Keychron Q15 Max overview
The Keychron Q15 Max is a premium keyboard choice for many who are on board with ortholinear setups, or wish to give it a attempt.
An ortholinear keyboard has a non-staggered format, the place keys are aligned in a grid format. They usually omit loads of keys, however in change provide customization so that you can fine-tune your typing.
Some fans swear by them, however others could discover it tough to make the leap to not having a tilde or tab key, amongst different issues. Personally, I discover it an amazing train in bringing out as a lot as you may in a minimal keyboard, particularly with two knobs.
Keychron was based in 2017 and has a variety of various keyboard designs. The Q15 Max is its first ortholinear keyboard.
Keychron Q15 Max – Design
The ortholinear format grants the Q15 Max a surprising 66 keys in whole, together with the 2 knobs on the perimeters. See the person handbook for the default key positions.
As per traditional for higher-end Keychron keyboards, the Q15 Max has wired and Bluetooth choices, in addition to multi-OS switching, should you use your keyboard for each Home windows and Mac.
Keychron Q15 Max overview – Switches on the again for OS and connectivity.
Equally with different Q-series keyboards, the Q15 Max has a customizable RGB backlight, software program for key and macro settings, can pair to as much as three gadgets through Bluetooth, and has hot-swappable switches.
The chassis design is CNC machined aluminum, and the keyboard plate naturally slants up for ease of use. The keycaps themselves are XDA profile, which implies they’re extra flat and even in comparison with different keycap profiles.
I discovered this to be a smart design alternative, given virtually all of the keys are the identical measurement.
In all, there are 15 layers within the Q15, from the underside case to the various pads and plates to the switches and keycaps on prime. Most of this building is in order that the typing expertise sounds and feels top quality, which I imagine drastically pays off.
The default switches are Gateron Jupiter Purple, Brown, or Banana. My Q15 got here with the Banana switches, which have earlier tactile bumps and a two-stage spring that offers a satisfying pushback in opposition to your fingers.
Keychron Q15 Max overview – The backlights and Gateron Jupiter Banana switches.
Keychron Q15 Max – Specs
| Product Element | Spec |
|---|---|
| Physique Materials | Aluminium |
| Plate Materials | Polycarbonate |
| Variety of Keys | 66 |
| Keycap | XDA Dye-Sub PBT keycaps, not shine-through (Absolutely Assembled model) |
| Change | Gateron Jupiter (Absolutely Assembled model) |
| Stabilizer | Screw-in PCB stabilizer |
| Backlight | South-facing RGB LED |
| Sizzling-swappable | Sure |
| Polling Fee | 1000 Hz wired / 90 Hz Bluetooth |
| Battery | 4000 mAh |
| Wi-fi Working Time (RGB) | As much as 100 hours (lowest brightness) |
| Weight | 1232 g / 2.71 lbs |
Keychron Q15 Max – Use
That is my first ortholinear keyboard, and I’d say the training curve is a bit steep. Nevertheless, the brand new Keychron Launcher software program goes a good distance in managing mapping your keys, though it requires Chrome/Opera/Edge in your browser.
I’d go on to map the second area bar on the suitable to be my tab key, set the left knob to switch media keys for pausing and skipping, in addition to set it as a scroll wheel once I press the fn1 key.
Keychron Q15 Max overview – My key setup on Launcher.
There are two fn keys on the Q15 Max for the aim of switching keyboard layers and benefiting from your restricted keys. I can think about programmers and Vim customers love ortholinear because of this.
The typing expertise is buttery easy with out being too loud, and the backlights give a tastefully delicate glow. I additionally benefit from the small footprint the Q15 has on my desk whereas nonetheless delivering many of the similar features as a bigger format keyboard.
Keychron Q15 Max overview – Facet profile, discover the evenness of the XDA keycaps.
If you realize you wish to attempt a non-staggered format, the Q15 is a superb alternative. For those who use a keypad in your job and do not wish to shell out extra money for a separate one, do not hassle.
A $200 keyboard is a tough ask should you’d get it for experimental causes, however there are a ton of the way on-line to determine if ortholinear is for you.
It is sensible a distinct segment keyboard format has a smaller viewers, however Keychron does it justice with its design and person expertise.
Keychron Q15 Max Professionals
- Customization right down to the switches
- Very satisfying typing expertise
- Premium construct and high quality
Keychron Q15 Max Cons
- Launcher has restricted browser choices (for now)
- Not everybody likes an ortholinear format
Score: 4 out of 5
The place to purchase the Keychron Q15 Max
The Keychron Q15 Max is out there on Keychron for $219.00 (Absolutely Assembled Knob), and $189 (Barebone Knob).