Keychron - page 3

If there’s one thing Apple displays are known for, it’s high prices. OK — all joking aside — if there are two things they’re known for, it’s crisp, accurate colors and being worth the price for that level of quality.

After all, those who work or play with graphics, photos, video or animation need great color.

And if you go dual-display, it helps if they’re the same model. Today’s featured Mac Studio setup, for example, corrected mismatched displays and the resulting color inconsistency by adding a second Studio Display.

Keychron started rolling out its Q series of custom mechanical keyboards about a year ago, adding to its mainstream K-series offerings. The Q lineup now includes an array of sizes and special features. But until this week it has not offered an “Alice-style,” split ergonomic board.

But now the Q8 65% Alice-style custom mechanical keyboard has arrived to soothe your aching wrists.

Not everyone has a huge desk with ample room for their computer setup and loads of associated gear. But with a few smart moves, anyone can make the most of a small desk in a cramped space.

Today’s featured setup is a good example. It takes advantage of a standing desk, displays mounted on arms and ample wall-mounted storage to maximize limited space.

And the audio gear and lighting don’t disappoint, either.

You might think you’d give your right arm for one of those stunning, 49-inch curved ultra-wide monitors to use with your Mac. But then again, you might end up begging for your appendage back, as well as your old display. Or at least something a little less colossal.

Minus the stray arm — as far as we know — that’s more-or-less what happened with today’s featured MacBook Pro-based setup.

Most of the time, when we talk about home automation, we’re talking about Apple’s HomeKit system. But today’s featured computer setup, which relies on a formidable M1 Max MacBook Pro and dual displays, goes another route.

The homeowner runs a Raspberry Pi with open-source software to achieve about 50 automations, including Siri integration.

Following launches of other interesting mechanical keyboards in its customizable Q series, Keychron recently made the Q5 available.

The “almost full-size,” 96% layout custom mechanical Mac keyboard features an aluminum build, RGB backlighting, Gateron G Pro switches and more.

We see plenty of paired HomePod minis in our travels online among computer setups, but not many stereo twosomes of the OG HomePods, the big ones Apple discontinued that may one day return in some form.

So today’s featured M1 MacBook Air setup is not only super-clean, it rocks that killer sound system and boasts a pricey 5K monitor that rivals Apple’s Studio Display.

And it’s the first setup we’ve come across where someone hates on the wildly popular Logitech MX Master 3 wireless mouse.

You look at enough computer setups online and you realize people are never really done with them. There’s always something to add. It could be some gear got held up by shipping delays, or the setup’s owner got a sudden urge to try another type of input device or some other gadget. And people often take ages to tame the cable clutter.

So you rarely see people claiming a setup’s done for good. Or it’s the best it can be. Or it’s the proverbial “dream setup.”

But sometimes they say that. Today’s setup got called a “dream setup” by its proud owner. Would you agree?

“Conversion” stories are fairly common in computing, with people deciding to switch from one “ecosystem” or another. Given Apple’s recent rash of hugely popular products, a fair number of folks are switching from PC-and-Windows-based setups to Apple-centric ones.

An avid PC gamer — strike that, a former avid PC gamer — owns today’s featured setup. In it, a new M1 Pro MacBook drives a couple of big displays. And an Elgato Stream Deck and killer audio components also enter the mix.

You can have a lot of good gear in your computer setup but still feel it falls short somehow. Like with today’s featured setup, you could have a recent MacBook Pro and an Xbox Series X gaming console. You could have a sweet curved gaming monitor. You might even have a kick-ass Lego Technic McLaren Formula 1 Race Car mounted on the wall.

But do you have stellar audio or just OK audio? That’s the issue our setup’s owner faces.

Some computer setups just say “slick.” They declare, in their perfection, “I might actually be staged.” They suggest, without a trace of shyness, much less humility, “There’s no way I look this clean all the damn time.”

Neither a speck of dust nor a stray cable to be seen.

But then again, some workstations are cleaned up with the arrival of a major new addition and made ready for the one photo where they’ll look their Sunday best. That’s likely the case with today’s featured setup, with its dark-stained woods and its lights just so. After all, it just got a brand new Mac Studio.

Who doesn’t like to have a little fun on a Friday, especially when it’s also April Fools’ Day? Not that today’s featured setup is a joke or fake in any way. It’s real. It’s serious. Not as serious as a heart attack, maybe. But it’s a working setup that likes to have a good time, let’s say.

The seriousness stems mainly from a late-model MacBook Pro and a killer ultra-wide LG display. The good time comes from the super-cool Lego Technic racing cars on the wall — two for now, with a third to come. Each one of these things has thousands of pieces.

Keychron launched its Q3 80% tenkeyless (TKL) full metal custom mechanical keyboard on Tuesday. Following sold-out initial runs of its Q1 and Q2 customizable keebs, the Q3 is a full aluminum mechanical keyboard with gasket mount design. It features hot-swappable switches, a high-grade aluminum case, QMK/VIA mapping support and more, the company said.

With Apple’s big “Peek Performance” event only just past and deliveries of newly release products in progress, we see computer setups with new Mac Studio desktops and Studio Display monitors cropping up on social media sites.

Checking in with real people and their first impressions about the gear — and their answers to others’ questions about it — can be a pretty good early look at how things are going with Apple’s latest products.

There’s nothing like taking your work outside on a nice day, especially if it’s a Friday — if you live somewhere that allows it, weather-wise. The sounds of the birds. The feel of the breeze. The smell of exhaust fumes from nearby traffic.

But sometimes it’s not about half-playing hooky while working on your tan and pretending to work. Today’s featured setup, looking quite complete and perfectly productive, was driven out of the house by renovations.

As we know from looking at lots of computer setups, having at least two monitors is popular, and so is having at least one of those in portrait mode (vertical). But what if you have dual displays and both are ultra-wide screens? Turned on end, isn’t the one in portrait mode going to be awfully tall?

Today’s featured setup provides an answer to those questions. Here the MacBook Pro-centered setup features two 34-inch displays in different orientations.

Is it reasonable to call a computer setup “budget-friendly” if it includes a new 16-inch M1 MacBook Pro? Well, is there such a thing as an Lamborghini economy car? How about a thrift-store Faberge egg? Or maybe a bargain-basement super yacht?

OK, we exaggerate slightly. You don’t have to be a billionaire to afford a nice Mac. But it helps.

Today’s featured setup makes a go of getting some “budget-friendly” cred despite its high-powered centerpiece — with mixed results.

You still rarely see a computer setup with a 3D printer in it. Today’s featured setup is an exception. You can see the printer against the wall on the left in the photo above.

Probably more workstations in the near future will have them. Why? Not only are they becoming more affordable, you can use them to make parts of the setup!

Anyone with a curious cat knows the desktop can be one of their favorite spots. Sometimes it’s like they’re trying to ensure you can’t work, as they sit or stretch out right on top of the keyboard or in front of the screen. And that’s just when you’re sitting there. Who knows what they do when you’re away. Other than dreaming up other ways to hasten your unemployment.

Lucky for you, today’s featured computer setup shows a simple method for protecting peripherals like input devices — keyboard, mouse, perhaps a trackpad — from pushy pets. And if you’ve got canines, take heart. It also works for dog slobber.

Who doesn’t love good optical illusions? And they’re especially cool when they result from an unexpected action that works as well as the expected action. Today’s featured computer setup surprised us with a floating display.

Thing is, though, the screen is not mounted on the wall. And it’s not levitating, either.

Not long ago we wrote about a person who fashioned an ergonomically healthy computer setup with little more than an M1 Pro MacBook. At the time, their fancy new display was still to-be-delivered, so they made-do without it. Now all the screens are in place and they make a magnificent workstation, with the MacBook running with one landscape-mode display and two portrait-mode monitors. It took some special connectivity tricks to make it happen.

I wrote recently about the shameful squalor of my previous “setup” — basically a borrowed PC laptop perched on a pile of junk — and my effort to build something worthwhile around a gleaming new 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook. Well, like a lot of people in the throes of building a computer setup, I found that second-guessing haunted me into buying a whole lot of alternative gear.

You know, for testing purposes. Trial and error. Not because of my apparent shopping addiction. Or not much, anyway.

From time to time, as you work on making your computer setup all it can be, you order new equipment. And maybe it takes a long time to arrive. Perhaps “supply chain” issues intervene. And if that piece of equipment is your workstation’s visual centerpiece — the magnificent display, placed just so for graphical and ergonomic bliss — then what do you do, when you have no external monitor?

Do you hunch over your laptop until your neck and your back and everything else hurts? Not necessarily.

When you see people online showing off their computer setups with dual displays, you often see side-by-side horizontal monitors (landscape mode). Sometimes you see a horizontal screen and a vertical one (portrait mode). And sometimes you see stacked displays, with one landscape-oriented monitor mounted on top of another.

Sometimes you see the stack because of space issues, where there’s simply no room to either side of the setup. Other times you see a stack when someone wants to run four or five displays. And there are cases where the user couldn’t get one monitor to work in portrait mode, so they had to have both screens in landscape mode.

In the world of computer setups, space is often at a premium. When you’ve got computers, displays, peripherals, gadgets and cables, you need some surface area. But not everyone has a big desk, much less more than one. That’s where certain types of stands and mounting arms come in handy.