Nocfree & Wireless Split Keyboard: Unboxing and First Look

Split wireless keyboard unboxing: Nocfree & arrives with clever design details and one obvious challenge - it weighs almost as much as a laptop.

Eight months after backing it on Kickstarter, the Nocfree & wireless split keyboard finally arrived. Nocfree has a track record here. Their first product, the Nocfree Lite, earned its reputation, and the & is the next evolution of that line. It arrives with good bones and one obvious problem: it weighs almost as much as a laptop.

It arrived in a branded packing box, and the keyboard and its accessories sat in a very large carrying case. Normally, you need to order the carrying case for an additional fee, but this came with the early Kickstarter support.

It's a hard-sided fabric case with a zipper, measuring 42×18×9 cm (16.5×7.1×3.5 in). Given how large it is, it will not fit into a backpack, and carrying it around on public transport is a no-go. It's too big to be practical for commuting, unless you drive, so I suspect the case will primarily be good for storing the accessories. I'm already on the lookout for a case which is smaller and would offer some protection while I take it to work in my backpack. It's a pity - the intentions were good, but the execution hit the wrong bar.

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The case has two sections. The top part stores all of the accessories, while the bottom part has the keyboard secured underneath.

The accessories include two USB A to C cables to charge both sides of the keyboard, a keycap/switch puller, some additional keycaps, and five spare switches.

The switches are Nocfree's own developed linear switch. The additional keycaps are basically Windows keys, so you can swap out the Command (⌘) button for the "Win" key for example, or swap out option for Alt. It also comes with three orange keycaps - two blank, one with a "&" on it. Given I bought the silver colour version, the orange keycaps are a welcome addition to bring some more colour to a muted colour scheme.

The keyboard is packed in plastic wrap, and nestles perfectly inside the case. The case does a good job at keeping it secure.

Taking it out for the first time, the keyboard feels solid in the hand. It is also heavy. It's easy to see specs listing it as ~1kg (2.2 lbs), but when holding it, the unit is hefty - almost as heavy as a laptop, and I suspect I will feel it when in a backpack. The other options that I review are all lighter - the Keychron K11 Max is only around 500g for example. As context, a typical 14" corporate laptop is about 1.4 kg (3.1 lbs). I'll continue to assess whether the Nocfree &'s advantages allow us to overlook its weight.

The keys are well padded - I've had linear switch keyboards without padding which just gives a thunk when I press the key, feeling as if I've just hit metal. It's not the most comfortable feeling. The Nocfree & feels good though. It has good tactile response for a linear switch, and while quiet, still produces a decent, muted sound - great for the office.

While it supports Bluetooth with up to three devices, they've also cleverly hidden a USB-A dongle underneath the "&" on the right side of the keyboard. I love it when designers make clever design choices like this. I think you can swap it out with other "&" pieces in different colours, although I'm not sure if Nocfree are going to sell them separately.

The comfort is genuine, and the clever details - the hidden dongle, the acoustic padding, the orange keycaps against silver - suggest a team that thought carefully about the product. The weight is the open question. At around 1kg, it's twice what comparable options like the Keychron K11 Max carry, and I'll feel that in a backpack. The next 2-3 months of daily use will settle whether the Nocfree &'s advantages make that a reasonable trade.