The Akko ACR Pro Alice Plus is an excellent choice if you're looking for a budget-friendly keyboard. This keyboard features a gasket mount with plenty of case foam which is insane for this price point. In addition, it comes with hot-swap switches, which will allow you to quickly and easily change the switches to suit your preference. All this is just $99 for their barebones kit and $129 for their all-inclusive kit which includes their branded Akko switches and keycaps.
Split Keyboard Ergnomics on a Budget
Alice, also known as "Arisu," keyboards have a split down the middle with each side of the keys angled in a wing-span design. This is designed to be more ergonomic, as your wrists are normally angled out rather than completely straight. This provides a more comfortable typing position. The split in the middle also aids in ergonomics to help better touch-typing, and increase your speed and accuracy. The Alice keyboard does take some getting used to it at first especially if you’re used to touch-typing.
What are the features of the Akko ACR Pro Alice Plus?
Most Alice style keyboards on the market today are super expensive. This is where the feature set of the Akko ACR Alice really stands out. Check out this list:
- Structure: Gasket Mount
- Number of Keys: 68
- Case Material: Acrylic+CNC
- Plate: Aluminum (with a spare Polycarbonate plate)
- Gasket: Silicone Socks with Regular Silicone Gaskets
- Plate Foam: Poron
- Switch Pad: Silicone
- Case Foam: EVA Stabilizers: Akko Plate Mount Lubed Stabilizer (supports screw-in stabilizer as well)
- Hot-Swappable PCB
- Weight on the bottom fo the case
- Full kit includes switches and keycaps
This feature set is frankly amazing for the price point. Keychron released their first Alice style Q8 keyboard and all the features here are mostly the same for double the price. The gasket mount will give you a good bounce and flex while typing. There is also plenty of foam on the case, which many budget keyboards don't even come with. They include the plate foam between the PCB and the plate and the case foam between the PCB and the bottom of the case. This really helps the sound of the keyboard and really deadens any ping. The keyboard comes with two plates, aluminum and polycarbonate, so you can get the sound you want. I had trouble getting the switches to snap to the polycarbonate plate, but I just had to push a little harder to snap them on. I had no problems with the aluminum plate. The included stabs are actually not bad, they come pre-lubed and aren’t half-bad. You'll definitely not much rattling though they definitely could use a bit of fine-tuning later.
For an extra 30 bucks, the full comes with 68 Akko switches and keycaps which is an awesome deal! Personally, I went with the barebones kit since I already had some keycaps and switches lying around but many of us know switches and keycaps can be more than $30 to add on so this is a great deal. Shipping took about a week to arrive to the US and came packaged with plenty of foam in the box for transit.
The Best Value for a Split Alice Keyboard
I've been looking for a keyboard with an Alice-style key layout for a while now and I've seen many around the price range of $200+ with many landing in the $300/$400 range if you add your own keycaps and switches. When I stumbled upon the Akko ACR Alice Pro Plus, I found that their full kit was always sold out and had to keep adding my email to get notifications when they come in-stock. People have definitely caught on to this keyboard and are constantly buying it. I stumbled across their barebones kit and was able to pick one of those up to finally try it. If you're looking to try out an Alice keyboard or want to pick one up on a budget, this one is definitely it. You won't be disappointed.