GMMK Pro Modular Mechanical Keyboard

Hard to go wrong with Aula or Keychron if you're just getting into mechanical keyboards. Those two seem to come up pretty often whenever people ask about the best cheap mechanical keyboards. I've seen plenty of people stick with them for years without feeling the need to upgrade right away.

I’m looking into getting my first mechanical keyboard, and I’d love to get some recommendations from people who know more about them than I do. I’ve been doing research to learn as much as I can about mechanical keyboards, but feel as though I’ve only scratched the surface. I’ll start by describing what I’m looking for in a keyboard. For starters, I plan on using it exclusively for typing - not gaming - and I’d prefer a thocky sound profile with a tactile feel. I’d have no problem with swapping out the switches and/or keycaps to customize the sound and feel if need be. In fact I’ll likely swap these out no matter what, which also means that I wouldn’t mind getting a barebones keyboard. The most important features to me are that it must be 100% size (or close to it), must have a rotary knob, must have full RGB lighting, and must be wireless. I would also like one with a metal casing, but this is something I’d be willing to sacrifice if necessary to keep the cost as low as possible. I’ve also seen some keyboards with a small display, which I would appreciate, but it’s not a must. As for my budget, I’m willing to spend a moderate amount but would like to keep it as affordable as possible. Ideally I’d like to keep the cost under $300 CAD, \*after\* taxes, shipping, and import fees (I live in Canada and many of the keyboards I’ve found that suit my criteria would be subject to import fees). That said, I’d be willing to go slightly over budget for the right keyboard. Next I’ll describe the three keyboards I’ve found that I like the most, and what’s stopping me from buying them: 1. Dry studio ATM98 - I absolutely love the look of this keyboard, especially the giant glowing rotary knob. The main problem for me is that I’d have to import it to Canada, which would put the cost at about \~$430 CAD after taxes, shipping, and import fees. 2. Glorious GMMK 3 - this keyboard also has everything I’m looking for, but I’d run into a similar problem as the ATM98 regarding the total cost after importing it to Canada. I’ve found some Canadian retailers selling versions of this keyboard, but none that are currently selling the version I’d be looking for. 3. Royal Kludge S98 - this is by far the most budget friendly option I’ve found, but also my least favourite of the three. It technically has all the main features I’m looking for - including a small display next to the rotary knob which is nice - but it doesn’t excite me as much as the other two. It feels like a compromise, but one that I might be willing to make. I’m very curious what this community might think about this option, as I’ll be basing the decision largely on the opinions of those more experienced and knowledgeable than myself. I’m curious what everyone thinks of the three options I’ve listed above. Do you think that either the ATM98 or the GMMK 3 would be worth going over budget for? Or do you think the RK S98 is a decent budget-friendly compromise? More importantly, does anyone know of any other keyboards that might work well as an intermediate option? Something that’s not quite as expensive as the ATM98 or the GMMK 3 but not as much of a compromise as the RK S98? Any and all advice would be extremely welcome and appreciated!

I have been looking around at II'm trying to find a good case. it seems to be that aluminium is the best quality and most durable. What sort of thing do you think would be best hat isn't extortionately priced. There are obviously ones on the market for wild amount of money but to be completely honest im not really looking to spend more than £100 ($135) on the case alone. I was looking at GLORIOUS Gaming GMMK PRO 75% Barebones as seems solid and its on offer so perhaps higher price range but for a better price at the moment. Is heavy typically a bad thing for the case iteslf or a good thing. I'm really not well versed in this stuff but I'm quite enjoying exploring. 😅

Honestly everything looks pretty good. If money isn’t an issue, I’d go 9800X3D, great performance gains over the 7800. For storage, I’d maybe ball out a little bit more. It’s always best practice in my opinion to have an OS drive(500-1000 gig ssd) then have a dedicated drive for games and other things. Will help keep your computer more organized, and it’ll boot faster too. For your keyboard, I’d recommend an enthusiast brand like Glorious or Keychron. Those two make “build your own” keyboards that allow you to hot-swap switches, and a lot of other things, no soldering required. Have a GMMK Pro right now and I love it, typing experience is great, and can swap new switches in whenever I want if my needs change. Also, what do you do for a living? Depending on what you do, Windows 11 Pro is a total waste of money unless you are using the full windows suite, there’s no performance gains or anything lol. Just a warning, 980 pros did have issues with premature wear. Depending on how long that particular drive has been sitting on the shelf, I would download Samsung Magician, and ensure it has the newest firmware update when it arrives.