WEBVTT

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- I'm a dad, so nobody got me anything for Christmas, so that's why I'm back here at ShortCircuit

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to unwrap stuff, unbox stuff,

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particularly stuff that I like, like mechanical keyboards.

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In this case, it's the Keychron K4 Version 2.

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(angelic choir harmonizes) ♪ Bah ♪ What is this? "Please be gentle and make sure

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to align the pins with the socket properly." Okay, so this indicates to me that the model that we got

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is the kind that has hot-swappable key switches.

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So there's various models. You can get a keyboard that has a white backlight for $69,

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nice, or you can upgrade to an RGB backlight for $10 more.

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Or for $10 more, you can get an aluminum frame plus RGB.

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And for an additional $10 on any configuration, you can get hot-swappable key switches,

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which is cool because this keyboard is available with Gateron switches,

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either blue, red, or brown. If you want some kind of enthusiast switches to swap it out completely,

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or just your numpad or something like that, or just WASD,

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then you can just take those switches completely out without doing any soldering

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and put in the switch of your choice. A-nice.

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"If you are a Windows user, please find the appropriate keycaps in the box."

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Whoa. Okay, so this keyboard is good for Mac or Windows,

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but reading this makes it seem like the Mac config

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is what they have on there by default. That was just kind of interesting.

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Ooh, you can actually disable auto sleep mode. That's pretty cool.

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(groans) Oh, you know what? I'm gonna wait. We're not gonna get the keyboard out of there yet.

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Let's look at the... Empty plastic bag it comes with. I guess that's what the keycap puller was in.

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There's a cable. USB-C to A. It's a side-jacked one.

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And here are my Windows keycaps.

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Lighting effects. We've got Alt, Escape... Whatever that one is. I guess that's a Windows key.

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And another Alt. Okay, cool. The keyboard.

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Whoop! Very compact. This is so cool. It's kinda like a 60%, like a Pok3r,

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except it's got a numpad. Oh, and she's a stiff boy!

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She is a stiff boy. Yeah, no deck flex at all, really.

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This is probably the one with the aluminum.

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I'd say so. Okay, on the side we have a USB-C port,

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so that's for charging. This is a wireless keyboard. Has to charge sometimes.

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It has a 4,000-milliamp hour battery. They advertise being able to charge it in just three hours.

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And if you operate it with the backlight off, they can you can get 240 hours of battery life.

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If you have the backlight on and it's a single LED,

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like the white one, it's 72 hours of battery life.

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And, interestingly, if you have an RGB version with that light on,

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they estimate you being able to get 68 hours of battery life,

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which is kind of weird. I thought that the RGB would take more battery than a single LED,

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but I guess that the reason it would take less is because white is a lot of energy,

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whereas a lower frequency color, like red,

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maybe takes less, so... There's some toggle switches on the side.

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One is for switching between macOS and Windows/Android,

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and the other is for switching between Bluetooth or wired operation, or just off.

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One of the things that's new on this version, on V2, are the tilt options here.

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It looks like they kinda went Logitech-style and gave you two tilt options, and I like these.

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This little one is just ever so slight, which is cool,

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because, you know, you might like to have a tilted keyboard, but it is less ergonomic to have that

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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.

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I guess they went with Linus' favorite and gave us browns.

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This is the feature key. You ever see people with their painted nails and they have a feature nail?

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That's what this key is, the feature key. And like we saw earlier, they give you an option over there.

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And why don't I just pull this whole thing out, if I can? This is kinda stubby. These are not my favorite.

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Whoo! Okay, so this Gateron keycap has two pins,

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but the key switches, the board, supports three- or five-pin,

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so that means that if you want to switch to Cherry

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or Kailh or those other five-pin designs, that will be supported.

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Even on their webpage, actually, there is one little disclaimer,

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and it has to do with this Tilde key, Til-dah. For some reason, the Tilde key

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only supports three-pin switches. Just this one key is different. I...

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I don't know what the reason for that is. Pretty standard typing experience.

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Like, I'm not making a huge amount of errors. I really do like the 100-key layout though,

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because it's fairly compact, but you've still got all your F keys.

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All your media keys up here. You've got a full numpad.

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You've got the arrow keys in their regular configuration. They're not compressed or you don't have

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one of those keys being split into two, like you'd see on a laptop sometimes.

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And one of the things that they improved since last time is the position of the Delete key.

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I use this key a lot. The place that they had it last time around

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was way over here. I wouldn't be able to hit that quickly, and that would suck, so sweet.

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It sounds like they really listened to a lot of user feedback and implemented good changes.

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Let's plug it in, hey? Right after this message from our sponsor. (cackles)

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Big thanks to Volta for sponsoring this video. The Volta 2.0 is a reliable single cable

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for all USB devices, whether that's Lightning or Android types,

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and it does both power and data transfer.

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It's magnetic and snag-proof. It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee

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and a lifetime warranty. So check it out at the link below

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and stop being one of those suckers who has to, like, line up the hole and plug it in, you know?

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Just walk away! Just grab it and walk away. All right. I said we were gonna plug it in.

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First though, actually, I wanna weigh it.

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912 grams? Damn. Their website just said it was 700 and some.

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That's pretty decent for a compact. Not bad.

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Okay, for real now. Do I want to plug it in with the wire

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just to make it easier on myself, or do I want to connect the Bluetooth

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to show the people the real clean look?

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Let's do that. Are you in pairing mode? Don't make me look in the instructions, dammit.

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Dammit! "Press Function 1 for four seconds."

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Here you go. (dramatic soprano singing)

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There it is. I like the legend on the keys.

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It's really kind of a fine font.

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That, of course, means that the amount of light that can pass through each keycap is gonna be less.

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Now, speaking of RGB, let's use this trusty light button

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to switch the RGB effect. I believe there are 18 effects.

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Heh-leh-lo. They're kinda ostentatious for me, but...

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Oh yeah, and this is that row-by-row one.

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Static. But you go Function-arrow key, and... Oh, now it's rainbow.

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White. You just cycle through.

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Very easy to use. And then Function on the light button

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is toggling the backlight on and off. Okay, that is basically it.

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There is now a dedicated Caps Lock light,

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which they didn't have before. And it looks like no matter what color you change the RGB,

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that Caps Lock indicator light is kinda red.

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Also, you should know, especially if you're a Mac user, the Num Lock button doesn't work on Macs.

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Too bad for you, 'cause I leave that puppy on all the time.

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On a normal PC keyboard you're gonna have the Control key,

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then the Windows key, which opens up the Start menu, and then Alt.

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Now, if you're using a Apple keyboard

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and you use it on a PC, it's different.

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So you would actually have the Command key, would become your Windows key.

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But that doesn't happen on this keyboard, 'cause this keyboard is smart and beautiful

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and has a switch that tells you that you're working in PC mode.

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But just heads-up for people who are Mac users who have developed this muscle memory

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where the Command key is the Windows key. If you're one of those freaks,

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you might be in for some new learning. Although, what if I change it to Mac mode

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while using my PC?

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Oh-ho-ho-ho! Now the Command key is the Windows key.

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♪ You can have it all ♪ You can do it all!

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This is a cool keyboard. I like it. I did not get it for Christmas.

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You cannot get it for Christmas either now. It's a New Year's present. It's a Lunar New Year's present.

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So thanks for watching ShortCircuit today and looking at our unboxing of the K4 V2.

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Subscribe, or die. Look at that!

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Comes with a fidget toy.