Keychron's exotic keyboard material has led it to wood, resin, ceramic, and even concrete gaming keyboards, but its latest stab at something unique is ironically rather tame, with the brand announcing the Carbon 60 HE 8K, a new 60% gaming keyboard built on the same architecture and basic tray-mounted design as the ceramic Q16 HE 8K, but this time with a forged carbon fiber case and even keycaps. The Keychron Carbon 60 HE 8K is officially available for purchase on Keychron's online store for $234.99.

Unlike a lot of other carbon keyboards, the Carbon 60 HE 8K actually has carbon fiber composite keycaps and a carbon fiber composite plate to match the carbon fiber case. It follows a fairly standard 60% layout, which means no num pad, no function row, no arrow keys, and no navigation cluster—although all of those functions are available in layers or can be added in Keychron Launcher. Keychron says that the carbon fiber construction is 10× more rigid than plastic, owing to its 60% carbon fiber content, and that the keyboard offers a precise, solid typing feel. Carbon fiber plates are known in the custom keyboard realm to provide a sharp, clacky typing signature, with little bounce or cushioning to speak of. The Carbon 60 HE 8K weighs in at 740 g, compared to the slightly larger, aluminium Q2 HE 8K that weighs in at 1,650 g, making the Carbon 60 HE 8K a solid candidate for a mobile gaming setup.The Carbon 60 HE 8K comes with Keychron's Ultra-Fast Lime magnetic switches pre-installed, which means the keyboard is compatible with other N-pole magnetic switches, despite Keychron's claims that it is only compatible with its own Lime switches. Internally, the Carbon 60 HE 8K is built on the same MCU and basic foundations as the Q16 HE 8K, meaning it features adjustable actuation between 0.1 mm and 3.5 mm, in increments of 0.005 mm, and it has features like 8 kHz polling, SOCD, Rapid Trigger, analog input, and dynamic keystroke. All of these can be customized in Keychron Launcher, in addition to layout, macro, and RGB backlighting customization.The carbon fiber keycaps follow the Cherry profile, instead of Keychron's usual OSA or KSA profiles found on many of its other premium gaming keyboards, and the keycaps have side-printed, non-shine-through legends, which give it a clean look from the top while still allowing you to check which keys are where when necessary. Keychron has also foregone much of the usual internal embellishments that help change the sound, instead opting only for plate foam, a bottom case foam, and a PET pad in the bottom case.