With the Keychron K2 HE, the prolific keyboard maker took on the tall task of leveling up its best-selling keyboard. Thanks to the introduction of magnetic switches, this effort proved a success, offering profound versatility when gaming and a soothing typing experience.

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Keychron K2 HE

8/ 10

The Keychron K2 HE is an iteration of the popular K2 keyboard with magnetic switches and a suite of gaming features. The special edition features rosewood side panels.

Pros

• Magnetic switches are versatile
• Great typing feel
• Many gaming features
• Three connectivity modes
• Multiple designs to choose from

Cons

• Slightly cramped layout
• Short cable
• Takes multiple key presses to wake up
• Only one switch option

$140 at Keychron

Price and Availability

The Keychron K2 HE retails for $140 for the Special Edition (available in black and white, with three ISO layouts available in black) and $130 for the Standard Version. It comes with a USB-C to USB-A cable, USB-A 2.4Ghz receiver (alongside an adapter to attach the receiver to the cable), keycap & switch puller, screwdriver, hex key, and six replacement keycaps.

Handsome Design in Multiple Flavors

While the main appeal of the Keychron K2 HE (Hall Effect) is its magnetic switches, this didn’t stop Keychron from giving the keyboard quite a makeover.

The rosewood panels flanking either side of its aluminum frame and matching Esc and Enter keys are immediately striking, showcasing a vintage flair that contrasts nicely with the modern technologies on display. If you opt for the standard version, the keyboard presents a more futuristic visage complete with shine-through keycaps. Either option gives you a handsome-looking keyboard that is differentiated by esthetics rather than functionality.

Weighing in at 2.16 pounds, the Keychron K2 HE is also easy to move around, even if I wouldn’t call it portable. It can also be propped up by two back legs based on your typing preferences. These things also work to the keyboard’s detriment, though: the keyboard jostles easily on smooth surfaces due to its weight alongside weak grips, and the legs feature sharp edges that could be a safety hazard if not handled carefully. Neither of these things negatively impacted how I used the keyboard, though corners were clearly cut there.

If you’re a fan of RGB lighting, you’ll be well-serviced by this keyboard. While there are more complex lighting patterns and customization on the market, I felt the north-facing LEDs did a convincing job of bathing the keyboard in color without exposing the switches too much. It’s definitely a better-looking implementation than most other Keychron keyboards I’ve used.

A Great but Slightly Cramped Typing Feel

The Keychron K2 HE is as compact as a tenkeyless keyboard gets without making any cuts to the 75% layout. This is to say that every key you expect is here, but they’re also slightly smaller than I’m used to cherry-profile keycaps being.

I feel two ways about this. On one hand, it’s a fair trade-off given the minimal desk real estate used. On the other, my muscle memory with larger keycaps resulted in me accidentally hitting multiple keys with one stroke. Personally, I’d have taken a slightly bigger keyboard in order to accommodate more spacious keys. It’s worth noting that I got used to this the more I used the keyboard, but if you have big hands, this might not be the pick for you. Those with smaller hands will likely love the layout, though.

What made up for the minor cramping I experienced were the magnetic switches. These provide a linear typing feel that’s smooth yet still weighted. You lose the punchy sensation of hitting a mechanical switch’s actuation point and the clack upon contacting the base, but in exchange, I felt an increased fluidity to my typing as my fingers effortlessly bounced between keys. Some of the fatigue that long sessions using mechanical keyboards can incur was all but nonexistent here.

Magnetic Switches Are a Game(play) Changer

Typing is great on magnetic switches, though their true magic lies in their gaming applications. This is why Keychron packed the Keychron K2 HE with innovative gaming features.

Because magnetic switches don’t feature a baked-in actuation point, users can instead set their own. The keyboard comes preset with a standard actuation point of 2.0mm but the Keychron Launcher web app allows you to adjust this down to the decibel (both for the entire keyboard or on a key-by-key basis). In other words, you can boost your gaming performance by tweaking when keys activate.

The other features available in the Launcher build upon this malleability. Chief among these is Snap Click, which works similar to Razer’s Snap Tap. By linking two keys together, you can immediately swap between their inputs depending on which is further depressed. This is great for actions like quickly strafing back and forth, or for quickly hitting notes in rhythm games. It works well, though I’d love the ability to link more than two buttons together.

In a similar vein, Rapid Trigger allows you to set the distance after which a released key can be triggered again. This effectively means you can tap a depressed key to continuously trigger an in-game action, unlike mechanical triggers which require raising it above the actuation point every time. I found it to be a particular boon for any games that required me to spam a key, something which can otherwise be physically exhausting and could potentially damage a keyboard.

Dynamic Keystrokes allow you to set a macro of up to four key presses based on how depressed or raised a key is. For example, pressing past the actuation point could trigger the “A” button, pressing it all the way down could trigger “D,” raising triggers “W,” and going past the actuation point once more triggers “F.” These inputs repeat endlessly and Keychron showcases the feature as being a good movement tool. I didn’t personally find much use for this in any game I tested, as it can be hard to gauge presses without a tactile actuation point, but in the correct situation and with some practice, there’s a lot of potential here.

Last among this feature set is the ability for the magnetic switches to simulate the sticks and triggers of a gamepad. How far you press a key is directly correlated to how far you’d push a stick or trigger, with multiple measured presses indicating different stick positions beyond what a keyboard can typically recreate. I’d largely consider this novel as using an actual gamepad will typically do you better, though I did have some success mapping WASD to left stick inputs in one profile for slightly smoother character motion in some games. This does override the normal key functions unless you set both to operate simultaneously.

While I do think there’s merit to the tactile feel of mechanical switches when gaming, I walked away particularly impressed with what magnetic switches have to offer. The switches and features showcase a vision for the future of PC gaming that other products in this category rarely do. A lot of this has practical application as long as you’re willing to learn a bit of new muscle memory and mildly tinker with settings.

Three Modes of Connectivity

The three modes of connectivity you’d find in most wireless keyboards—including all of Keychron’s—are all present. 2.4GHz wireless with a 1,000Hz polling rate and Bluetooth that can hot-swap between three devices works seamlessly, sans occasional difficulty waking up the computer without mashing keys or flipping switches. You can also toggle between Windows and Mac layouts using a switch along the side of the keyboard.

Wired mode is a bit of a mixed bag for one simple reason, though: the roughly 4-foot cable is just too short. Other Keychron keyboards I’ve used have come with longer cords that left plenty of slack, yet this one barely reached from the top of my computer to my keyboard. I like the attention to detail of putting the USB-C connector facing sideways so that it doesn’t jut out from the side when plugged in, but I’d have taken a standard-issue cord instead if it meant more length. You’ll definitely want to take this into account when purchasing.

Should You Buy the Keychron K2 HE?

If you’re looking for a new approach to PC gaming, the Keychron K2 HE might be the antidote you’re looking for. Magnetic switches offer a level of customization and versatility that mechanical switches simply aren’t capable of. This typically pans out in ways that actively improve your gameplay, be it through rapid triggers, keystroke prioritization, or niche options like gamepad emulation. Plus, it helps that the keyboard feels great to type on and is quite a looker!

My main caution is that people with big hands are probably going to find this keyboard a little small for their liking. In this case, you may instead want to check out the Keychron Q1 HE which provides the magnetic switch experience with a more spread-out tenkeyless layout.

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Keychron K2 HE

8/ 10

The Keychron K2 HE is an iteration of the popular K2 keyboard with magnetic switches and a suite of gaming features. The special edition features rosewood side panels.

$140 at Keychron