Keychron Q Pro Series [Q1 Pro, Q2 Pro, etc.] Keyboard Review

The Keychron Q1 Pro has a Compact (75%) form factor and lacks a Numpad and complete navigation cluster. It doesn't take up much space on a desk, but it also has a fairly high profile and is quite heavy due to its aluminum case.

The Q Pro Series are also available in other sizes that we discuss in more detail in the Differences Between Variants section of this review.

These keyboards feel incredibly well-built. The materials feel very high quality and include a solid aluminum case, a polycarbonate plate, and PBT keycaps. Four rubber feet on the bottom do a good job of keeping these keyboards in place, and the keys feel very stable on the whole. However, some stabilizers seem a bit louder, and specifically, the enter and backspace keys sound and feel worse than expected compared to the previous Keychron Q Series models we've tested. For more details on this issue, see our Typing Noise section below.

These keyboards have mediocre ergonomics. They have a fixed incline and a tall profile. There's also no included wrist rest, meaning you'll need to bend your wrists at a steep upwards angle to reach all the keys, which can cause discomfort and fatigue when typing for long periods. Keychron does offer wrist rests on their website for a separate purchase. These keyboards also use a specialized KSA profile keycap which Keychron claims are optimized for ergonomics. These keycaps are based on the more common SA profile but are taller and more tapered.

These keyboards provide a remarkable amount of hardware customizability. The stabilizer screws are easily accessible, which isn't always the case on keyboards with screw-in stabilizers. If you're interested in customizing the keycaps, note that the modifier keys on the right side of the keyboard are 1u rather than the more common 1.25u.

These keyboards have full RGB backlighting with programmable effects and brightness settings you can adjust directly on the boards.

This keyboard has South-Facing LEDs, and the keycap legends aren't shine-through. We've also taken a photo with several stock keycaps replaced with shine-through keycaps that you can see here.

These keyboards come with a braided USB-C to USB-C charging cable. There's also a USB-C to USB-A adapter included in the box. The cable feels high quality but does retain some kinks from its packaging. The length measurement above includes the length of the adapter (2.1cm).

Keychron advertises these keyboards have a battery life of up to 300 hours with backlighting off or up to 100 hours with backlighting on (at the lowest brightness setting).

If you're interested in a closely related lineup that has added support for 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity with included USB-A and USB-C receivers, check out our review for the Keychron Q Max.

Or, for a lineup that also offers 2.4 GHz connectivity but has more lightweight plastic case design, see out our review for the Keychron V Max series keyboards.

The Keychron Q Pro 1 we bought and tested doesn't have dedicated macro keys, but other variants in this lineup do. For more details, check out the Difference Between Variants section above.

These keyboards have a few extra features, including a Caps Lock indicator light, media hotkeys, and a programmable control knob. There are a list of supported hotkeys in the user documentation. Like other Keychron boards we've tested, the Keychron Q Pro Series keyboards also have a switch on the back of the keyboard that toggles between Windows and macOS compatibility modes. There are OS-specific keycaps for both Windows and macOS included in the box.

• Keychron Q1 Pro
• USB-C to USB-C charging cable
• USB-C to USB-A adapter
• Window-specific keycaps
• 4x gaskets
• Keycap puller
• Switch puller
• Screwdriver
• Hex key
• Extra screws
• 2x extra rubber feet
• 2x adhesive stickers for feet
• Keyboard layout pamphlet
• User documentation

These keyboards offer excellent typing quality overall. The gasket-mounted design provides a soft, slightly springy typing experience.

The Keychron Q1 Pro we bought and tested has Keychron K Pro Brown switches which are lightweight and tactile. You can also purchase these keyboards with stock Keychron K Pro red switches with a smooth, linear feel or with Keychron K Pro Mint or Keychron K Pro Banana switches, which are both tactile switches with slightly earlier tactile bumps and shorter total travel.

The PBT keycaps feel high quality and have a specialized KSA profile with slightly taller and more tapered keycaps compared to the more common SA profile on which they're based.

Note that during testing, we noticed that the backspaced and enter keys sound and feel noticeably different than other keys. For more details on this issue, see our Typing Noise section below.

The Keychron Q1 Pro we tested is extremely quiet to type on and unlikely to bother those around you. Compared to the wired Q Series keyboards, which have a steel plate, the Q Pro series have a polycarbonate plate, which delivers a softer, more muted sound.

The unit we bought and tested has Keychron K Pro Brown switches; however, these keyboards are also available with linear Keychron K Pro Red and tactile Keychron K Pro Mint or Keychron K Pro Banana switches. We expect these switches to have a similar average loudness and not produce high-pitch clicks.

We noticed during our typing test that the backspace and enter keys have a noticeably different sound profile. You can see a video demonstration here. Our tester found these keys to sound and feel less satisfying. It's possible this was an issue with the unit we bought and tested specifically, and it may be an issue that you can remedy with additional lubrication or stabilizer adjustment.

These keyboards are available with several different Keychron K Pro stock switch options. We bought and tested this keyboard with Keychron K Pro Brown switches.

The Keychron K Pro Brown switches in the unit we bought and tested are tactile and fairly lightweight. They have a longer pre-travel distance that can help prevent accidental keystrokes. Other switch options include Keychron K Pro Red switches, which have a smooth linear feel, and Keychron K Pro Banana switches, which are both tactile switches with slightly shorter pre-travel and total travel distance and an earlier tactile bump than the Keychron K Pro Brown switches. The Q Pro Series keyboards have hot-swappable PCBs, meaning you can change the stock switches for other switch types without soldering.

These keyboards have impressive latency performance and provide a very responsive feeling in games of all genres. They still have a bit more latency than most dedicated gaming keyboards. If you're exclusively interested in playing reaction-based or competitive games, we recommend a keyboard with slightly lower latency.

These keyboards provide great multi-key latency performance for playing games that require input while multiple keys are held down.

These keyboards have impressive data transmission performance, with full n-key rollover and an effective update rate to match its polling rate of 1000Hz.

These keyboards offer impressive chord split performance. They have low and fairly consistent 4-chord and 8-chord delays, making this keyboard a good candidate for playing games with multiple simultaneous inputs.

These keyboards are compatible with VIA customization software. This software is available for download on Keychron's website and has versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux. There's also a web client for this software if you don't want to download the software. This software lets you remap keys, set macros, adjust backlighting, and save custom profiles. Keychron has a tutorial on how to use VIA on their website.

These keyboards are fully compatible with Windows and macOS when the toggle switch on the back of the keyboard is set to the correct operating system. On Linux, the brightness functions and the Fn+F3 hotkey do nothing.

On Android devices, the F4 hotkey opens an email client, and F3 does nothing. On iOS and iPad devices, with the keyboard's toggle switch set to Mac mode, the F row key's hotkey functions become primary functions, and the hotkeys for F3 and F4 do nothing.