OnePlus Keyboard 81 Professional overview: The costly sort Categorical Occasions

Finest Costs Right now: Keyboard 81 Professional

$239

OnePlus has lengthy made stable Android telephones. However now it’s attempting its hand at totally different merchandise by collaborating with different tech corporations.

The Keyboard 81 Professional is the primary product of this new initiative. It’s a mechanical keyboard that’s OnePlus branded however made in partnership with Keychron, the model of selection for a lot of mechanical keyboard nerds.

And the mannequin I examined affords wonderful construct high quality and a easy, quiet typing expertise.

In case you don’t thoughts keys that aren’t backlit and don’t want to hold your keyboard round with you when travelling, the 81 Professional is a positive selection.

Design & construct

• Heavy aluminium physique
• Pretty keycap materials
• Helpful kickstand
• RGB lights, not backlit

There are two variations of the 81 Professional (so named for its 81-key structure), every with totally different gray tone key caps and totally different key switches.

I reviewed the pricier ‘Summer season Breeze’ model, which has principally mild gray keycaps manufactured from ‘marble-mallow’ materials that’s new for this keyboard, and makes use of quiet linear switches that OnePlus says it developed with Keychron.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

The ‘Winter Bonfire’ model makes use of PBT keycaps in a darker gray, alongside louder, optimised tactile switches (additionally co-created with Keychron) that I haven’t tried.

Keychron followers might observe that the structure of the keyboard bears resemblance to the Keychron Q1 Professional, although the general design and keycaps are very totally different.

Basically, the keyboard is a big chunk of silver aluminium with two-tone gray keys, a clear dial within the higher proper, and two purple keys – an escape key with the OnePlus brand on it, and the enter key.

An adjustable bar kickstand on the underside of the keyboard, used for reducing or elevating the typing peak, feels very luxurious. However the entire product is premium and really effectively put collectively.

OnePlus has designed the keyboard to be flipped and stood up when not in use, revealing the corporate’s ‘By no means Settle’ motto beneath. Rubberised contact factors stop the keyboard from sliding round or scratching your desk, although at a whopping 1.87kg (sure, it’s that heavy) this factor ain’t going wherever.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

In truth, it’s so heavy that this actually is a set and overlook keyboard. In case you like throwing your ‘board in a backpack to hold round or to the workplace, this isn’t the keyboard for you..

RGB lighting below every key could be programmed to a number of totally different modes, from a sweeping rainbow to 1 that stays unlit however then sprays mild outwards from every key as you sort earlier than fading away (my private favorite).

The results are cool, however a drain on the 4,000mAh battery. In fact, that’s solely a problem for those who’re utilizing the keyboard wirelessly, relatively than plugged in utilizing the stunning braided USB-C to C cable within the field. It takes 5 hours to totally cost, however as soon as at 100% and with the lights turned off, I received over one complete working week of wi-fi use.

Nonetheless, I really feel that for this worth you may anticipate backlit keys, which these are usually not. OnePlus does at the very least present swappable Home windows or Mac keycaps with all the mandatory instruments, and you should use both structure on both working system (it additionally runs on Linux, Android, and iOS gadgets).

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Keyboard really feel and typing expertise

• Quiet actuation
• Comfy for lengthy periods
• Wants a wrist relaxation

The Summer season Breeze mannequin has a really quiet motion that I actually like. The keys solely make a mushy thunk noise, even if you end up typing shortly. There’s additionally little or no of that plasticky clack sound, so you may positively use this in a busy workplace with out annoying anybody.

Pairing these marble-mallow caps with the quiet switches is a superb mixture, and provides to the ultra-premium really feel of the product.

I discovered my private greatest consolation when typing with the kickstand elevating the board barely – it’s totally adjustable at any angle. However I did want to make use of my very own wrist relaxation, as trying to sort with out one shortly led to wrist ache.

Even so, I made fairly a number of typing errors, however that’s most likely extra as a result of I often use the just about flat Logitech MX Keys Mini.

I examined the keyboard with a Mac, and the dial within the prime proper nook is preset to regulate quantity when turned and toggles sound on or off when pressed. It’s a neat contact.

In addition to the kickstand and swappable keys that don’t require soldering, the keys are remappable utilizing the VIA app. It really works on any Chromium-based browser (see tips on how to apply it to the Keychron web site) and is efficient, however could be complicated.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Worth & availability

The OnePlus Keyboard 81 Professional prices $219/£249 for the Winter Bonfire model or $239/£269 for the Summer season Breeze model I used and reviewed right here.

You should buy it now from OnePlus US or OnePlus UK.

All entries in our greatest keyboard round-up are extra inexpensive, with the Logitech MX Mechanical ($149.99/£149.99) the obvious different. Keychron itself additionally makes an identical mechanical keyboard within the Q1 Professional ($199/£169).

Verdict

When you have the money and desire a premium mechanical keyboard with a superb typing sound and really feel, the Keyboard 81 Professional is an effective selection. Collaborating with Keychron has labored out effectively for OnePlus, and the previous’s ordinary high quality shines by way of right here.

The spectacular aluminium construct and wonderful key switches are each highlights, whereas the marble-mallow keycaps really feel beautiful and keep away from the click-clack plastic really feel.

However this can be a keyboard to place in your desk and by no means transfer, given it weights almost 2kg. And at this worth you may balk that the keycaps are usually not backlit. I ended up turning the beautiful however functionally ineffective RGB lights off as they sapped the battery life, too.

However for pure typing pleasure, this is a wonderful keyboard that can be utilized on any trendy computing platform and comes with all of the equipment you want.

This overview initially revealed on techadvisor.com.