My keyboard... cracked! ——Keychron Q8 mechanical keyboard evaluation experience

Hello everyone, I am Taotie

I don’t know if there are any friends like me who always feel that their keyboard is awkward no matter how they play the game. Put it upright, my wrist hurts, put it sideways, my hand is smooth, but the keyboard almost fell to the ground. So every time the opponent K sees the character's black screen, he will unconsciously move the keyboard with his hands to cover up his helpless embarrassment, "It's not my skill, it's because the keyboard can't be used".

Maybe some friends will ask, why is there such a problem?

I think it has a lot to do with how people use the keyboard. First of all, in the normal placement state, the typing area of ​​the keyboard is relatively concentrated, and the two arms and the palm on the chest will naturally form an angle. In addition, when playing games, the balance of both hands is destroyed, which makes the other hand need a suitable angle to control.

In order to solve such problems, the more ergonomic Alice arrangement was born. By splitting the letter area, the entire keyboard is divided into two parts. The layout of the outer character makes the palm and arm form a straight line, reducing the bending of the wrist fold. However, this type of keyboard is still relatively small, and only some customized brands have produced such products before.

This time, in order for more players to get in touch with the charm of the Alice arrangement, Keychron brought its new product Keychron Q8 mechanical keyboard. Let's take a look at how it actually performs.

The packaging box of this Keychron Q8 is still very simple, with a sketch of the product printed on the black bottom.

When you open the package, you can see the keyboard body and related accessories.

Accessories include power cords, manuals, supplementary keycaps, and foot stickers.

In particular, the keyboard power cord uses dual Type-C interfaces, and comes with a USB-A conversion connector.

The first impression of taking out this Keychron Q8 mechanical keyboard is that the texture is directly full, and its state is not like a mass-produced keyboard at all. The aluminum alloy shell and titanium gray anodized surface treatment are a kind of calm , the introverted feeling emerges leisurely.

I have to say that no matter how fancy and high-end the plastic is, it still cannot be compared with the aluminum lump. The smooth, cold, and heavy touch will make people want to stop and forget it once touched.

The layout of the Keychron Q8 adopts the Alice layout. In order to better meet the ergonomics of the hands, it splits the middle position of the letter area of ​​the keyboard, thus thinking of it as two independent typing areas.

In addition, in order to improve practicality, in addition to retaining the arrow keys, DEL, and HOME keys on the right side of the keyboard, it also adds a round infinite knob.

Of course, this knob is also made of metal material, and it is also treated with anti-skid, which feels solid to the touch and the gear position is clear.

Viewed from the side, the details of the Keychron Q8 will be more abundant. Although there is no complicated layered design, the tough lines at the corners and the straight lines still make it in line with the aesthetic orientation of a straight steel man like me.

Due to the metal bottom shell, there is no adjustable foot support at the bottom of the keyboard, but its inclination still maintains a certain degree of comfort and ergonomics.

At the end position, you can see the Type-C interface and the switching key of the Win/Mac system.

Turned over, the back panel of this Keychron Q8 uses a whole piece of aluminum alloy plate.

Under different lights, the original texture of metal is vividly displayed.

After the introduction of the appearance, I still want to talk about the specific experience of using this Keychron Q8, after all, this is the special feature of this keyboard.

For me, I was really uncomfortable when I first got started. Although my tapping posture was still standard before, I always felt that the keys were shifted after the left and right were separated. But I still have to say that the palm is really comfortable when tapping, and the hands can be placed on it naturally without any discomfort.

After using it for a period of time, I also began to get used to this Keychron Q8 slowly, and the accuracy of typing is also gradually improving, so this article is completed with this keyboard.

In terms of the shaft body, the one in my hand uses Jiadalong's G-pro brown shaft. As Jiadalong's large-scale product, its overall performance is quite good, and there is no problem in terms of stability and smoothness.

In terms of satellite switches, this Keychron Q8 uses a gold-plated screw satellite switch that is rare in mass production. Through the screw fixing, the dummy switch is stronger and the large key position is more stable when tapping. In addition, in order to facilitate the replacement of different shafts, the keyboard has also added a Jiadalong hot-swappable base, which makes the playability even higher.

Gasket is so popular now, so in order to improve the comfort when tapping, this Keychron Q8 also uses a double Gasket structure. By suspending the inner tank, the key will undergo a large deformation when pressed hard, thus helping It enhances the rebound and soft bounce when hitting.

As for the keycaps, this time the keyboard uses the uncommon OSA height short ball caps, made of PBT. There is one thing to say, the font of the new keycaps is still good-looking, a bit like granite.

And compared to XDA and DSA without arc, OSA has its own ergonomic R angle, which makes the input more handy.

Although the appearance is relatively low-key, the RGB lighting effect is still indispensable, but the keycaps cannot transmit light, which is quite suitable as a background light.

After all, this Keychron Q8 still has some customized pedigree, so it can achieve complete freedom in changing the key. The system not only supports QMK but also supports VIA full-key independent open source programming. Through software operation, it can not only change the key positions, lighting effects, shortcut keys, and even the function of the knob, the playability is very high.

The following is a brief introduction to these two software.

QMK compiling software is a commonly used key editing software in customization. Its function is still very powerful, but the burning process is a little more complicated. You need to edit the code in Keyboard Layout Editor, and then bring it into the Firmware to generate Json file, load the file into QMK Toolbox and restart the PCB to burn it.

Perhaps the operation of QMK is too cumbersome, so the VIA programming software has become more easy to understand. It is a keyboard key editing software based on QMK, which can realize real-time key modification of the keyboard, saving the trouble of swiping the arrangement.

In terms of compatibility, it can support MAC system shortcut key input, which is undoubtedly a big plus for friends who use the MAC system.

I used it as the main machine for a few days, and the Keychron Q8 feels really unique and fresh. To make a brief summary, it must be admitted that the performance of this Keychron Q8 is very impressive.

First of all, the quality of the keyboard is quite good. The aluminum alloy shell is matched with the surface treatment of anodizing process, and the solid metal feeling is not comparable to that of broken plastic. Although the Alice arrangement was not very suitable at the beginning, after using it smoothly, I couldn't even use the normal arrangement. Maybe this is the charm of ergonomics. Of course, in addition to these, the programmable capabilities of QMK and VIA, WIN/MAC dual system switching, metal textured infinite knob, double-layer Gasket structure, screw satellite shaft and PBT keycaps, etc. also make this Keychron Q8 more versatile. That said, apart from the lack of wireless connectivity, this keyboard has almost no shortcomings.

In the end, I would like to say that although this keyboard still belongs to the minority category, the new design, new attempt, and new experience can only be known to the mystery and fun of the new design, new attempt, and new experience. This is also the motivation I have been pursuing.

Well, the above is the whole content of this article, thank you for reading!