cotton interlayer, PCB, silicone pad, bottom case, etc.

The first step in disassembly is of course to disassemble the keycap. Use the accessory key puller to operate, and the keycap can be pulled out soon. Judging from the current visual effect, the transparent upper cover of the shaft body is very beautiful. Under the mapping of RGB light, there is a very good penetration rate, and the light transmittance is very good.

Disassembly is very simple, remove the bolts one by one from the back, and then you can remove the top case, positioning plate, and bottom case, the white one is a silicone pad, which has the effect of noise reduction and isolation.

In the internal structure, you can see the shaft body, fixed plate, noise-reducing cotton interlayer, PCB board, etc., with multiple protection designs.

As a dual-mode keyboard, it supports Bluetooth mode, built-in 4000mAh high-capacity battery, 6 hours of charging time, and can provide 80 hours of use time. Combined with daily use, it can provide 3-5 weeks of use, which is still a very good battery life. .

The welding parts on the keyboard PCB board are clearly marked. If there is a problem in any position, you can directly locate the specific position to facilitate troubleshooting.

In fact, during dismantling, the shaft body, positioning plate, noise reduction cotton, and PCB board were not separated, so what you can see is only the top case, bottom case, silicone pad, and shaft body combination plate.

K4Pro provides two types of lighting, RGB lighting, which supports 22 lighting effects, and white lighting, which supports 14 lighting effects, and the positions of the lamp beads are distributed in all key positions.

As a hot-swappable shaft body, the design of the contacts on the PCB is uniform, the key spacing is consistent, and the welding point process is relatively fine, which is still very good.

What's more interesting is that K4Pro also supports the design of full-key no-click. For daily use, you can use FN+N to switch full-key no-click. It supports up to 3 devices to connect and realize switching freely; supports win/Mac system switching, with 3 Macs The exclusive keycap is a good solution to the problem of switching and using multi-function keys; the important point is to support QMK and VIA open source key change, and the humanized design provides the function of online open source key change on the web page, directly input the open source key change URL of the web page However, it is very convenient for users. Using this function, you can open source and easily change the programming of each function key, so as to achieve complete freedom, and truly realize that you are the master of your keyboard, and DIY can be changed as you want.

light:

The keyboard I bought this time is RGB lighting, and the lighting effect is very beautiful.

If it is used at night, after the entire RGB lighting effect is turned on, the character recognition of the keycap can be seen, and it will not be too dazzling.

To change the light, use the independent light button in the upper right corner. After clicking, you can change different light effects, such as ripple, touch, ripple, raindrop, cycle, etc., which are full of eye-catching effects at night.

Summarize:

After using the Keychron K4Pro keyboard for 2 weeks, the better experience mainly has these aspects. For example, the size of the keyboard is appropriate, and 100 keys allow me to use the number keys without taking up too much office space; for example, the programming key change on the real customization, as well as the full key without punching, win/Mac switching, axis body These features, such as hot-swapping, can make your playability higher and create your own customized keyboard; such as dual-mode effect application, Bluetooth/wired switching, and three-device association, making portability and flexibility very high.

In fact, if we want to talk about the disadvantages, it is not a disadvantage. There are as many as 10 screws used to fix the positioning plate and the bottom case. The disassembly process is more troublesome, and we must pay attention to the problem of missing screws. In other respects, the 100-key design, without multimedia function keys, I still need to get used to it.