Obviously, what sets the Keychron Q16 HE apart from regular aluminium chassis keyboards is the ceramic case materials, which Keychron claims is more durable than aluminium in general. Keychron says the case and keycaps are both made of glazed, kiln-fired ceramic, which also gives the keyboard a very shiny finish and smooth texture that hopefully won’t wear off, like the texture on even the best HE keyboards does. 

The Magnetic Lime switches are interesting from a design perspective, as well, and the closed-bottom design should do a lot to improve the sound profile of the Q16 HE. The design is very reminiscent of the Gateron Magnetic Jade Gaming switches (curr. $57.99 for 70 switches on Amazon), in that the Lime switches have a box-shaped stem that is meant to reduce stem wobble, which is directly linked to sensing accuracy for Hall effect and TMR sensors. 

As is the case with most Keychron keyboards, like the Keychron K4 HE we reviewed recently, the Q16 HE is fully customisable and remappable using the Keychron Launcher browser-based software. There, you can customise actuation distance, backlighting, and the aforementioned analogue input features.