GMMK PRO/ MECHANICL KEYBOARD

Technical Description

Germaine Gray

City College Of New York

            In January 2020, an unprepared virus presented itself in the United States of America, changed the average American way of life and forced the world into a virtual model. With a need for a computer and its’ accessories increase and the catchphrase “Quality Over Quantity” plays an important role in the scene of living in this period.  A keyboard is one of the most important accessories for a computer and has evolved from the QWERTY, the standard layout on English-language keyboards. Now there are Twelve different types of keyboards. If you do not know what a keyboard is well, it is a device that allows a person to input text into a computer such as an alphabet, numbers, and special symbols, it is a board full of buttons, and that button has a response which is a program to your needs or wants. The number one keyboard to get the best typing experience are the mechanical keyboard. We will be going over the GMMK pro, an ultra-premium, gasket-mounted 75% layout keyboard built for enthusiasts, gamers, and professionals to give us a better understanding of a mechanical keyboard.

           A mechanical keyboard is a keyboard built with a spring that activates key switches to give a response. Switches make a keyboard do what a keyboard is meant to do; they activate a small current that sends a “signal” to your computer, telling it what you want to do. There are three types of switches; click switches, tactile switches, and linear switches. The click switches are the loudest of the three uses the sense of hearing makes that ‘click’ noise because the noise notified that the input was entered. The tactile switch uses the sense of feeling the force to notify you that the input was entered. The last one is that the linear switch is a mechanical switch that feels like a membrane-based key, a preference base.  These are just the begging switches that have minor changes based on brands and color, which the company uses to display based on the material used and separate their premium switches.

           The switches have pins on the bottom to connect them to the Printed Circuit Board (PCB). There are two types of pin layouts a five-pin and a three-pin. In this case, the GMMK pro uses a five-pin Printed Circuit Board. The difference is the five-pin has two plastic pins on the sides that provide stability; besides that, two metal pins allow the switch to work and a middle circular knob to connect it to the Printed Circuit Board. The Printed Circuit Board is the board that reads the input through circuits and sends it to the computer like a real middle person. You can customize it through sawdering, where you will change the input results.

           On top of having a five-pin Printed Circuit Board for there are stabilizers next to the switches. Stabilizers are used to keep the longer keycaps from wobbling around while you are typing. You can purchase three stabilizer sizes: 7u, 6.25u, and 2u, and the stabilizers follow the same measuring system as keycaps, where 1u = the width of one keycap. The longer keys, such as the shift keys, backspace, enter/return key, have a 2U size stabilizer, and the spacebar key stabilizer has a 6.25 U. sometimes, these may change due to brands, but for the GMMK pro, it follows the general law.

If you have noticed there is a major feature to this Keyboard besides keys, they

include a rotary encoder, also known as a dial. A rotary Encoder is commonly used for volume, but the cool thing is that it is reprogrammable. There are four rotary encoder types: A Mechanical Absolute Rotary Encoders, Optical Absolute Rotary Encoders, Magnetic Absolute Encoders, and Incremental Encoder. In this case, we are using the magnetic absolute encoder Magnetic which is just a magnetic dial.

This keyboard’s size is 75%, which means no number pad and the place the arrow keys and home cluster right next to each other and align the home cluster vertically to save space. This allows for everything to be packed in tight and have everything to your needs. The case is a CNC aluminum that is amazing because they are made from a solid block giving your keyboard more rigidity, making the typing experience genuinely nice. Aluminum its flexibility and adaptability, affordable material, which is why the GMMK pro is set at a very fair price.

The last part is RGB is an additive color model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. LED(Light-emitting Diode) is a semiconductor light source that emits light when current flows through to display the RGB. RGB is a personal choice for most, and it is nice to match your lights with your setup colors.

All of these are customizable because, again, it is your keyboard, and the goal is to have it as comfortable as possible. So, the idea of having your style gives you unlimited options and is an exhilarating experience coming from a well-recognized company. Hopefully, there is more clarity on how such an essential accessory for our daily life in this virtual world works.

Image Citation

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(n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2021, from https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0549/2681/t/164/assets/glorious_gaming_gmmk_pro_gaming_keyboard_3_1728x.png?v=4320301024270950478

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