SteelSeries Apex Pro The Next Leap in Mechanical Keyboards. first-of-its-kind adjustable mechanical switches for customizable per-key sensitivity. 8x faster response, 5x faster actuation, and 2x durability. OLED Smart Display gives statistics straight from video games and apps. Series 5000 Aircraft-grade aluminum frame.
SteelSeries Apex Pro overview
Apex Pro The Next Leap in Mechanical Keyboards. first-of-its-kind adjustable mechanical switches for customizable per-key sensitivity. 8x faster response, 5x faster actuation, and 2x durability.
OLED Smart Display gives statistics straight from video games and apps. Series 5000 Aircraft-grade aluminum frame. The SteelSeries Apex Pro is a very suitable keyboard for combined usage.
This RGB keyboard is designed for gaming, however thanks to its adjustable actuation force, you can without difficulty customise it to minimize the wide variety of typos.
Its typing trip is tremendous and satisfying. This keyboard is additionally very well-built and must closing you for a lengthy time.
The SteelSeries Apex Pro is an splendid gaming keyboard. It’s responsive and you can set the actuation factor of your keys to your desired setting.
It’s additionally very well-built and is completely customizable inner its super software. The backlighting is additionally superb for gaming in the dark.
The SteelSeries Apex Pro isn’t always designed to be used with a cell system or a tablet. It’s a wired-only keyboard that is intended to be used with a PC.
The Apex Pro is very exact for an workplace environment. It has a excellent wrist relaxation that affords a satisfied ergonomic design. Also, typing on this keyboard is pleasant and it does not make too a great deal noise either.
The Apex Pro is a remarkable programming keyboard.Typing is gratifying and you can additionally set the actuation pressure of every key.
That means you can discover your desired putting to minimize the range of typos. You can additionally software each key and personalize the keyboard internal its software.
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Design
- Height 1.6″ (4.0 cm)
- Width 17.2″ (43.7 cm)
- Depth 5.5″ (13.9 cm)
- Weight 2.1 lbs (1.0 kg)
This sizable keyboard is alternatively large and will take even greater area if you use the magnetic wrist rest. There’s additionally a tenkeyless (TKL) model available, which is shorter. We count on the TKL mannequin to function in a similar fashion to the full-size.
The SteelSeries Apex Pro‘s body is constructed from aircraft-grade aluminum alloy. Instead of having a traditional black finish, it sports activities extra of a black metal color, which contrasts properly with the per-key RGB lighting.
When I pulled the SteelSeries Apex Pro out of the box, I observed proper away that it used to be especially mild (2.1 pounds), however, the chassis nonetheless felt sturdy.
For a keyboard with lots of features, the Apex Pro discards the pinnacle row (above the feature keys) that some gaming keyboards have.
Instead, the SteelSeries Apex Pro suits its features into a few F keys, and in the empty house that most gaming keyboards have a tendency now not to use.
Some game enthusiasts may additionally decide to have discrete buttons, however severing the pinnacle row permits the Apex Pro to be extra compact — sleek, even.
The most fascinating function of the SteelSeries Apex Pro’s diagram is the mini-OLED show placed on the pinnacle right, however, I’ll dive deeper into that later.
To the proper of the tiny display screen are the extent wheel and the pause/play button for multimedia. You additionally use these controls to navigate the OLED display.
There are six macro keys, which are secondary features of the Insert, Home, Page Up, Delete, End, and Page Down keys. Meanwhile, keys F9 to F12 function as the keys by way of profile switching.
On-the-fly macro recording, brightness down, and brightness up, respectively. You can spark off these aspects with the aid of the SteelSeries Apex Pro Function key.
To pinnacle it off, the SteelSeries Apex Pro has a USB pass-through port, which is positioned in the again of the keyboard, simply between the Escape and F1 keys.
Meanwhile, the underside of the peripheral facets three-way cable routing, which is in particular beneficial to forestall the cable from awkwardly wrapping around the keyboard.
You’ll additionally discover clips below that can bring up the Apex Pro. The Apex Pro additionally comes with a magnetic wrist rest it truly is particularly gentle to the touch, which is a quality exchange from pure plastic wrist rests.
Keys
SteelSeries Apex Pro did not put simply any mechanical switches in the Apex Pro; the corporation made its own. Meet the OmniPoint Switch A mechanical change with adjustable actuation force.
Keys have to journey to a positive factor earlier than they actuate. In most keyboards, there is not an easy way to trade that constant factor barring tearing the peripheral open.
With the Apex Pro, you can regulate the actuation pressure of the OmniPoint switches to somewhere between 0.4 mm and 3.6 mm, which interprets to a 1 to 10 scale in the SteelSeries Apex Pro Engine app.
If you set your keys to 1, you can spark off your swap with barely a press, whilst putting them to 10 requires you to depress the key fully. The fine phase is that you can set sixty-one man or woman keys at exceptional actuation forces.
However, the feature keys, the arrow keys, the macro keys to make and the Numpad keys do not have OmniPoint switches, which is a whole oversight. Several video games make use of these keys.
The omnipotent switches function at a 0.7 ms response time, which is extensively quicker than Cherry MX Speed Switches (5.0 ms). SteelSeries Apex Pro additionally boasts that the OmniPoint switches can stand up to one hundred million keystrokes earlier than they’re no longer operational.
Of course, we cannot conventionally take a look at the SteelSeries Apex Pro’s existence span, so I would not preach it as gospel. Typing on the Apex Pro’s OmniPoint switches used to be bizarre at first, given how gentle and quiet they were, even after I adjusted the actuation force.
However, I loved how easy they were, as adverse to the extra resistant the Cherry MX Blue switches that I am used to. When I took the 10fastfingers.com typing test, I scored seventy-five phrases per minute on each the SteelSeries Apex Pro and the HyperX Alloy Elite RGB keyboard that I use at home.
Features
The SteelSeries Apex Pro has two special features: it’s per-key (mostly) actuation force, which I’ve already explained, and its OLED display.
The 128 x forty OLED panel’s reason is to supply a faster way to alter your keyboard settings. There are settings to regulate the keyboard’s lighting, macros, actuation, and profiles. You can additionally alter the settings for the OLED panel itself, inclusive of brightness and timeout.
There are a couple of apps that work with the OLED panel, consisting of CS: GO (which tracks KDA and money) and Discord (which shows cutting-edge speakers and messages). Down the line, you may additionally be in a position to use Spotify with the display.
The domestic display screen of the OLED show provides a static photo of the SteelSeries Apex Pro logo, however, you can substitute this picture in the SteelSeries Apex Pro Engine app. (I examined it with the face of my pricey colleague, Michael Andronico.)
You can additionally put GIFs in there, which I examined with a traditional Geralt clapping GIF. It truly did not come out too badly. I may want to make out Geralt’s head as properly as his clapping motion. I’m positive no one ought to wager what the GIF was once simply via searching at it, however.
SteelSeries Apex Pro Engine additionally lets you software macro keys and remap any key on the keyboard. You get 5 on-board profiles (they include key mappings, lighting fixtures, and actuation force), and you can even assign these profiles to particular applications.
Performance
Gaming on the Apex Pro felt notably good, mainly due to the fact that I used to be satisfied that Cherry MX Blue switches have been the coziest way to the game. However, the omnipotent Switches are a fierce competitor.
When I put my competencies to the check-in Overwatch’s Lucio Ball recreation mode, I sucked — however my moves though felt fluid due to the fact of how responsive the keys were.
I sucker-punched my way thru Mr. Shifty except for sweat and even reduced the actuation pressure on the spacebar so I ought to junk mail the teleport when I wanted to.
I had to do the contrary whilst taking part in No Man’s Sky: I threw the actuation pressure of the spacebar all the way up, due to the fact I saved by accident hitting it, which initiated my jetpack.
PROS
The typing trip is very very easy and nice. The corridor impact switches are, frankly, pretty awesome, very very smooth, and used to be the foremost motive for my buy of this keyboard. I’m very impressed with how they sense and the response of the keys. Did I point out how easy they are? They sense amazing.
The RGB is shiny and beautiful, and the colorings transition very easily beside any major flicker. The raised keys permit the surrounding desk location to be illuminated via the RGB mild as well.
I truly like this impact in contrast to having the RGB switches recessed into the physique of a keyboard (like my preceding Logitech G910)
SteelSeries Apex Pro Engine software program is. OK. I’m acquainted with SSE from having different SS products, and when it comes to peripheral software, let’s face it: they all have issues, and SSE isn’t always barring it is own.
Having stated that, it is been working very properly with this keyboard. The interface is notably straight forward, now not complicated like Logitech’s ultra-modern software.
The RGB preferences are pretty impressive, higher than I was once expecting. I do desire SSE would be updated, as the software program simply feels SLOW. But it does the job with a little patience. I do like that I can bind
CONS
My predominant gripe is that there are no committed media controls here. The button to the proper of the OLED show works as a multi-button for media, and whilst the button itself is quality and clicky. I, personally, pick devoted buttons for each function. But this is a subjective opinion.
A subject I did have, and something I solved with a couple portions of scotch tape, is that below the Space bar, there is an extensive open hole in the keyboard’s body.
You can see the digital contacts and PCB via this opening, and it is at the lowest phase of the keyboard (i.e. dirt will get in there by means of easy gravity over time if it is no longer cleaned.
I protected this up with some tape so that dirt and particles can’t enter the keyboard itself and come into contact with the electronics inside, and I propose you do it too proper away! Remove the Space bar, cowl the holes with some tape, re-seat the Space bar.
Final verdict
The SteelSeries Apex Pro is one of the fine gaming keyboards, if now not the best. The customized actuation, dependent construct, and vibrant RGB lights all assist to make it stand out amongst the dense competition.
It’s a little expensive, however thinking about the keyboards it has to compete with, it without a doubt must be. If you have the cash, and you are searching for a top-rated gaming keyboard, the SteelSeries Apex Pro must simply be at the pinnacle of your list.
SteelSeries Apex Pro Buy
Aayush Mishra is a BCA student who enjoys gaming. He is a gaming enthusiast who covers the latest game news, reviews, and other gaming-related topics. He is particularly fond of horror and battle royale games.
