The 1,499-yuan QK100 MK2 brings the high-end custom keyboard experience within reach
Prebuilt keyboards have become fiercely competitive lately, and as someone into custom keyboards, I honestly have mixed feelings about it. A few years ago, if you wanted a full-aluminum CNC board with a gasket mount and every feature maxed out, you basically had to spend several thousand yuan and wait on a custom group buy. Now I'm seeing reviews saying that for 1,499 yuan you can buy a mass-produced keyboard that comes close to the high-end custom experience — the QK100 MK2. At first I didn't believe it, but after looking at the photos I'm a bit tempted.
The QK100 MK2 uses a compact 1800 layout, keeping the F-row, arrow keys and a full numpad, and the “0” key in the number cluster isn't squeezed down to 1U either. It has a full-aluminum body with a layered, curved design, an LED light bar and a touchpad in the top right, and a screen next to the numpad that can show GIFs and run a little typing game. What got me most is that nearly all of these “decorative” parts are interactive — not a single one is just for show.
The feel and sound are true custom-keyboard territory too: a gasket mount plus six layers of sound-dampening foam, no stabilizer rattle on the big keys, and a deeper, lower sound that suits the office better than the mainstream “mahjong clack.” The keycaps are Owlab doubleshot, ABS and PBT, and that keycap set alone would cost over a thousand yuan on the custom market.
To put it plainly, QK is chipping away at the barrier to entry for custom keyboards, bit by bit. 1,499 yuan gets you more than 90% of the high-end keyboard experience, and the only trade-off is a bit less freedom to mix and match. For people like me who want to tinker but hate the hassle, that might be a good thing.
Source: 雷科技 (Lei Technology)
The QK100 MK2 uses a compact 1800 layout, keeping the F-row, arrow keys and a full numpad, and the “0” key in the number cluster isn't squeezed down to 1U either. It has a full-aluminum body with a layered, curved design, an LED light bar and a touchpad in the top right, and a screen next to the numpad that can show GIFs and run a little typing game. What got me most is that nearly all of these “decorative” parts are interactive — not a single one is just for show.
The feel and sound are true custom-keyboard territory too: a gasket mount plus six layers of sound-dampening foam, no stabilizer rattle on the big keys, and a deeper, lower sound that suits the office better than the mainstream “mahjong clack.” The keycaps are Owlab doubleshot, ABS and PBT, and that keycap set alone would cost over a thousand yuan on the custom market.
To put it plainly, QK is chipping away at the barrier to entry for custom keyboards, bit by bit. 1,499 yuan gets you more than 90% of the high-end keyboard experience, and the only trade-off is a bit less freedom to mix and match. For people like me who want to tinker but hate the hassle, that might be a good thing.
Source: 雷科技 (Lei Technology)
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