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We actually received 2 keyboards on the same day. The external packaging was strong cardboard, the internal (display) packaging was also quite solid and then keyboard itself sits in another protective enclosure. In short, there’s no real chance that this keyboard will arrive damaged.
The GK40 product box follows the MSI trend of ‘mostly black with a bit of red’. The graphics tell you exactly what to expect inside and the ‘info bubbles’ tell you to expect multi-colour LED backlighting, multimedia function hotkeys, anti-ghosting, an integrated wrist wrest, a water-repellent design and MSI’s Mystic Lighting Software (but more on that later).
The GK40 houses its 104 raised keys in a really nice looking plastic exoskeleton giving it a lightweight feel but with some flex. The palm rest is integrated to the keyboard itself and while it doesn’t have a grippy feel to it, it still provides some comfort for long gaming sessions. Lucky, the MSI dragon, makes an appearance in the top right corner of the keyboard and there is an illuminated MSI logo top left.
We conducted a simple test on the keyboard's ability to resist liquid. We applied water, let it pool, shook it all out and plugged the keyboard into the PC. It worked fine.
Dual-height keyboard feet at the rear and anti-slip rubber patches at the front, complete the underside.
Function keys 1 to 8 offer standard multimedia feature control, including play, stop, volume up/down etc. Keys 9 through 12 offer email, home etc shortcuts. The idea that anyone could be half way through a frag-fest and decide to send an email is an interesting one, so we’re not sure how often that key would be used. Other function key options let you choose between lighting presets, enable lighting effects and save your own custom profiles.mechanical
The GK40 is a full-length keyboard, including a complete numpad. Although it is still a rubber-dome membrane board, when gaming it definitely feels close to a keyboard.
The one big challenge for MSI in this space comes from products like the GooBang Doo mechanical RGB keyboard that we reviewed back in January. Unsurprisingly, the GooBang Doo is showing ‘Out of stock’ right now – but it was around the £40 mark when we last checked. If you wanted a full mechanical keyboard for less than £50, then would it make more sense to buy one or to go with a mechanical-feel membrane keyboard? Ideally, you’d want to try them side by side, which is difficult in the current economic climate considering most of the high street specialists have moved solely online.
Lastly, the USB cable has a firm but flexible braided design and is long enough for most gaming environments. The connector is gold plated.
