Keychron Q5 HE review: specs, performance, cost

The Keychron Q5 HE is an excellent mechanical keyboard that proves that magnetic switches can be used for more than just gaming.

HE keyboards are a great upgrade for typists and gamers because of their durability, precision, and customizability.

HE stands for Hall effectwhich describes part of how magnets affect electric charges. This technology appears in keyboards when manufacturers put magnets into switches and use this effect to sense when a key is pressed more accurately than analog mechanical switches can.

This year, the technology has taken the keyboard world by storm. It provides a huge advantage for gaming, since you can customize the key drivers with absolute precision via software.

This summer, HE keyboards caused huge controversy in the industry Counter-Strike 2 Community. This controversy resulted in them being banned from tournaments, as features such as magnetic switches are able to trigger different inputs at different actuation points during the key press.

Still, HE keyboards offer some advantages for everyone, including faster response times and less wear and tear on the switches.

Keychron Q5 HE – Design

this Keychron Q5 HE and Q5 Professional Edition There are a lot of similarities; they both have full metal bodies, knobs, RGB, and can be customized through software and hot-swapping.

But the similarities end there. The Q5 HE features different keycaps, magnetic switches, and compatibility with Keychron launchers.

You can completely customize your Q5 HE from scratch website.

The keycaps are “OSA” – OEM spherical angle. The keyboard specs seem to be full of acronyms, but OEM-type keys are taller on the back of the keyboard and shorter on the front. There’s nothing unusual about it and it’s comfortable on your fingertips.

Pre-assembled versions come with Nebula Gateron dual rail magnetic switches. Dawn and Aurora versions available purchasewith different starting and ending forces.

key clock launcher The web application plays a big role in managing key mappings and requires Chrome/Opera/Edge browsers. Its HE keyboard has a new update that lets you manually set the actuation distance of each key.

You can assign multiple actions to a key based on key depth because actuation distance can be quantified so accurately. This adds a whole new dimension to macros and shortcuts.

For example, you can half-press the backspace key to delete the last character, but a full press can delete the previous word or line macro. These benefits of HE are not limited to gaming.

Keychron Q5 HE – Specifications

Keychron Q5 HE – Use

First of all, the typing experience on the Gateron Nebula Switch is very smooth. You can feel the difference between a magnetic keyboard and a mechanical keyboard because less material (no springs and fewer mechanical parts) is pushed into the board, giving it a lighter feel.

Magnetic keys activate precisely when pressed and deactivate when released, allowing keystrokes to be repeated immediately, allowing for faster resets than traditional mechanical switches. Technically, this will allow you to “type faster” if you make multiple identical entries in a row, which is great for anyone who plays games, codes, or does anything with macros.

The Q5 model weighs about 5 pounds (2187 grams) fully assembled and is a semi-permanent aluminum block on your desk, making it less portable.

Like most Keychron keyboards in this price range, you can connect up to three devices via Bluetooth, allowing you to use the Q5 HE to switch between Mac, iPhone, and iPad. This also works with the Windows/Mac switch on the back, so you can pair the two to take advantage of the gaming benefits of the HE keyboard on your PC.

To pair, press fn+1, 2, or 3 and hold for four seconds to connect to a new device, tap fn and the device number to switch to that specific device.

The Q5 HE also has extremely low latency, thanks to a processor embedded in the case that enables a 1000 Hz polling rate on both wired and wireless connections, and has 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity and Bluetooth 5.2.

Keychron Q5 HE – Hall effect for everyone

HE keyboards are notorious for their ability to provide faster responses for time-sensitive tasks like competitive gaming, but they’re also fun to use in everyday life. People use keyboards for hard work and play, so having something that gives you the edge inside a durable chassis is the best of both worlds.

Keychron offers a solid formula for its keyboards in this price range, emphasizing switch customization, durability, and quality. The Q5 HE ticks all these boxes and is probably one of the easiest ways for Mac users to enjoy an HE keyboard.

Keychron Q5 HE Professional

• Hardware and software take full advantage of magnetic switches
• 1000 Hz wired or wireless polling
• Durable, reliable keyboard

Keychron Q5 HE Cons

• Competitive gaming is controversial
• Requires customization to get the most out of it, but not for everyone

Rating: 4 out of 5

Where to buy Keychron Q5 HE

Keychron Q5 HE is now available Amazon Priced at $249.99, also available with Keychron shop $229.00.