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Review on ๐ŸŽฎ Keychron K4 Gaming Mechanical Keyboard, Compact 100 Keys RGB LED Backlit, Wireless Bluetooth/USB Wired, Gateron Blue Switch, N-Key Rollover, Aluminum Frame, for Mac Windows - Version 2 by Antonio Bacon

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Good, but far from perfect.

Build Quality: Very chunky build. But this solid build comes at a price, namely the thickness and weight of the entire device. As others have noted in reviews and images, the lowest keycap height is relatively tall due to the camber of the internal component frame protruding from the underside. This easily requires most people to consider a well-designed palm rest for prolonged use. The bezel around the keyboard is also a bit thick, although the quality is on par with the rest of the Class A case. I wouldn't mind a more open design, where the bezel doesn't rise as much from the bottom of the keycaps make air cleaning easier. without removing the keycaps until absolutely necessary. LED Backlighting: There is enough backlighting, although I'm really disappointed that a dedicated backlight switch wasn't designed for the Num Lock keys. The firmware update introduced the very long-awaited Caps Lock light indicator, but for some reason this was not done for Num Lock. I can only surmise that this is because they tied the clear operation as a second function to the Num Lock key. So for now I'm hoping for this introduction through a firmware update. RGB function: I'm not a big fan of RGB but I love having this option, if it can improve visibility and other practical aspects. I chose RGB instead of white LED so the white LED backlight isn't too bright or glaring. The RGB patterns and light shows are way beyond anything I would use and the 8 static color options are quite adequate. where the 9th contains the static rainbow mix. Documentation: With a website this clean and well designed, the documentation department really falls short. Inconsistency in important aspects such as B. Only partial listings and function key combinations for certain KeyChron product lines and not for others. Often the best resource for more complete guides is provided by third-party providers. For example, searching for the "Insert" or "Print" function used was only available in the firmware update notes and not in an exhaustive list that may mention the firmware update in passing for applicable functions. Also, the key "screen capture" shown in the included manual does not match any of the keys on my K4 keyboard, although there is a firmware update that adds a screen capture feature for the page up key. But this updated feature is far from intuitive. To use the print screen, you need to press and hold fn + p + page up for 6 seconds to change the function of the page up key to screenshot/print screen function. This step must be repeated to reset the button function to the page up function. This isn't a big problem, but more of a joke for an encoder that can use both the print screen and page up fairly often. Many updated features work in a way that requires fn + (key) + (key) for 6 seconds - without quick access to an exhaustive list of features to download. Universe Trust: While the quality of the product and website is of high quality and functionality, there is less trust in other areas. For example, their K4 firmware site has versions 1.1 and 1.3, not 1.2. This in itself is not a problem, except that when upgrading to 1.3, the software clearly showed "1.2" in the progress window. This made me a little nervous given the warnings on their website and reviews about the keyboard breaking due to firmware update issues. This experience did not inspire much confidence. That being said, the firmware update was performed with a single click and completed successfully in a timely manner (although the last message saying "update successful" is again non-native English, which I wish

Pros
  • Good product for the price
Cons
  • Poor