The Tesoro Gram MX ONE is a good example of playing it safe in 2019, and it just about works in its favor. It was not too long ago when $80 was the going price for a fancy membrane keyboard, then a mechanical feel alike, before full-fledged mechanical keyboards with Cherry MX switches at that price point finally made it to market. These Cherry MX keyboards still took shortcuts when it came to user customization with key assignments and backlighting, if they even had any, all while offering thin cookie-cutter ABS keycaps with laser etched legends that lasted a few months before looking and feeling used. The keycaps have not really improved since, especially in the mainstream market, but we have so many options for mechanical keyboards in this price range now that Tesoro knew they had to do more. Indeed, there are keyboards with switches from Outemu in particular that offer RGB backlighting and software drivers at this price point now.

As it turns out, Tesoro decided not to take any of the shortcuts by instead offering a solid product throughout. The Gram MX ONE uses Cherry MX switches, which by itself may not really mean much anymore as far as subjective typing feel goes, but is deserving of the reputation of longevity no doubt. We also get excellent doubleshot-injected PBT plastic keycaps and a thick steel frame that results in a solid keyboard in the hand. There is no software driver support, which is a bit of a shame since Tesoro's new driver would have made things better had it supported the Gram MX ONE, but onboard controls do go beyond just some pre-programmed media control functionality. Macro recording and lighting recording, combined with five onboard profiles, make it easier to tweak the keyboard to one's preferences, and the backlighting is also pretty good. As mentioned above, this keyboard does just enough to be of good value in 2019. But the further we get into the year, the more competitors with a similar feature set will be introduced to market as well.