OnePlus Keyboard 81 Pro review

Greatest Costs As we speak: 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 firms.

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 provides glorious construct high quality and a easy, quiet typing expertise.

When 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 high-quality selection.

Design & construct

• Heavy aluminium physique
• Beautiful 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 time Breeze’ model, which has principally mild gray keycaps fabricated 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 could be aware 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 crimson keys – an escape key with the OnePlus emblem 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 nicely 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 forestall 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 actual fact, it’s so heavy that this actually is a set and neglect keyboard. When you like throwing your ‘board in a backpack to hold round or to the workplace, this isn’t the keyboard for you..

RGB lighting underneath every key might 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 kind 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 difficulty for those who’re utilizing the keyboard wirelessly, slightly than plugged in utilizing the beautiful braided USB-C to C cable within the field. It takes 5 hours to completely cost, however as soon as at 100% and with the lights turned off, I bought over one entire working week of wi-fi use.

Nevertheless, I really feel that for this worth you may count on backlit keys, which these are usually not. OnePlus does at the least present swappable Home windows or Mac keycaps with all the mandatory instruments, and you should utilize 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 time Breeze mannequin has a really quiet motion that I actually like. The keys solely make a comfortable thunk noise, even if you end up typing shortly. There’s additionally little or no of that plasticky clack sound, so you possibly can 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 making an attempt to kind with out one shortly led to wrist ache.

Even so, I made fairly a number of typing errors, however that’s in all probability 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 high proper nook is preset to manage 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 find out how to apply it to the Keychron web site) and is efficient, however might 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 time Breeze model I used and reviewed right here.

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

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

Verdict

You probably 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 nicely for OnePlus, and the previous’s regular high quality shines by way of right here.

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

However it is a keyboard to place in your desk and by no means transfer, given it weights practically 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 superb keyboard that can be utilized on any fashionable computing platform and comes with all of the equipment you want.