When you spend most of your day typing, you shouldn’t be caught with the mushy keyboard in your laptop computer or an affordable, uncomfortable desktop keyboard. Mechanical keyboards assist you to customise their appears and get the typing really feel you like. And compact keyboards—that are comparable in measurement and format to a laptop computer keyboard—take up much less house in your desk.
Of the handfuls of keyboards we’ve examined, the 75% Epomaker TH80 Professional and the 65% Epomaker TH66 Professional present the most effective typing expertise and probably the most additional options for the value.
Our choose
The Epomaker TH80 Professional supplies the most effective typing expertise and probably the most additional options—RGB, hot-swap, wi-fi, a knob, and programmability—for a surprisingly cheap worth.
The Epomaker TH66 Professional gives all the standard and options of the TH80 Professional in a barely extra compact format that lacks the highest row of perform keys.
The Epomaker TH80 Professional and Epomaker TH66 Professional really feel great to kind on resulting from their thick PBT keycaps, lubricated stabilizers, and durable plastic instances. And our picks include fancy options usually reserved for rather more costly fashions, together with RGB backlighting, hot-swappable switches, wi-fi connectivity, a rotary knob, and the power to reprogram keys by Epomaker’s software program. The TH80 and TH66 include keycaps for Home windows and Mac and may mechanically swap between the 2 working system layouts.
Runner-up
The V1 feels almost pretty much as good to kind on as our prime choose, and it has many of the similar options. However the V1 lacks wi-fi, and the knob prices additional.
The V2 is just about an identical to the V1, however its 65% format lacks the highest row of perform keys.
If our prime picks are unavailable, we advocate the 75% Keychron V1 or the 65% Keychron V2. These fashions really feel equally glorious to kind on, and have many of the similar options. The V1 and V2 supply RGB backlighting, hot-swappable switches, and Home windows and Mac keycaps, and so they’re even simpler to program than our prime picks as a result of they help VIA. However they lack wi-fi and the cool rotary knob prices additional.
Price range choose
The 65% Keychron K6 feels higher to kind on than another low cost mechanical keyboard, although its keycaps and case don’t look or really feel as good to kind on as our prime picks’.
The 65% Keychron K6 is the most effective finances possibility. Though its thinner ABS keycaps and non-lubricated stabilizers can’t match the typing expertise of our prime picks, it nonetheless feels nice to kind on and doesn’t make the worst high quality tradeoffs typical of low cost mechanical keyboards. The K6 comes with keycaps for Home windows and Mac, and it will possibly hook up with as much as three units through Bluetooth. The included cable is just too brief, although, and it’s not totally programmable.
Improve choose
The Keychron Q1 Professional has a heavy-duty aluminum case, can join through Bluetooth, and feels nice to kind on. Nevertheless it’s tall, and you may’t alter the peak.
The Q2 Professional has the identical high quality and options because the Q1 Professional, nevertheless it has a 65% format that does with out the highest row of perform keys.
The This autumn Professional is the 60% model of our improve picks. It’s very compact, nevertheless it lacks generally used keys and a rotary knob.
If you need a keyboard with a higher-quality aluminum case and don’t thoughts paying fairly a bit extra for it, get the Keychron Q1 Professional, Q2 Professional, or This autumn Professional. These fashions present a wonderful typing expertise and have a ton of additional options: They’ll hook up with as much as three units through Bluetooth, they’re totally programmable utilizing VIA, and so they have RGB backlighting and hot-swappable switches. The 75% Q1 Professional and 65% Q2 Professional have a rotary knob, however the 60% This autumn Professional doesn’t. However all of them have tall instances with steep slopes that can not be adjusted, and their tall included keycaps exacerbate this flaw.
Additionally nice
The V4 is extra compact than our different picks however requires memorizing shortcuts for generally used keys.
The Keychron V4 is the most effective 60% keyboard resulting from its construct high quality and additional options that match our runner-up picks. The V4 is totally programmable in VIA, which is a vital characteristic for a 60% keyboard that has solely the core block of letters, numbers, and modifiers. However this format isn’t for everybody—you’ll must retrain your self to recollect key combos each time you want the arrow or perform keys. The V4 lacks a wi-fi connection, and this format isn’t out there with a rotary knob.
