by 
The KeyChron Q11 QMK is the world’s first split keyboard with the soul of a regular keyboard, showcasing a unique design that feels like someone has cut your existing keyboard with a chainsaw. The Q11 QMK’s left and right units are designed with two halves that look like they have been manually separated and can be used independently or together by connecting with the jumper cable. The dividing line running through them is by far the most alluring thing about the device. The jagged nature of the line makes you want to snap the two halves together to complete the keyboard, and even the “Q11” name is a clever way of telling people it’s the split version of the company’s Q1 keyboard !
Designer: Keychron
Equipped with a beefy CNC machined aluminum body, wonderfully reliable Gateron G Pro switches and a 75% layout, the Keychron Q11 QMK is a work of art both visually and functionally. All buttons are hot-swappable, a switch on the back lets you switch between Windows and macOS layouts, and the top left and right encoder knobs can be assigned to a range of functions or macros, from scrolling to volume control to zooming in /out, adjusting screen brightness, or a host of other activities.
The unique split keyboard design allows you to position and align your two separate boards wherever you want for a more comfortable typing experience. I wish there was a way to magnetically snap them together in a way that felt satisfyingly tactile, but that’s just my brain looking for a shape.
The keyboard’s metal body is machined from 6063 aluminum that’s CNC machined, polished, anodized, sandblasted, and goes through 24 more stages of manufacturing, resulting in something as flawless and beautiful as the Q11. It’s then outfitted with Gateron G Pro switches and south-facing LEDs, and is finally topped off with double-shot OSA PBT keycaps that remain hot-swappable. Under the hood is a high-performance, ultra-low-power ARM architecture microcontroller unit equipped with 128K flash and a 1000Hz polling rate that rivals most responsive gaming keyboards.
As the name suggests, the Keychron Q11 QMK also comes with QMK/VIA support, giving you the freedom to easily program and remap every key on the keyboard. The open source firmware offers endless possibilities for keyboard layouts, shortcuts, backlight effects, even the rotary dial and more.
Though most variants are sold out at the time of writing, the Keychron Q11 QMK split keyboard retails for $205 and comes fully assembled with Gateron G Pro Red or Brown switches. Designed for out-of-the-box compatibility with Windows, macOS, and Linux computers, the keyboard comes with a power cord, an adapter, the bridge cable, and switch and keycap pullers for hot-swapping your keys.
