Keychron Q12 Max Southpaw review: A customizable keyboard for the lefties

As Tom’s Guide reviews team’s resident leftie, it fell upon me to review the Keychron Q12 Max Southpaw. As a southpaw keyboard, the Q12 Max is intended to be ambidextrous, but suit left-handed users who would like to use their primary hand to punch a number pad. Keychron consistently makes some of the best mechanical keyboards, so how does the Q12 Max Southpaw hold up?

The open-source QMK firmware, double-gasket design, full-metal construction and PBT keycaps make for a highly functional mechanical keyboard with a satisfying typing experience. On top of its productivity prowess, the Q12 Max also looks and sounds delightful, with RGB panels and acoustic foam that elevates the sensory typing experience.

This premium performance doesn’t come cheap, though — the Q12 Max is an eye-watering $199/£193. Could it be worth the high price, though? Find out in this Keychron Q12 Max Southpaw keyboard review.

Keychron Q12 Max review: Cheat sheet

• Who is it for? Those needing a southpaw keyboard
• What does it cost? From $199 / £193 up to $219
• What’s good? The typing experience is really nice, and it looks sick
• What are its weaknesses? The price might put some people off

Keychron Q12 Max review: Specs

Keychron Q12 Max review: The ups

There’s a lot to like about this keyboard: the typing feel, the RGB lighting and the concave keycaps. Although it presents a little learning curve if coming from a membrane or low-profile keyboard, it’s worth persevering.

Typing feel

If you’re coming from a membrane or low-profile keyboard background — perhaps on a basic work-provided keyboard, a laptop keyboard or something like an Apple Magic Keyboard — opening the Q12 Max might feel a little daunting. You might need to adjust to the high-profile KSA keycaps, which are also found on the Keychron Q1 Pro. Adapting your typing to make room for the high-profile keycaps can cause a lot of “thijs” and “thgat.” It’s worth persevering, though.

Once I was adjusted to the high KSA profile keycaps, I found them comfortable and easy to type on. The sculpted KSA keycaps enabled me to float across the board like a maglev. The Q12 Max also ships with both Mac and Windows keycaps and has modes for both OS’, so you can tailor the board depending on your setup.

Keychron offers the Q12 Max with Gateron Jupiter switches in either red linear or yellow/brown tactile guise. My testing specimen had red linear switches, which have a moderately heavy 45g actuation force, but still feel snappy and responsive, which was great for typing and is suitable for casual gaming. As linear switches, they also have a buttery smooth feel, which I prefer to the tactile bump you’ll get from the yellow or brown switches.

Above you can see the results of my typing test on 10fastfingers.com. My speed on the Q12 is a little slower than other boards, primarily because I’m faster on low profile keycaps, but my speeds weren’t much below average and my accuracy was way up versus my daily driver, the Keychron B1 Pro, thanks to the ergonomic sculpted KSA keycap profile.

The Q12 Max also features a double gasket mounted PCB and plenty of impact damping inside, resulting in a cushioned feel when typing. It also features screw-in stabilizers to keep larger keys free from wobble.

Looks and sounds like a dream

Thanks to the double-gasket mount and layers of acoustic foam, the Q12 Max Southpaw sounds as good as it feels. It also utilizes a polycarbonate plate, resulting in a pleasing clacky sound and no metallic pings as the heavy KSA doubleshot PBT keycaps hit the plate, as you’ll find with boards like the Keychron Q6 and Keychron Q3 Max. I was able to type away in my quiet office without disturbing anyone, but it’s also loud enough to satisfy if you enjoy typing sounds. If you’d like a thockier sound, go for the Gateron Jupiter Banana switches.

On top of the glorious sound, the all-metal aluminum case makes for a gorgeous board. The RGB panel (when set to its highest brightness) is mesmerizing. The PBT keycaps are oil-resistant, too, meaning your hands won’t make them greasy or wear them to a shine over time.

Highly customizable

The Keychron Q12 Max is fully hot-swappable. Customers can choose from three Gateron Jupiter switches at checkout: red (linear), banana (tactile) and brown (tactile). As touched on above, my sample board came with red (linear) switches, but if you prefer the tactile bump, clicky switches or a different sound, you can swap to your favorite three- or five-pin switches without needing to do any soldering.

The Q12 Max comes with a keycap and switch puller and all the tools you need to take it apart and customize it.

QMK Firmware

There’s a vast range of software customization options with the Q12 Max Southpaw. With the browser application Keychron Launcher, you have access to the QMK firmware that enables you to customize keys and profiles.

You can customize the board to your liking and create separate profiles for separate needs like gaming, productivity or anything in between. This is a common feature on Keychron’s vast range of boards, so relatively expected at this point, but it’s still fun to play with.

Keychron Q12 Max review: the downs

Although I like a lot about the Q12 Max Southpaw, it’s not a completely perfect board. I doubt the ‘left-handed’ label, and it’s a little pricey.

More southpaw than left-handed

This isn’t necessarily a con or a complaint, merely a statement. Although Keychron advertises the Q12 Max as a “left-handed” keyboard, I’d like to cast some doubts on that claim. Yes, the number pad is on the left side of the board rather than the right. But I don’t think that inherently means it’s a left-handed keyboard.

If I’m using the keyboard with my mouse (as one does), then it makes more sense for me, a left-handed person, to use the number pad with my right hand while controlling the mouse with my left.

This will obviously depend on user preference, but it kind of feels like this board is better geared towards right-handed people! Do you move the mouse with your right hand, and want to input numbers simultaneously? Then a southpaw board is for you. But do you use the mouse with your left hand, and want to input numbers with your right? Then conversely, a standard layout may better suit your needs.

Pricey

As tends to be the case with Keychron’s all-metal boards, the Q12 Max’s premium build and features come with a premium price to boot. The barebones option will set you back $199 and the fully-built version $219.

You can get a great productivity keyboard for a considerably lower price: if you want a full-size board, the Redragon K686 Pro SE is just $74, while the Epomaker RT100 will set you back a mere $115, and the NuPhy Halo96 V2 will cost you only $159. Those keyboards, while great, won’t bring you the same quality as the Q12 Max, but there are plenty of equally well-built boards from Keychron itself that are cheaper. The Keychron K2 HE is just $130, and that’s one of the best decks around, while the Keychron V6 starts at just $89 and is available in a Max wired variant.

Keychron Q12 Max review: Verdict

For those requiring a full-size southpaw keyboard, there might be no better option than the Keychron Q12 Max. If you’re willing to spend the money, that is. This mechanical keyboard is delightfully customizable through the QMK firmware and hot-swappable, meaning you can tailor it to your specific needs.

The typing sensation is satisfying to the touch and satisfying to the ears. But perhaps where the Q12 Max excels is its beauty: the all-metal construction is a thing to behold, especially when the RGB is set to the highest brightness. I found myself simply staring at the board during testing. The only question is: is the $200 price tag a little too steep? Yes, but it’s high-quality build and pleasing typing experience make up for that price. Plus, it is gorgeous.