Glorious GMMK Mechanical Keyboard Review: So Dang Clean!
Purchase Price: $79.99
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For years now, I’ve felt that the Glorious brand of gaming products hasn’t gotten the mainstream recognition that they deserved. Not only is the name and logo of the brand brilliant, they’ve offered some really sleek looking products under the radar for relatively affordable prices. This full sized GMMK mechanical keyboard had been in my Amazon cart for awhile before I finally pulled the trigger on it earlier this year. At $79.99, the GMMK offers a lot of attractive value that can fit in with a wide assortment of mechanical keyboard users out there. It also looks so dang clean!
Build Quality
The most interesting thing that drew me to this product is the simplistic look of the board. There’s absolutely no branding on the faceplate or frame of the keyboard.
Immediately, this keyboard gives off a solid build vibe. Literally! The keyboard has an aluminum plate that houses the ABS keycaps. It isn’t an extraordinarily premium material, but it does feel a step above the plastic bodies that populate a lot of this segment of the market. I also like the look of the shimmery metal chamfered edges of the frame as it gives the keyboard a distinct industrial look. Glorious sells this board in a black color scheme too, but I really like this silver aluminum with white keycap combo. White colored boards are pretty popular right now, but this one still somehow manages to stand out. The rear is plastic and it houses the key removing tool in the body. That’s pretty neat as I haven’t owned a board that keeps its own tool stored within the body. The GMMK only has one adjustable angle for the feet to prop up. Luckily for me, that particular angle is pretty comfortable to type on.
The most interesting thing that drew me to this product is the simplistic look of the board. There’s absolutely no branding on the faceplate or frame of the keyboard. The Glorious name only appears on the plastic bottom plate. That makes this keyboard standout even more. I know that sounds like it should be the opposite, but I love when a product is easy on the eyes. There’s no unnecessary real estate that is wasted on this board. It fits onto any desk in any room. That’s a major benefit in my opinion.
I do also like how the keys feel when my fingertips brush against the caps. There’s a sense of premium comfort here that I appreciate typing on. It doesn’t feel cheap at all in the typing department. Gateron Brown Tactile switches are the only option available for this configuration. Even if it isn’t your preferred switch, it’s still a pleasant offering nonetheless. The clicking sound emitting from the GMMK is more on the hollow side than one with significant substance underneath it. The noise is also very subtle to the point where you might not even hear it after some time as it just blends into your surroundings. Regardless if you like the quietness of these switches, this board is hot swappable. Glorious claims this is the world’s first mechanical keyboard to support Cherry, Gateron, and Kailh hot-swapping.
Performance
There’s also a good amount of travel upon input. I got the sense that this keyboard has a lot of traditional gaming heritage embedded into its DNA. The ABS Doubleshot keycaps give off a smooth operating feeling for gaming and typing. I also like the font choice that Glorious chose to use here. It’s thin and easy to read. There is definitely quality there. This model is a full sized keyboard with 104 keys. There’s no reinventing the wheel as Glorious has implemented a straight out classic full sized keyboard layout. It’s spaced perfectly for typing, and especially so for numpad use. I just jumped right in and it was like I was home. There was no adjustment period needed here.
Since Glorious does aim to please the gaming segment of the market, this board has extensive RGB backlighting features as well as standardized features like N-Key Rollover and 100% Anti-Ghosting. The RGB emits through the letters on the keycaps which I always appreciate when using a keyboard as my daily driver. Glorious says there are 16.8 million RGB colors. I’m not sure what they mean, but what I do know is that the onboard circuit of RGB patterns and color configurations are pretty standard to what we get on gaming keyboards nowadays. It gets modestly bright when in a dark room and overall I do like how the RGB looks coming off this board.
There’s downloadable software to control RGB functions, but like many of these gaming keyboard brands, I personally don’t like relying on the software for programming. They accomplish enough of what they advertise to be a benefit to some buyers, but to many others, they become nuisances more than assets over time. I don’t have an enjoyable time customizing with these keyboard apps and it is the same feelin here. The on-board RGB capabilities here are adequate and I find the GMMK’s built-in RGB to be more than suitable for gaming street cred.
Worth It?
My only gripe about the GMMK is more of a nit-pick than a major con. Glorious uses an attached braided USB-A cable with the GMMK. You can’t remove it to use your own aviator cable. The cable also has an attached USB-A cover cap that stays mounted onto the cable when you plug it into a slot. My cable rests on top of my desk as I use a switcher for my ports. I prefer using my coiled aviator cable with my mechanical boards. For a board that is near the $100 range, I would have liked to see a USB-C port as the cable choice over what they provided here. It’s not the end of the world, but for such a minimalistic mechanical keyboard, not having an attached cable would have fit right into the energy this board was giving off.
I do like the Glorious GMMK mechanical keyboard a whole lot. It’s a simple board that provides a solid typing and gaming experience. Thanks to a timeless white and silver appearance that has no branding on it, the GMMK is a chameleon that blends into any workplace or home. When you add in the versatile hot swapping capabilities that Glorious allows the user to customize with this board, then the GMMK looks exceedingly attractive no matter what kind of gaming keyboard you may be interested in. It covers a lot of ground for a good price. I’m impressed and definitely will be keeping this board near me for the foreseeable future.
Alex
Caught in between the conundrum of his fascination with retro and the future, Alex has a very unique taste in technology. Never one to follow trends like his millennial peers yet constantly desiring to get ahead of the curve, he sees technology like he does his other love: comic books. Always looking for the best value or a hidden gem, his collector mindset reflects on some of his favorite gadgets: the Moto X (2015), HTC U11 and the Google Pixelbook. If there’s a good tech deal out there, Alex is on the hunt!