Keychron K1 Mechanical Keyboard - Brown Switch

 

This is very late review (see some dust in the box :-) )

When you are doing a lot of typing a good keyboard is a must. Laptop keyboard is mostly ok but sometimes having a separate keyboard add some adventure in a bored WFH setup for most people. As a software engineer, I do a lot of typing in my furnace like Dell laptop. I have an external monitor which is a must for productivity and it is more pleasant to the eyes. Laptop screen is just ok but added real estate of an external monitor helps see more code and of course, it is great in watching Netflix and Youtube :-).

Looking around the internet I found the Keychron which look good in the picture and some videos. I ended buying the one without the number pad as I don't want a long keyboard and I don't normally use them. 

The keyboard really looks great. I bought the RGB variant as I don't want to get bored by just having a white backlit. Multiple colors is better, I guess.

I like the feedback of the brown key. Tactile is not soft nor springy. Just feel right if you are typing for a couple of hours. It has also some slanting to it, similar to a Macbook Air to prevent carpal tunnel, I guess, or just to make it more easy on your hands. But putting some feet to it makes it more fun to use. 

Bought Nilkin laptop feet to help add some height on the keyboard to make it more comfortable to use. 

Initially, I encountered some bluetooth connection issue but I think it was due to Windows rather than the keyboard since I have not encounter the same issue after a couple of Windows update. Also, to conserve the battery, the keyboard shutoff after a few minutes of being idle and will take around 2-3 seconds to wake up. 

I bought the keyboard for 4,740.00 PHP in Lazada but currently it's price is 3,640.00 PHP! That is more than 1K discount!

Logitech K380 - Best alternative for Apple keyboard

Macbook user knows that butterfly keyboard sucks! In my case, I have an early 2016 Macbook 12 inch which have these key type. First issue I experienced is the fading of key caps which I fixed by putting a sticker with larger lettering (can't find sticker with the same size as the letter in the Mac key cap)! Second issue is unresponsive keys due to dirt, so, I bought a pressurize air can to blow away the dirt which somehow fixes the problem. 

Still I hate typing on the keyboard now as most of the keys are quite beat up with a few of them covered with sticker. I thought, why torture myself on using the keyboard which now I hated! Maybe a bluetooth keyboard would help me ease the pain :-). I googled for the best but cheap keyboard and found the k380 with quite a couple of good reviews. Watch the Youtube to find out more about the keyboard and finally decided to buy one from Lazada. 

After 4 days, I received the keyboard (some shipping in Lazada seems faster). The cost is 1,995 PHP which is cheaper than the Apple keyboard. 

The keyboard is made of plastic but still feel premium. Key travel is great, almost sounds like a mechanical keyboard. The color I bought is off white which I think is a good color for non-backlit keyboard. It is a multi-device keyboard which means it can connect to a PC, IOS and Mac. There are Mac keys not available as it seems geared more towards IOS but Logitech provided a way to customize four top keys, i.e. using the Logi Option application which is downloadable from their site.

There are four keys that are available for customization. In my case I used two of the keys for adjusting the brightness. For Mac, some security options should be enabled for Logi Option for it to be able to listen for the key stroke to handle customization. In terms of CPU and RAM impact, it is very minimal to Nill. 

The keyboard has some ergonomic design to it. It has slanting surface similar to a Macbook Air design for easy typing. Depends on the height of the table where you are typing, I think the degree is just enough. In my case, I need a bit of height which can be compensated by a cheap keyboard/laptop feet (just ordered from Lazada and and it is already being shipped).

I love the keyboard, so far. Typing is a great, good key travel, easy to get use to it and it can connect up to three devices!

 

The only thing I love to have for this keyboard is a backlit but with its price, I should not complain. But, but, please add indicator for caps lock, please!