Keychron Q11 Review: A Split 75 Percent Metal Board With A Knob And No Battery

The Keychron Q11 is a 75 percent ANSI split mechanical keyboard with an all-metal tray-mounted body, a rotary knob, hot-swappable sockets and QMK remapping, and it connects over USB-C. It is a wired board: no battery is recorded for it, and its recorded feature list says it has no wireless connectivity.

This review is built from the specifications recorded against the product, each with the manufacturer page it was read from. No board was measured for this page, so nothing here describes how the halves feel, how they sound or how the knob behaves under a finger.

What the split layout is, on the record

The recorded layout is a 75 percent ANSI split layout with a rotary knob. A 75 percent layout is the same class as the Keychron Q1's recorded 75 percent layout, which means the function row and the number pad are not part of it. What the Q11 adds to that class is the split, and the recorded audience for the board is people who type for long hours and want to angle and split the halves of a mechanical keyboard without giving up remapping.

The recorded dimensions are 345 mm long and 134 mm wide, and the catalogue marks that value as only partially verified because the manufacturer page does not state whether it describes one half or the pair. A buyer measuring desk space should treat it as an upper bound on one half rather than as a settled measurement.

The body, and what a tray mount is

The recorded frame material is all-metal, and the recorded weight is 1,186 g plus or minus 10 g fully assembled. The Keychron Q1 in the catalogue records a weight of 1,825 g plus or minus 10 g in an aluminium case, so the Q11 is the lighter of the two boards by a wide margin even though it is recorded as two pieces.

The recorded mount style is a tray mount, with the plate integrated into the case. That is a different structural choice from the Q1's recorded gasket mount with a steel plate, and the two are not two finishes of the same construction. The Q11 also records screw-in PCB stabilisers, which is the one specification in its list that no other keyboard in the catalogue records.

Remapping, switches and what can change later

The recorded remapping software is QMK firmware with the Keychron Launcher web app, on macOS and Windows. The Q1 in the catalogue records no remapping software specification at all, so the catalogue can neither confirm nor deny what the Q1 offers, while the Q11's record is specific about the tool and the platforms it runs on.

The recorded switch options are Keychron Super red or brown, Gateron G Pro red or brown, or barebone. The hot-swappable sockets take five pin and three pin switches, so the board can be built with linear, tactile or clicky switches and changed later. The recorded polling rate is 1000 Hz, and the recorded keycap material is double-shot PBT in a normal profile.

What the record does not settle

No battery, no battery life figure and no charging specification is recorded, because the board is recorded as wired. No lighting specification is recorded either, where the Q1 records backlighting as a feature and the Q11 records none.

No sound profile, no typing feel, no latency measurement and no durability result is recorded for this board. No price is recorded. And the recorded dimensions, as set out above, are marked as partially verified.

Who it is for

The recorded audience is people who type for long hours and want to angle and split the halves of a mechanical keyboard while keeping remapping. The recorded split layout, the recorded hot-swappable sockets, the recorded QMK firmware and the recorded all-metal tray-mounted body at 1,186 g are the values behind that fit, and the wired connection is the condition attached to it.