Very much build quality, not that much ergonomic
I recently got my hands on the QK Alice Duo, and while it's marketed as an ergonomic keyboard, I found it to be more about build quality than true ergonomics. The keyboard featured a full metal body with some impressive engineering - including a bouncy PCB design, ample foam padding, and magnetic connections between the split halves. What really stood out was the premium build quality typical of enthusiast keyboards, something rarely seen in the ergonomic keyboard space.
The Alice layout offered a slight ergonomic tilt, and the split design helped with shoulder positioning. However, compared to more dedicated ergonomic keyboards with column stagger and better thumb cluster designs, it felt more like a premium mechanical keyboard that happened to be split rather than a truly ergonomic solution. The keyboard came with some nice features like RGB lighting, magnetic palm rests, and tilt adjustment options, though configuration was limited to the basic VIA software.
It's cool to see "normal enthousiast keyboards" moving in the right direction though!
Pros
- Premium build quality with full metal construction and gasket mount design
- Satisfying typing experience with well-implemented sound dampening
- Split design helps with shoulder positioning
Cons
- Limited ergonomic benefits compared to true ergonomic keyboards
- Heavy and not very portable
- Awkward thumb cluster design with limited key options
- Requires specific keycap sets due to non-standard layout