March 17, 2026

My Keychron Q8 keyboard

Keychron makes a huge array of different keyboards. I cannot say that I have carefully studied all of their offerings. I overlooked some deliberately because they were labeled as "Wifi" keyboards and I insist on a corded keyboard. I am now told that all of their Wifi keyboards have a USB connection and can be used cordless.

Three things attracted me to the Q8:

The "alice" layout means that your hands can sit in a natural position while typing. I got spoiled by this with my Microsoft natural keyboard, then started looking for a keyboard with mechanical switches to replace it. At the time (2021) there were no alice layout keyboards on the market, so I went "whole hog" and purchased an Ergodox EZ. If this board had been available back then, I probably would have gotten it instead, saving a lot of money and avoiding the Ergodox learning curve.

My board has Gateron Blue switches. I like both the feel and the sound. I expected them to be like an IBM model M. They are not. They are both smoother and quieter. I am both happy and disappointed in that -- but not complaining. I am not super fussy. I have another keyboard with Cherry MX brown, and I like it just fine also.

I am not missing the function key row at all. The default configuration lets you use Fn2+digit to produce a function key and I actually like that better than reaching for the function key row.

At some point I am going to configure a layer to be a numeric keypad sitting under my right hand (probably) in the home position. Then I will need to learn how to use it. Everyone I know who uses a numeric keypad raves about it.

This keyboard is surprisingly heavy! It is a real brick. I am finding that I like that a lot.

The quality of the board is really top notch.

Complaints

The location of the left side space bar is not ideal. It requires me to curl my thumb somewhat under my hand. The Ergodox puts the key I use for a space bar in a much more natural position.

Another comparison to the Ergodox. I find myself wishing for more keys to use for layer shifts and such. This isn't really a fault with the keyboard, it is just the way things are with a board using a fairly conventional 65 percent layout.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Adventures in Computing / tom@mmto.org