Keychron C1 Pro/C2 Pro Keyboard Review

The Keychron C1 Pro we bought and tested has a TenKeyLess (80%) layout, which means it has arrow keys and a Navigation cluster but lacks a Numpad. It doesn't take up much space on your desk. You can also purchase a larger full-size variant called the Keychron C2 Pro, and Keychron may continue to release other size variants within this lineup.

These keyboards have impressive build quality. The chassis feels very solid and only flexes slightly. Overall, the keys are stable, with minimal wobble that isn't very noticeable while typing. However, some of the larger keys with stabilizers wobble marginally more—particularly the spacebar. The four incline feet on the back of the keyboard also do a decent job of keeping them in place on desks. The keycaps are made of PBT plastic, and although they aren't the highest-quality PBT keycaps we've seen, they're an improvement over the ABS plastic keycaps used on the basic Keychron C Series models.

These keyboards have acceptable ergonomics and feature two incline settings. They have a fairly high profile and don't come with a wrist rest, so you may experience wrist fatigue during long typing sessions.

We bought and tested the non-hot-swappable version of the Keychron C1 Pro, but there's also a hot-swappable version available. For more details, see the Differences Between Sizes and Variants section.

The Keychron C1 Pro we bought and tested has full RGB backlighting with individually-lit keys, but you can also purchase these keyboards with white-only backlighting. You can use hotkeys to customize the lighting directly on the keyboard.

The backlighting isn't software controllable since the software doesn't currently work for these keyboards. For more details, see the Configuration Software section.

These keyboards have poor backlight clarity. They have south-facing LEDs, and the keycap legends aren't shine-through. For reference, we've also taken a photo with several stock keycaps replaced with shine-through keycaps that you can see here.

These keyboards come with a detachable USB-C to USB-C cable. There's also an included USB-A adapter that you can use if your computer doesn't have a USB-C port.

These keyboards are wired-only models.

These keyboards don't have dedicated macro keys, and you can't program macros directly on the boards themselves. Additionally, macros can't be programmed in software as there isn't currently any customization software available.

These keyboards have a switch on the top left side to switch between Windows and macOS compatibility modes. There's also an LED caps lock indicator light and an LED lock indicator light. Secondary hotkey commands, including media hotkeys, that are clearly labeled on the keycaps, and there's a list of hotkey combinations in the user documentation.

• Keychron C1 Pro mechanical keyboard
• USB-C to USB-C cable
• USB-C to USB-A adapter
• Keycap puller
• 5x alternate black keys (2x Alt key, 2x Windows key, 1x Esc key)
• 2x alternate orange keys (1x brightness key, 1x Keychron 'k logo' key
• Keyboard layout pamphlet
• User documentation

These keyboards are available with Keychron K Pro switches pre-lubed from the factory. Keychron currently offers these keyboards with a choice between linear Red or tactile Brown varieties.

You can also purchase these keyboards with a hot-swappable PCB to change the stock switches for other switch options without soldering.

The Keychron K Pro Red switches on the unit we bought and tested are lightweight, smooth, and have short-pre travel. These keyboards are also available with Keychron K Pro Brown switches which we expect to feel a bit heavier and to have a somewhat longer pre-travel with a tactile bump to overcome before actuation.

These keyboards offer a great typing experience that sounds and feels satisfying. Overall, the key stability is good and feels more stable than the keys on the Keychron C1. That said, larger keys with stabilizers like the spacebar, shift, and Enter keys wobble slightly more than the alphanumeric keys. The keycaps are also made of doubleshot PBT plastic and feel better than the cheaper ABS keycaps on the Keychron C1.

We tested the Keychron C1 Pro with Keychron K Pro Red switches which are quiet and unlikely to bother anyone around you. These keyboards are also available with Keychron K Pro Brown switches which we expect to be a bit louder but still reasonably quiet.

These keyboards have excellent latency and provide a responsive-feeling experience for all gaming genres.

The manufacturer advertises these keyboards to work with VIA customization software. However, Keychron notes that the VIA code is still awaiting approval from GitHub, so it isn't automatically recognized. At the time of testing, Keychron has a set of workaround instructions with a downloadable JSON file on their website. We downloaded this JSON and followed these instructions but found neither the client nor the web-based VIA application worked at this time.

We plan to revisit these keyboards and retest with VIA once it's clear that it works for most people. If you have a keyboard in this series and can use VIA, we'd love to hear from you in the Discussions below.

These keyboards are fully compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux. Like with other Keychron keyboards, these keyboards have a toggle on the back that switches between Windows and macOS modes. The macOS mode is also intended for Linux. The brightness hotkey combinations (FN+F1, FN+F2) do nothing on Linux. There are also Windows-specific replacement keycaps included in the box to replace the default Mac-specific keycaps if you wish.

These keyboards are wired-only models that you can't connect wirelessly to mobile devices. These keyboards come with a USB-C to USB-C cable, so you can technically connect them to mobile devices with a USB-C port.