Keychron K4 HE Review

Introduction

The Keychron K4 HE aims to straddle the difficult line between offering ounces of style and performance in a reasonably priced chassis.

Its $145 price tag for a wireless, virtually full-size mechanical keyboard with powers of rapid trigger and Hall effect switches is compelling against rivals such as the Logitech G Pro TKL X Rapid and and Keychron’s own Q1 HE.

I’ve been testing the K4 HE for the last few weeks to see how well it fares against the competition, and as to whether this is one of the best gaming keyboards we’ve tested.

Design

• Stylish design with rosewood accents
• Excellent build quality
• Convenient layout

The K4 HE is essentially designed as a larger version of Keychron’s previous K2 HE, by adding the same sleek looks and solid build to a keyboard with a fuller layout.

It’s available in two finishes, with a standard version with an aluminium frame and slimmer Cherry profile keycaps in either black or white, or in the Special Edition version I have here that adds in taller OSA profile keycaps and rosewood accents for a bit more style.

It’s certainly a looker, with the rosewood accents on the side offsetting the black frame well. This is a keyboard that’ll fit equally as well in a modern office as it will in a gaming den. Its aluminium frame also keeps things sturdy in typical Keychron fashion.

The layout here is enlarged against the K2 HE’s 75% option with a richer 96% layout that gives you a number pad, navigation keys across the top and a fully-fledged function row. It’s as close to a full-size layout you can get, but some of the keys are just bunched up, so there is no space between different areas.

The keycaps here on this limited edition version lean into a more retro aesthetic with a taller profile, with the Esc and Enter keys being suitably brown as accents to match the rosewood finishing.

These are made of doubleshot-moulded PBT for an extra dose of quality, signalling the K4 HE as more of an enthusiast’s board. You also get a choice of either Mac or Windows keys in the box, so this keyboard can be used with either operating system.

The interface is recessed into the left side of the K4 HE, featuring two selector switches to choose between connectivity method (2.4GHz, Bluetooth, ) and operating system (Windows, macOS). There is also a USB-C port for operation and charging.

Performance

• Fast and clever Gateron Hall-effect switches
• Immensely versatile connectivity
• Decent battery life

As with the K2 HE, this larger model comes with Gateron’s double rail Nebula Hall effect switches for a responsive and stable keypress. Being double-rail means they are less prone to the horrible effect of key wobble that plagues some switches, and Hall-effect switches can offer some immense speed.

Hall-effect switches work with magnets as opposed to traditional mechanisms in the name of offering higher responsiveness and customisation.

In essence, a magnet is sent down the switch’s stem to a sensor, causing an input to be registered. As there isn’t a defined actuation point as you get with a more traditional mechanical switch, you can customise this to your liking to have speedier inputs in games where you only need the push the switch down a smaller amount before an input is registered.

For these switches, you can set inputs as high as 0.2mm, so you essentially just need to breathe on the switch for it to register an input.

This proved particularly useful for movement keys such as WASD, weapon draw keys and reload keys in Counter Strike 2 as it took very little effort to move around and get the right weapon out in quick-draw scenarios. As the switches are also quite light with a 40g actuation force, inputs are also nice and easy.

They also come with the powers of rapid trigger for virtually instant reset, making those inputs even faster. It means the K4 HE can turn from a smooth and reasonably quiet mechanical office keyboard into an especially responsive gaming keyboard with only a few toggles in its software.

If you want to, you can also enable last-key-prioritisation with the K4 HE, which offers a similar run of features to Razer’s Snap Tap, or Wooting’s Snappy Tappy, allowing you to try out some unnaturally quick movements, such as with the A and D keys.

There is also support for dynamic keystroke, so you can map up to four inputs to one key. This is particularly useful if you want to set walking, crouching, and running to one key, for instance, depending on how far you push the switch down depends on what actuates.

In addition, the switches can also support analog inputs for progressive, controller-like skills, similar to the Wooting 60HE+.

Acoustics here are marvellous with no case rattle or ping, which is also helped along by the fact that the switches are lubricated. Being lubed also helps them to stay especially smooth, making them excellent to type on for work and play.

The K4 HE’s versatility also extends to its connectivity, working on up to three devices wirelessly over Bluetooth, and a fourth over the bundled 2.4GHz receiver. Pairing is easy, holding the Fn key and a number from 1 through 4, depending on the channel you wish to connect to. I also had no issue getting the K4 HE working on either my main Windows gaming PC or my MacBook Pro work laptop.

Keychron rates the K4 HE to last for up to 110 hours on a charge, with the backlighting off, from its 4000mAh capacity battery.

This is reasonable, although not as strong as other full-size mechanical options such as the Razer Pro Type Ultra which can last for twice as long with its backlighting off.

Software and Lighting

• Clever, web-based software
• RGB lighting is more of an underglow without shine-through legends

Versatility seemed to be the name of the game with the K4 HE, as you also have a couple of options for software customisation.

It works with Keychron’s own web-based Launcher software, which works when the keyboard is plugged in with a cable. It allows you to control everything from its RGB lighting to all of the features of the switches, including actuation points, rapid trigger and more besides.

Keychron Launcher is especially easy to use, and wonderfully refreshing to see in a world where peripheral software in some cases might as well equate to bloatware at times.

You can also use the classic QMK firmware flashing and VIA interface to control the K4 HE, although it arguably isn’t as versatile as Keychron’s own Launcher.

With the limited edition version of this keyboard lacking shine-through legends on the keycaps, it means the RGB lighting here is more subdued and acts as more of an underglow. I don’t necessarily mind this, although if you want more pronounced lighting, then you can go for the normal K4 HE that has shine-through legends.

Should you buy it?

FAQs