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The £90/$90 GMMK Eternal is a new budget-priced mechanical gaming keyboard, designed to offer a taste of fancier custom designs in a rare "1800" layout that gives you the full set of keys in a more compact form factor. It's not a bad idea, and equipping the keyboard with multiple levels of sound dampening, full RGB backlighting and comfortable linear switches make it a good all-rounder; a faithful companion for gaming, writing, programming and so on.
Before we get into the hardware on offer, it's worth explaining the Eternal name. Peripheral maker Glorious has taken to re-releasing its classic products under this moniker, with the Model O Eternal reprising one of the first popular ultra-light mice at a much-reduced price and being followed up by a couple of gaming headsets along similar lines. The first Eternal didn't quite hit the mark - it turns out ultra-light designs have evolved considerably since they broke ground in 2019 - but I have higher hopes for this keyboard.
So - back to the GMMK Eternal. The idea is to offer all of the traditional benefits of a mechanical keyboard at a relatively low price, at least for a mainstream brand. There's customisability, with freely replaceable ABS keycaps and hot-swap switches; there's n-key rollover, meaning each key can be pressed and recognised simultaneously; and there's a better-than-membrane typing experience, with a decent amount of tactile feedback and a deep report despite being smooth linear switches.
That makes the Eternal a nice entry into mechanical keyboards as a concept, though if Glorious was entirely devoted to chasing that segment, a completely standard full-size layout might have been a better choice. At least the board is available in both US/ANSI and UK/ISO layouts, which isn't something you can say for all mechanicals.
The chassis design is also nicely nondescript, with the full RGB backlighting being the most obvious visual feature; turn that off and it looks like a standard office keyboard - albeit a little slimmer than usual. The backlighting can be controlled from the keyboard itself, and of course is useful for low-light typing as well as signifying your earnest membership in the group of PC gamers. Otherwise, the back of the keyboard has a USB-C port, and the underside has a pair of two-stage feet, with no other features or embellishments to report.
If you want to make more significant changes to the keyboard, you can use the Glorious Core software, which recently saw its big 2.1 update. You can set up three profiles, each with their own lighting, performance and key map settings. The layout is exactly what you'd expect - different Glorious devices on the left, tabs along the top for different keyboard settings - and each setting comes with a useful tooltip that explains it, which I always appreciate. As this is a mechanical keyboard, rather than an optical or magnetic one, there are no FPS-specific features like rapid trigger or SOCD, which again makes the software side easier to implement. All in all, no complaints.
In play across a range of games - Hades 2, Wardogs, Battlefield 6, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and NBA 2K27 - the keyboard worked absolutely fine, even when on its most aggressive 2ms input latency setting, and didn't seem to exhibit any double inputs or other issues. The full layout is useful for mil-sim and simulation titles that often require a large number of keys, and the linear action means that inputs feel appropriately snappy - even if more modern optical or magnetic switches would be technically superior. Again, with no FPS-specific features, you will be at a bit of a disadvantage in the most fast-paced action, but the gulf here is smaller than between the GMMK Eternal and a bog-standard membrane keyboard.
Where the keyboard excels is in typing, with the Glorious Fox linear switches being pre-lubricated, relatively light at 45 to 55g of force required, and pleasant sounding when pressed, thanks to the three-layer sound dampening. I spent the bulk of my time with the Eternal writing articles, code and working in Photoshop, and had only a single complaint: the ABS keycaps are a little slick, and don't feel quite as pleasant as fancier PBT alternatives. I don't think ABS is a sin to include at a sub-£100 price point, but I would recommend upgrading to PBT if you get this keyboard and want to upgrade its look and feel down the road.
Overall, the GMMK Eternal exceeded my expectations. It's not quite as cheap as I would like, nor is it technically perfect, but the compact full-size layout, pleasant typing experience and solid software make it easy to recommend - especially if it goes on sale for Black Friday or other shopping holidays.