Glorious PC Gaming Race Modular Mechanical RGB Keyboard TKL/Tenkeyless

Product Information

The included keycaps feel great and high quality, but the font on them isn’t really my kind of thing. Some letters or symbols seemed like they’re missing parts and the overall font choice isn’t something I’d go for, but that’s a personal thing of course. The keys sit right next to the edge of the keyboard, with little to no room spared for any wasted space. The keyboard itself is finished with a polished chrome strip all around the edge, which elevates the premium, classy look of the keyboard even more. The GMMK connects to your system via a detachable Micro-USB cable, which is always an applauded design decision in my book, as detachable cables make a keyboard way more portable and mobile. We've added a link to the newly-reviewed Epomaker TH80 Pro in the Wireless Versatility section of this review. On the bottom of the keyboard itself you’ll find the keycap puller. Included keycap pullers are always nice, and the keycap puller holder is a simple but very effective and much appreciated inclusion. You’ll never be stranded without a puller with this keyboard. Build Quality and Features

Glorious Gmmk Tkl Aura Keycaps Case Side (Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore) You should buy this if ... At the surface the GMMK is ‘just’ a really solidly built and reliable keyboard, with a sleek and non-intrusive design, but the fact that they’ve added the modular aspect to it elevates the keyboard to a higher level, in my opinion.Buy the GMMK and two sets of switches and you essentially have two completely different keyboards at a fraction of the cost of two actualkeyboards. Switching up the switches really is as easy as one-two-three as well, so you don’t have to be a tech expert to change it up. We've added a link to the newly reviewed Keychron Q Pro Series in the Wireless Versatility section of this review. There are also no dedicated media controls, other than through the function keys, but there's really no need for swanky greebles here. Minimal to the max means the quality is left to speak for itself. The GMMK also comes in a Barebone Edition, so you can install your own switches and keycaps and change them out at any time. The prebuilt version is also hot-swappable, so you are not just limited to Gateron Browns.

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We identified a testing issue with this keyboard wherein we didn't properly filter out the end point of our data set before calculating the averages to produce our Latency results. We've now recalculated the Single Key Latency and Multi-Key Latency scores with the endpoint properly filtered out, and both scores have lowered slightly. Despite coming from a company all about PC gaming peripherals, the GMMK has a fairly minimalistic design that doesn't scream "gamer keyboard" like other brands coughRazercough. The minimalistic design and colorway of the GMMK also mean it looks good with a wide variety of keycap sets. You should not buy this if ...

Thankfully the GMMK makes up for the baseline software with a couple of redeeming functionality features. For example, the n-key rollover (NKRO) means it registers every keystroke no matter how many are pressed at once, and the variable polling rate (report rate) might excite some users who feel the need to tune-up how often the board reports info to the CPU. I'm still skeptical as to whether the ability to change it really makes a difference, though. The GMMK is a very cleanproduct.The only thing that gives away that it’s a gaming keyboard is the fact that the standard escape key is replaced with a ‘launch the nukes’ style key which says ‘ascend,’ but aside from that it’s a very sleek and professional looking keyboard, with absolutely no branding anywhere (except on the bottom side of the board).

We've added links to the newly-reviewed NuPhy Halo96 [Halo65, Halo75] in the Typing Noise section of this review. The people over at Glorious have set out on a difficult mission; they aim to ‘ create unique gaming accessories, engineered for premium quality and elite-level performance, sold at everyman prices.‘ That’s a bold statement, but I really do feel like they’re on the right path with the GMMK series. In case you’re wondering: the Gateron Browns are easily as good as their Cherry counterparts; I’d even dare to say that the Gaterons feel a bit smoother and have a slightly more noticeable bump, but that could just be me. Retested the keyboard with the latest firmware version (v0045) to measure the impact on latency. There were no changes to latency results.

The only real letdown of this keyboard is the fact that the RGB lighting isn’t up to par with its peers, but that’s not really something that concerns me personally. There’s also no USB passthrough port on either model, in case that’s something that floats your boat. Overall, the GMMK is a great mechanical keyboard for beginners, whether you want something prebuilt or fully customized from the get-go. The GMMK is a great starting point for those who want to get into mechanical keyboards. It has three different sizes, and the prebuilt version comes with Gateron Browns, which are a great beginner switch. Even the software is no nonsense, which is really the theme Glorious went for with this model. And, although you're limited to just 3 customisable profiles, these can be imported and exported. Macros are there and are easy to record, but assigning them wasn't as intuitive as I'd have liked—it took me a moment to figure out how to assign them. Most of my mechanical keyboard experience so far has been with Keychron. However, as I'm venturing out, I appreciate Glorious' GMMK because it's a great mechanical keyboard to start with for many people. It's pretty affordable compared to what else is out there, and the GMMK has solid build quality.While I've reviewed several Keychron mechanical keyboards here already (the K2V2, K1V4, K4V2, and K3), I think it's time to venture out to some other mechanical keyboard brands out there. One such brand is Glorious PC Gaming Race, aka Glorious. But don't be fooled by the name — the mechanical keyboards from Glorious are still compatible with Mac, as any keyboard is technically plug-and-play compatible. But if you want to remap and program macros and change the RGB lighting and stuff, you'll need a PC since the software is not available for macOS. In this review, I'll just be reviewing the physical keyboard performance. The GMMK comes in two versions: tenkeyless (TKL) and a full sized version. I tested the TKL which, to me, is the ideal middle ground between compact sizing and still having a bunch of features, but that’s obviously going to be a personal thing. I would have liked to see a USB passthrough port, however. It’s not a must per se, definitely not on a TKL model, but the full sized version also doesn’t have it as far as I can tell, and that’s a small downside in my opinion. Glorious GMMK TKL Review – Conclusion The software for the GMMK is only available for Windows, so if you want to reprogram any keys on the GMMK, make sure to have a PC around. Also, the GMMK has no wireless functionality, so you'll always need to have it plugged in when using it. The typing experience is solid, it’s got a high quality detachable cable, and the raised keys are a major plus for me. Little extra things such as the keycap puller holder also serve to show that Glorious paid attention when they were designing this board.