Pricing and Availability
The Keychron C3 Pro is fully mechanical, 75% keyboard.
Despite being a mechanical keyboard, it retails for $36.99.
Regardless of the switches you choose, the keyboard is only available with red backlighting.
Hannah Stryker / MakeUseOf
The switches are mounted to a steel top plate, but aside from that, the build is plastic.
The keyboard includes gaskets and sound absorbing foam for a quiet typing experience.
As you may expect from the low price, this is a wired-only keyboard.
If you don’t need fancy RGB lighting or a keyboard built like a tank, the Keychron C3 Pro is the perfect budget mechanical keyboard. The feel of the keyboard is great, it works with both PCs and Macs, and it even handles gaming well.
That said, Keychron has made some smart decisions.
Youll find a key/switch puller in the box, which is handy for using with the included extra keycaps.
The C3 Pro only features red lighting, regardless of switch choice.
If you don’t need fancy RGB lighting or a keyboard built like a tank, the Keychron C3 Pro is the perfect budget mechanical keyboard. The feel of the keyboard is great, it works with both PCs and Macs, and it even handles gaming well.
That said, it is still per-key lighting, so it looks better in person than you may expect.
The keyboard features various built-in lighting effects with various patterns.
The good news is that you dont need any third-party software to switch between these.
Hannah Stryker / MakeUseOf
Instead of opting for a proprietary firmware, Keychron went with the open-source QMK firmware for the C3 Pro.
Ive used other Keychron keyboards in the past and have always liked their switches.
That said, this depends on your own preferences.
Hannah Stryker / MakeUseOf
While the C3 Pro wasnt completely silent, it has less ring than my first-generationRazer Huntsmankeyboard.
You shouldnt notice any missing keys the way you might on smaller keyboards.
Between the red keycaps and the red backlighting, it definitely has the look.
Hannah Stryker / MakeUseOf
It also provides the features to back that look up.
The keyboard features a 1000Hz polling rate for lightning-quick response times.
It also features N-Key Rollover, meaning you wont encounter any ghosting.
Hannah Stryker / MakeUseOf
The keyboard was as responsive as I could ask fornot much of a surprise considering its a wired keyboard.
Should You Buy the Keychron C3 Pro?
Adding the ability to instantly swap between Windows and macOS layouts makes it an even better value.
The single-color red lighting wont be for everyone, but this likely wont be an issue for most people.
A bigger issue is the lack of swappable switches, meaning youre limited in terms of customizability.
Considering the actual price, its a fantastic bargain.
