Keychron Q13 Max review: Mechanical keyboard with Banana switches justifies its premium price

[Redaktion]

The Keychron Q13 Max is a 96% Alice layout, ergonomic, wireless, mechanical keyboard. It's Gateron Jupiter Banana switches and Keychron KSA keycaps deliver comfortable typing feel and a unique aesthetic. However, our review was not without issues. Unless you're comfortable with keyboard mods, you might want to think twice before spending over $200 on the Q13 Max.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Keychron-Q13-Max-review-Mechanical-keyboard-with-Banana-switches-justifies-its-premium-price.964164.0.html

[skanskan]

Hello.

How do you use in this keyboard the typical Home, Print, Page Up...  keys?

Any other alternative for a similar price?

How do you compare it to the Epomaker Galaxy 100 you mentioned?

[skanskan]

Is it possible to buy a spare key such as the Spanish "Ñ" key?

It's a pity it doesn't have wrist support. Do they sell any accesory for that?

[julian.vdm]

Is it possible to buy a spare key such as the Spanish "Ñ" key?

It's a pity it doesn't have wrist support. Do they sell any accesory for that?

It doesn't look like any of the Keychron Alice layout keyboards have ISO versions available, and I'm not sure about non-ANSI keycaps, either. You may need to change out the whole keycap set if you need an ñ key. There are sets available with all sorts of ISO layouts and characters, but the Q13 Max uses KSA profile, which is a proprietary Keychron profile. If it were me, I'd just use VIA or Keychron Launcher to remap ñ to an Fn shortcut.

As for the wrist rest, Keychron only seems to sell wrist rests for their regular keyboards. I'll pass along your suggestion to my PR contact. I actually made a wrist rest out of some wood I had lying around. It matches the front edge of the keyboard pretty well, and it really helps ergonomics imo.

[julian.vdm]

Hello.

How do you use in this keyboard the typical Home, Print, Page Up...  keys?

Any other alternative for a similar price?

How do you compare it to the Epomaker Galaxy 100 you mentioned?

The navigation keys are mapped to the four keys above the num pad by default (I cannot for the life of me remember what the stock mapping was though, sorry), but you can use VIA/Keychron Launcher to remap them to the macro column on the right side, too, which might actually be more convenient.

Re: alternatives at the same price... I'm not sure, actually. Just checking on KeebFinder (https://keeb-finder.com/keyboards/filter/alice?ms_layoutSize=96%25%2C97%25%2C98%25%2C100%25&ms_layoutErgonomics=Alice), it looks like other Keychron keyboards and one Feker board. 96% and full-size keyboards are a rarity, and adding the ergonomic Alice layout just narrows that down so much more.

Compared to the Galaxy100, the Keychron keyboard feels a little more solid, and the aluminium case on the Keychron doesn't feel as hollow, if that makes any sense. The finish on the two is about even, which is impressive for the Epomaker at like half the price. That said, the Galaxy 100 has a fairly low front height, so it's pretty comfortable to type on, and the flex-cut polypropylene plate gives it a lot more flex than the Keychron Q13 Max. The Galaxy 100 also sounds deeper and more muted than the Keychron. The stabilisers in the Galaxy100 also need less attention to sound good. Keychron Launcher is also a little easier to use than VIA. Battery life on both is also more than sufficient, but the Keychron actually wins out in the battery life department when using the RGB on full blast and connected to 2.4 GHz. The keycaps on both are quite nice, but if you prefer a slightly lower keycap height, the Galaxy100 is a better bet. My GF has used the Galaxy100 daily since I reviewed it in January, and the keycaps still look basically good as new, except for very slight shine on the space bar. The Keychron also has more reliable firmware. Some VIA features simply don't work on the Galaxy100, but everything works the way it is supposed to on the Keychron.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions you might have. I'll do my best to answer.

[skanskan]

I am hesitating between buying this Keychron Q13 Max keyboard or a Neo Ergo keyboard, which is more expensive but is more configurable.

Would I notice any difference in quality?