GK-601 is LED backlit and users can choose whether to have this backlight on or off, and even at varying levels of brightness and a pulsating mode. The colour isn’t customisable but rather coincides with the styling already found on the keyboard and that is consistent with MSI’s gaming division. At its brightest setting (as pictured below) the lighting is subtle and we really like the overall look – although we are probably biased with the black and yellow theme!



Software

MSI provide a software CD with GK-601 which contains an application for tweaking the keyboard. Configurations can be imported and exported and macros can be assigned to certain keys, unfortunately the dropdown menu within this software would not respond and therefore we weren’t able to perform macro assignment.



Performance

GK-601 comes equipped with full NKRO (N-Key Rollover). We tested whether this claim stood true and sure enough with Aqua’S KeyTest there were no problems with multiple presses on the keyboard.



Moving from a standard membrane to a mechanical keyboard and one which uses Cherry MX Red switches will feel a little strange at first and as always will take some getting used to. This type of switch is generally more suited to gaming but for general usage within windows, typing up documents and web browsing GK-601 still does a good job. Keys aren’t placed in obscure locations but there are some subtle alterations compared to a standard keyboard such as the condensed return key (half size), the smaller ESC key and windows keys. This can be a little off putting at first and there is a learning curve if you are a touch typer.

For both general use and gaming we found the GK-601 a good keyboard to use and we encountered no problems when performing such tasks. The ability to disable the windows key on-the-fly is a great feature to have on the board and is really helpful in avoiding the annoyance of accidentally hitting this key and switching to Windows.