- I'm a dad, so nobody got me anything for Christmas, so that's why I'm back here at ShortCircuit
to unwrap stuff, unbox stuff,
particularly stuff that I like, like mechanical keyboards.
In this case, it's the Keychron K4 Version 2.
(angelic choir harmonizes) ♪ Bah ♪ What is this? "Please be gentle and make sure
to align the pins with the socket properly." Okay, so this indicates to me that the model that we got
is the kind that has hot-swappable key switches.
So there's various models. You can get a keyboard that has a white backlight for $69,
nice, or you can upgrade to an RGB backlight for $10 more.
Or for $10 more, you can get an aluminum frame plus RGB.
And for an additional $10 on any configuration, you can get hot-swappable key switches,
which is cool because this keyboard is available with Gateron switches,
either blue, red, or brown. If you want some kind of enthusiast switches to swap it out completely,
or just your numpad or something like that, or just WASD,
then you can just take those switches completely out without doing any soldering
and put in the switch of your choice. A-nice.
"If you are a Windows user, please find the appropriate keycaps in the box."
Whoa. Okay, so this keyboard is good for Mac or Windows,
but reading this makes it seem like the Mac config
is what they have on there by default. That was just kind of interesting.
Ooh, you can actually disable auto sleep mode. That's pretty cool.
(groans) Oh, you know what? I'm gonna wait. We're not gonna get the keyboard out of there yet.
Let's look at the... Empty plastic bag it comes with. I guess that's what the keycap puller was in.
There's a cable. USB-C to A. It's a side-jacked one.
And here are my Windows keycaps.
Lighting effects. We've got Alt, Escape... Whatever that one is. I guess that's a Windows key.
And another Alt. Okay, cool. The keyboard.
Whoop! Very compact. This is so cool. It's kinda like a 60%, like a Pok3r,
except it's got a numpad. Oh, and she's a stiff boy!
She is a stiff boy. Yeah, no deck flex at all, really.
This is probably the one with the aluminum.
I'd say so. Okay, on the side we have a USB-C port,
so that's for charging. This is a wireless keyboard. Has to charge sometimes.
It has a 4,000-milliamp hour battery. They advertise being able to charge it in just three hours.
And if you operate it with the backlight off, they can you can get 240 hours of battery life.
If you have the backlight on and it's a single LED,
like the white one, it's 72 hours of battery life.
And, interestingly, if you have an RGB version with that light on,
they estimate you being able to get 68 hours of battery life,
which is kind of weird. I thought that the RGB would take more battery than a single LED,
but I guess that the reason it would take less is because white is a lot of energy,
whereas a lower frequency color, like red,
maybe takes less, so... There's some toggle switches on the side.
One is for switching between macOS and Windows/Android,
and the other is for switching between Bluetooth or wired operation, or just off.
One of the things that's new on this version, on V2, are the tilt options here.
It looks like they kinda went Logitech-style and gave you two tilt options, and I like these.
This little one is just ever so slight, which is cool,
because, you know, you might like to have a tilted keyboard, but it is less ergonomic to have that
because it's not good for you to be extended like this with your wrist. So if you do keep it flat, it's pretty flat.
I guess they went with Linus' favorite and gave us browns.
This is the feature key. You ever see people with their painted nails and they have a feature nail?
That's what this key is, the feature key. And like we saw earlier, they give you an option over there.
And why don't I just pull this whole thing out, if I can? This is kinda stubby. These are not my favorite.
Whoo! Okay, so this Gateron keycap has two pins,
but the key switches, the board, supports three- or five-pin,
so that means that if you want to switch to Cherry
or Kailh or those other five-pin designs, that will be supported.
Even on their webpage, actually, there is one little disclaimer,
and it has to do with this Tilde key, Til-dah. For some reason, the Tilde key
only supports three-pin switches. Just this one key is different. I...
I don't know what the reason for that is. Pretty standard typing experience.
Like, I'm not making a huge amount of errors. I really do like the 100-key layout though,
because it's fairly compact, but you've still got all your F keys.
All your media keys up here. You've got a full numpad.
You've got the arrow keys in their regular configuration. They're not compressed or you don't have
one of those keys being split into two, like you'd see on a laptop sometimes.
And one of the things that they improved since last time is the position of the Delete key.
I use this key a lot. The place that they had it last time around
was way over here. I wouldn't be able to hit that quickly, and that would suck, so sweet.
It sounds like they really listened to a lot of user feedback and implemented good changes.
Let's plug it in, hey? Right after this message from our sponsor. (cackles)
Big thanks to Volta for sponsoring this video. The Volta 2.0 is a reliable single cable
for all USB devices, whether that's Lightning or Android types,
and it does both power and data transfer.
It's magnetic and snag-proof. It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee
and a lifetime warranty. So check it out at the link below
and stop being one of those suckers who has to, like, line up the hole and plug it in, you know?
Just walk away! Just grab it and walk away. All right. I said we were gonna plug it in.
First though, actually, I wanna weigh it.
912 grams? Damn. Their website just said it was 700 and some.
That's pretty decent for a compact. Not bad.
Okay, for real now. Do I want to plug it in with the wire
just to make it easier on myself, or do I want to connect the Bluetooth
to show the people the real clean look?
Let's do that. Are you in pairing mode? Don't make me look in the instructions, dammit.
Dammit! "Press Function 1 for four seconds."
Here you go. (dramatic soprano singing)
There it is. I like the legend on the keys.
It's really kind of a fine font.
That, of course, means that the amount of light that can pass through each keycap is gonna be less.
Now, speaking of RGB, let's use this trusty light button
to switch the RGB effect. I believe there are 18 effects.
Heh-leh-lo. They're kinda ostentatious for me, but...
Oh yeah, and this is that row-by-row one.
Static. But you go Function-arrow key, and... Oh, now it's rainbow.
White. You just cycle through.
Very easy to use. And then Function on the light button
is toggling the backlight on and off. Okay, that is basically it.
There is now a dedicated Caps Lock light,
which they didn't have before. And it looks like no matter what color you change the RGB,
that Caps Lock indicator light is kinda red.
Also, you should know, especially if you're a Mac user, the Num Lock button doesn't work on Macs.
Too bad for you, 'cause I leave that puppy on all the time.
On a normal PC keyboard you're gonna have the Control key,
then the Windows key, which opens up the Start menu, and then Alt.
Now, if you're using a Apple keyboard
and you use it on a PC, it's different.
So you would actually have the Command key, would become your Windows key.
But that doesn't happen on this keyboard, 'cause this keyboard is smart and beautiful
and has a switch that tells you that you're working in PC mode.
But just heads-up for people who are Mac users who have developed this muscle memory
where the Command key is the Windows key. If you're one of those freaks,
you might be in for some new learning. Although, what if I change it to Mac mode
while using my PC?
Oh-ho-ho-ho! Now the Command key is the Windows key.
♪ You can have it all ♪ You can do it all!
This is a cool keyboard. I like it. I did not get it for Christmas.
You cannot get it for Christmas either now. It's a New Year's present. It's a Lunar New Year's present.
So thanks for watching ShortCircuit today and looking at our unboxing of the K4 V2.
Subscribe, or die. Look at that!
Comes with a fidget toy.