Keychron keeps doing it. Keychron has been doing it since January 2022 when we reviewed its Q2 board. It’s revamped and launched 12 new Q-series boards. These range from full-size to ultracompact. Even an HHKB is available. The Q10 is perhaps the most unusual: A 75 percent Alice layout mechanical keyboard with an aluminum chassis and a milled aluminum frame. Like other Keychron Q-series keyboards, it’s a fantastic keyboard for the price, with a bunch of enthusiast features at middling-gaming-keyboard prices. It’s like them: it’s made for someone who is amazed at the keyboard’s $200 price and wonders “How can this be so affordable?” !”
Imagine someone taking a keyboard and dividing it down the middle. Then they rotated the keys slightly, turned the columns around, and then glued the pieces back together. Alice is the name of the 60 percent keyboard by Malaysian designer Yutski. It was a 40-unit group purchase back in 2018, and inspired a multitude of clones and imitators.
The Q10, like other Alice boards isn’t quite a split keyboard and it’s certainly not an ergonomic keyboard. The Q10 cannot adjust the angle of the tenting or position the halves separately. They are not far enough apart that you can keep your forearms parallel and shoulder-width apart. The Q10 is especially tall. It’s more comfortable than a standard keyboard because it allows you to keep your wrists at a neutral angle to your forearms. It seems to open up my shoulders more. It’s also very cool.
Fullmetal Alice
The Q10 is a steal at $215 with keycaps, switches, and $195 without. Keychron’s Q series is Keychron’s attempt to make an off the shelf mechanical keyboard feel high-end. It mostly works, if you include phrases such as “gasket mount” or “milled aluminium chassis.”
With the stock keycaps, switches, and weight, my review unit weighed 2244g or just under 5 pounds. It is meant to be placed on a desk and used there. Keychron follows the keyboard community: Most custom keyboards made over the past decade were made of milled aluminum. Metal keyboards are beautiful, feel heavy and don’t slip around on your desk while you type. Practically, CNC-milled aluminum has a linear cost per unit. This is crucial if you only make 50 or 100 units for customers who are willing to pay hundreds of dollars each. Only in the last few years have hobby keyboard manufacturers been able to manufacture plastic cases on the same scale that more established manufacturers began making milled aluminum ones.
It’s gasket mounted, just like the other Q-series boards. The switch plate is placed on strips of squishy foam sandwiched between the top- and bottom frames. The assembly has a pleasant bounce. If you press hard enough on any key you will see that all keys fall down en masse, and then bounce back up. The small silicone bumpers placed between the top- and bottom frames reduce vibrations and eliminate the high-pitched sound that solid-aluminum cases can make. Between the switch plate (PCB) and the foam layer, there is sound-damping foam. The switches and stabilizers are lightly lubricated, but less so for the PCB.
This is how keyboard enthusiasts modify their keyboards to make them sound richer and more fuller, as well as reduce pinging or high-pitched clicking. Another way to put it is that they compensate for the fact they are made of solid aluminum. Another option is the tape mod (or Tempestmod, in honor of the man who popularized it). To change the sound profile, you apply layers of tape to the back side of the PCB. It is cheap, easy, and works. It’s worked on several keyboards. In place of the thick layer of acoustic insulation that other Q-series boards have, the Q10 is pre-tape-modded using a thin sheet made of “acoustic tape”.
It works. Yeah.
The Q10 sounds and feels great with the stock keycaps, Gateron Pro Red switches and the stock keycaps. Light linear switches are not my favorite. Although it’s not silent, most of the sound is generated by the keycaps pressing against the switch plate. There is no resonance or ping. The space bars, which are the loudest keys on any keyboard, are quiet even though they’re larger than typical Shift keys. Personally, I don’t feel the gasket mount giving off any bounce — it feels almost like an integrated plate to my ears — but it does seem to improve the sound profile and doesn’t hurt anything.
They are OK with the stock screw-in PCB mounting stabilizers. They are generously, but not expertly, lubricated. The backspace key is also louder than I would like. They’d be the first thing I would change if it was my keyboard. They are still quite good, if you consider the preinstalled stabilizers.
Alice is good
The space bars on the Q10 are about the same size as standard Shift keys. The B keys are there to help people type incorrectly, I think.
It was my first experience with an Alice board. The layout is largely standard. The keys will be the same size as you would expect and exactly where you expect them to go.
The bottom row is the most difficult to adjust: There are three 1.25u modifier key keys to the left and one function key to its right. The right-hand side has a second space bar and a single 1u modifier. This serves as the board’s default function key. You might need to think outside the box if you’re used to relying only on these right-hand modifiers. It’s not a problem, though. The Q10, as all Keychron Q-series boards is, can be fully programmed using VIA. This flexible app, which is a popular keyboard community app, allows you to customize RGB lighting and key mapping.
The Q10 comes with both Mac-compatible and Windows-compatible keycaps. It also has a switch that toggles between two sets of layers. You can program it independently. This is an important feature for anyone who frequently switches between Mac and Windows. It allows you to do more than swap the locations of a few modifiers. You can also have completely different layouts. Is that you?
The official VIA repository doesn’t have the Q10 yet, so I downloaded a JSON file from Keychron, imported it into VIA and turned V2 compatibility on in the settings menu. However, this is a fairly common problem that should be fixed eventually. Keychron’s older Q series boards are also in the official repository.
Additional features
The Q10 comes with Gateron Pro Red (clicky), Blue (clicky) or Brown (allegedly tactile), as well as doubleshot PBT keyscaps in OSA profile. They are very good. The keycaps are fine. However, they look thin and the modifier legends seem like they were typeset in an incredibly hurry on a board that is otherwise very polished. They are essentially free and come with Mac-style legends for the function row.
The bare-bones Q10 costs $20 more than the one with keycaps and switches. It is difficult to find good switches at $20 and keycaps for $20. Even if you have several keycap sets (don’t judge), they may not contain all the key you need to make an Alice board. So, it might be worth spending $20.
The right shift key is 1.75u, which is common in aftermarket keyscap sets. The row height of the Delete key is higher than it should be and Home is lower than it should be (though VIA can remap them). There are five macro keys in the column to the left. The second B key is located on either side of the split, as it is with Alice-style boards. The second B is now included in some keycap sets. You can cover the space bars with the standard 2.25u or 2.75u Shift keys, but it’s a bit more difficult than covering a standard 75 percent board with the Q10. Keychron offers a selection of compatible keycap sets, as well as switches and fancy cables.
The Q10 features a hot-swap board with south-facing RGB LEDs. This allows you to use any MX-compatible keycaps and switches without interference. If you are using long-pole switches, north-facing PCBs may cause problems with Cherry-profile keycaps. As my friend Flo at Gizmodo pointed out, some of the cutouts on the function row were difficult to fit a keycap puller/switch puller into. I ended up taking the top frame off as I changed switches or caps.
Even if the frame is left on when you swap caps, it’s a good idea to install switches with the frame removed. This will allow you to apply counter-pressure the hot-swap sockets. This makes it easier for switches to be seated and prevents sockets from being pushed off the back of the PCB. Many people, including my editor just yolo it. This seems to work well for them. However, I bend far fewer switch pins that way. This is just a matter of fact.
The trend right now is keyboards with volume knobs. I love that the Q10’s knob sits in the top-left corner, instead of the right. For a left-handed person like me, it feels more natural. It’s also very neat to have a left macro column. The knob and macros can be programmed in VIA easily. While macro columns are common on gaming keyboards, they are not so common on enthusiast boards.
What’s not to love?
The Keychron Q10 is a great choice. The front edge measures almost 20mm in height. A wrist rest is necessary if you place your wrists on top of the desk to type. This depends on how large your hands are and how high your keycaps are. Keychron makes a curved wrist rest to match their Q10, which I tried for a few days before giving up. This is not an issue if you hover like a professional typist.
There is no wireless option on the Keychron Q line. That’s fine. Bluetooth support on QMK/VIA boards is a bit shaky, and battery life can be very poor. Easy programming is essential for a five-pound board that has a nonstandard layout. There are many good wireless boards. This is not the purpose of Q-series.
The board includes a braided USB C-to-C cable as well as an adapter for A-to C. The board also includes a keycap puller and switch puller as well as a hex wrench and a screwdriver. These are small but can be used in an emergency. It’s a nice touch to indicate that the keyboard was meant to be played with. As I said, the caps are thin.
Do you use plastic?
The Q10 excels at being what it is trying to be, a solid-aluminum Alice layout keyboard with many enthusiast features. It’s the most heavy-duty option for Alice keyboards, aside from the 65 percent Keychron Q8 or the Feker Alice75. These are a hundred dollars more expensive, have worse software, but offer Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless.
Although it is a great keyboard, you will need a five-pound gasket mount keyboard. There are several options if you don’t need a five-pound keyboard, but still want an Alice board. Epomaker has several 65 percent Alice boards available, including a gasket mounted 65 percent Alice kit that includes a stacked acrylic case with VIA support and a stacked acrylic case. Orange Boy Ergo is the only Alice that I could find in stock with a knob on its left. You can only buy the parts, but you will need a soldering tool for that one. This is a great option for those who love to build keyboards, which I do. However, it doesn’t have the same feel as the Q10.
Keychron’s V8, a plastic-based version of the Q8, came out as I was writing this review. There is already a prelaunch page for V10. It is the same as the V-series boards except that it has the aluminum case and gasket mounting, which adds half the cost. However, it retains most of the Q series’ enthusiast features. The Q10 layout is worth a look if you are curious but not ready to spend $200 on a five-pound keyboard.
