SteelSeries Apex Pro – Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
SteelSeries Apex Pro – Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – Adjustable Actuation Switches – OLED Smart Display – English QWERTY Layout – Standard
USB Passthrough
Conveniently plug in any USB-A device to the extra slot provided by the Apex Pro. Connecting flash drives, wireless dongles, or other USB devices now comes with ease.
| Weight: | 973 g |
| Dimensions: | 43.67 x 13.92 x 4.03 cm; 973 Grams |
| Brand: | SteelSeries |
| Model: | 64655 |
| Colour: | Wired |
| Manufacture: | Steel Series |
| Dimensions: | 43.67 x 13.92 x 4.03 cm; 973 Grams |
loving being able to set my actuation point – this is why i got rid of my logitech g910 orion spectrum, the actuation point was 1.5mm and that’s too low for me, i was pressing keys by mistake all the time. Most keyboards seem to have a low actuation pont and the best i could find was 2mm but i didn’t want to risk that not being right for me either so it was either this or the razer equivalent (don’t like razer products, always suspicious of the quality due to some dodgy things in the past). Turns out 2.6mm is the sweet spot for me – i like to bottom out keys it seems. If you go above 3mm on this the keys don’t bounce back in time so you miss key presses and there is no way to set the reactivation point, whatever that’s called.
USB port is great to have.
My only gripes are that if you make your own profile it doesn’t save it to the keyboard and these never load properly with windows. Sometimes nothing loads, sometimes just the colours load not the oled screen customisation and sometimes the other way around. I was considering returning it because every time i boot windows i had to go into the engine software and manually change the colour of one key and then back again and the profile woudl kick in. I didn’t realise you could edit the built in profiles, which work fine. Does mean you are limited to 5 profiles though that’s ok. Still, it would be nice if it worked properly.
Secondly, i miss having proper multi-media keys like on the logitech. Double and triple pressing a button for different functions sucks, why not make the keyboard 2cm deeper and have proper buttons, i don’t know becauase then it would be perfect. well almost. I don’t like the steelseries key instead of a menu key cos i use that a lot. It doesn’t do anything that couldn’t be done in other ways and it isn’t permanent – by which i measn if i disable the left windows key it is re-enabled by default the next time i boot, i would rather have an on/off button like on every keyboard i’ve had for the last 20 years. Few small niggles and that’s a lot on a keyboard of this price but i’m overall happier with it than the logitech it replaced, mercifully. There just doesn’t seem to be the perfect keyboard out there. I don’t mind the linear keys at all and the keyboard is excellent for gaming. The LED lighting doesn’t shine around the keys as much as the photos show, it’s mostly through the keys and that looks great.
If they could just change one or two things it would be perfect.
I really like this keyboard and I’m keeping it but it has some flaws.
Pros:
This full sized version is well built, aluminium base with good weight and rubber feet to keep it in place on the desktop.
Nice RGB LED lighting, if wanted. Lots of presets and customisation
Great feeling typing experience. Best mechanical keyboard I have used.
Thick, well made connecting cable and cable channelling in keyboard base for better cable management.
Pass through USB A connection on keybaord
Comes with neat magnetic connection wrist rest
Programmable macros but not tried this yet.
Cons
Expensive
Connecting cable is not removable / replaceable, not braided and takes up two USB type A ports due to the pass through connection.
The wrist rest is more a novelty – it’s slanted downwards from the board, so doesn’t give much height or support.
The wrist rest is also covered with a rubberised finish, which attracts every small particle of dust and crumbs and demands almost constant wipe downs to keep it smooth and pleasant to use.
The keycaps it arrives with feel cheap and are thin ABS caps. I swapped mine over for thicker pudding caps.
This might seem overpriced but it’s absolutely worth ever penny
However the problem came when actually pluging the keyboard in and using it. I have multiple PC’s but in this config, there’s two of them and they use a monitor that has a built in Keyboard and Mouse hub, so I can swap them being in use when I change from the HDMI or DP connected PC’s. Except this keyboard doesn’t like it.
Nope.
The aforementioned Razer and Corsair – no problems but this……. this was annoying AF with a capital F. Wouldn’t recognise being connected even though the mouse was connected to the USB port of THIS KEYBOARD and worked, the keyboard itself was all “Nah, yeah nah mate”. So I’m sitting quite confused that the mouse is working fine but no lights on the keyboard, nothing. Turn the monitor on and off. Lights up…….goes out.
Oh…FFS…….
Disconnect the USB from the monitor to the PC. Nothing.
Turn the screen on and off. Nope.
Try again thinking “It always takes 3 attempts to plug a USB stick in, maybe this needs 3 goes too”.
Nope.
In fact there was/is no rhyme or reason for it. It lit up and might work. It might not and then you would be switching the screen on or off, or changing the monitor USB setting back n forth just to get the keyboard to work so you could type your password in and get going.
Once it was going, it was great with the ability to change the sensitivity working well indeed. But if it takes 10 – 15 minutes just to convince it to work, then…….nah.
So it went back. Shame though. Liked it, couldn’t live with it like that. Something Steelseries needs to fix for sure. (For the record, I also researched it afterwards and found it was apparently a thing).
This is great would recommend I love the colours and I love the interactive key there is also a Screen that you can use to change the settings without installing any apps would recommend
Fantastic keyboard. Better than the top of the line Corsair ones I’ve had in the past. Overpriced if I’m honest, but if you want the best; you have to pay for it.
Only issue I’ve had is that On Resume from Sleep it can fail to load the last profile, but this is restored with a few key presses.
I prefer this to the Corsair K100, much quieter, easier + quicker to type, smaller, lighter …
Setting the key trigger height is the icing on the cake.
Amazing quality, the keys are responsive and soft to the touch with a satisfying noise. The hand rest is soft to the touch but durable. It’s the best keyboard I have ever owned.
Only had this for a few hours but first impressions are excellent. A very worthwhile upgrade. Majority of its use will be for productivity not gaming.
I will not write long, because almost all is covered. But one thing – buttons only has customisable actutation, that means you can adjust button pressure travel. How deep you should depress button to get input press register. In other words, if you want keyboard where each key act as controller thumbstick or trigger with pressure sensitive input (ex. 10%, 30%, 70%) you can avoid this keyboad.
I have used numerous types of keyboards over the years but this is by far the best. I use it for work, not gaming.
I would definitely recommend.
straight out of box, and no issues – says what it is and well recommended. 5***** as always well done steelseries
Good quality. Very comfortable and looking good. Amazing magnetic attachments. Also for me was important to get quiet keyboard and this one sounds perfect when I’m playing night.
I was reticent about spending so much on a keyboard but I am glad a decided to get it. It’s awesome. Keys are ultra responsive, lighting is very customisable and very useful if you use profiles to set the key lights for certain games. All in all, I love it.
The price shouldnt be this high for a keyboard. Its a good one, but the prices…
Does the job and looks great not had it long enough to give better reviews.
I am very happy with this keyboard. It completes my steelseries rival 650 mouse and the qck cloth mat. The keyboard feels quality, however i noticed the oled screen was falling out of it’s spot so had to secure it lol. But I am enjoying it so far.
Now my old kit was all Logitech and I simply stuck with them as I would have other Logitech stuff and when one thing died or got too old I’d just replace it with yet another Logitech thing so it all was the same brand for the two reasons above.
But I have noticed over the years that Logitech quality has gone down, their prices have gone up and their customer service has become a joke. To put things in perspective. Back in 2004 I had a Logitech G7 that was 3 years old the batteries had finally died on me and the product was out of warranty. I contacted Logitech for replacement batteries but as the product was end-of-life already by then they did not have anymore replacement batteries.
Despite being out of warranty they offered me 50% off any new mouse of my choice on their official store. Even though their store prices were slightly higher than Amazon or other stores for example, at 50% that’s still a great deal.
Fast-forward to a few years ago now (around 2017) I had a Logitech headset that broke on me in warranty. They replaced it. A year later the replacement broke again (in a different way) due to the crappy build quality. Contacted support they couldn’t help me at all. So that was it for me and I swapped to a Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless. Eventually my Logitech G5 mouse died on me as well (this is the one I got with 50% discount) so I got a SteelSeries Rival 310.
My Logitech keyboard died as well but at the time Steelseries did not have many keyboards yet. So the Apex Pro did not exist yet and I did not like the switches on their other keyboards. So I went for a Corsair K55 RGB.
Well that one the palm rest broke on me and they don’t sell replacements anymore for it and it was already out of warranty. So that disappointment pushed me to reconsider SteelSeries keyboards again and I saw the Apex Pro.
Having been using it now for just under a full month I must say I am extremely satisfied with it. The build quality is excellent and while it did take me some time to get used to the feeling of these linear non-tactile switches (there is no bump). Once I got used to them the feeling is something I don’t really want to move away from again.
They are extremely silent and the overall typing sound is even more silent than my old Corsair K55 RGB which is a membrane non-mechanical keyboard!
If you want a loud keyboard the Apex Pro is definitely not what you want. The typing sound is sharp but very low and some keys like the spacebar and other function keys (enter/control/shift) are whisper silent. The letter keys have a sharp typing sound that actually sound similar to that of a membrane keyboard despite being a mechanical keyboard.
The ability to customise the actuation point is also very handy and I’ve already been messing around with that for a few games like Apex Legends. As I found I want my WASD keys to be more sensitive as well as space bar but I want shift which I use for sprint to be less sensitive as I push it in slightly by accident sometimes.
Will the actuation settings improve your play? Definitely not, but I don’t think that’s the point of the customisation feature. The point is that your hand works differently on different games and for different keys so the actuation customisation just makes miss-presses impossible and helps as well against finger fatigue on longer play sessions. If you don’t have to press WASD too deep this makes your fingers work less hard.
So it is more of a convenience and comfort feature rather than something to actually improve your level of play on a game.
As for the switches themselves it is a very different feel than any other mechanic switch I’ve tried. It is hard to explain but I guess if you had to describe the feeling it almost is as if the keys are floating on a cloud. That is the only way I can describe it. Yet the keys feel very controlled and sharp not to your fingers but for the presses as in you do feel you are pressing the key you want and just that key.
It is not going to be for everyone if you like tactile clicky keys this is definitely NOT the keyboard for you. If you like membrane and want a mechanical keyboard that is silent like a membrane then this may be the keyboard for you.
You have to like linear feeling though and again there is no bump (the bump is something some mechanical keyboards and all membrane keyboards have is when you start to press in a key you feel a small bump resistance as you start to press it and when you go halfway in the keypress you feel you’ve pressed passed the bump and then you eventually hit the bottom of the keypress). This does not have that and instead just presses all the way straight down with equal force the whole way down.
Yes, I know us gamers are way too nerdy when it comes to our peripherals but hey! Start talking with a football player about their shoes and the type of spikes and soles they like and it is just the same. Humans are very individual creatures and we like stuff that suits our preferences. Keyboards for games or football shoes for football literally the same thing just different hobbies.
General build quality is solid, the keyboard itself is kept light yet sturdy, no solid aluminium inside it though but the plastic is thick and sturdy.
The palm rest is the highlight in build quality though, very comfortable silicon rubber, the palm rest uses two extremely powerful magnets to connect to the keyboard which is great as again the clips is actually what broke on my old keyboard so this being magnetic means that will never break.
Price wise the SteelSeries Apex Pro is more expensive than other brands but here you are paying for the fact these are a new switch type that SteelSeries has innovated on themselves and the fact the keyboard has an Oled screen built into it. As no other brands have OLED screens at the moment (Logitech used to have some with screens built into it but stopped that) it is hard to compare like-for-like.
The closest equivalent from Razer would be a Razer BlackWidow V3 which is about 40 GBP cheaper but there again you don’t have these magnetic mechanic switches nor is the Razer palm rest as nice as the SteelSeries Apex Pro palm rest. So it still is not a directly comparable keyboard.
The only actual equivalence at the moment would be the Corsair K100 with OPX switches which are their optical switches thus to compete with SteelSeries magnetic switches you find in the Apex Pro. Corsair’s keyboard is 220 GBP at the time of this review thus 40 GBP more than the SteelSeries Apex Pro.
For gaming the actuation levels of the keys deffo help for my clumsy fingers and there’s lots you can do in regards to the led affects. For comfort there’s an add on wrist rest which sits just righ
The only reason I gave it 4 stars, is the keyboard worked perfectly for a day, then SteelSeries updated the firmware for the product and guess what? It didn’t work, all the keyboard would do is flash the same colour continually, and it would not update. It looked as it was working, then at then end of the download it just kept resetting itself, saying it had failed. I tried for hours and hours all the recommended cures, both from SS and the internet forums etc, but to no avail and had to return the item.
Purchased this for my sons new gaming rig. Didn’t want to spend money on features that I knew my son wouldn’t use. This has the perfect balance of features. The LCD display can be customised by using the correct sized gifs and the SteelSeries software.
I super love it as i use it every single day and i love how i can customise it, i have no problems with it. this is first time spending on a high end keyboard, but i do end up using it every single day so it is worth it.
My Razor Blackwidow kinda died last week due to spilt juice a year ago.. still it lasted long as it could. Had to quickly find a new one and stumbled on this as it looked promising.
It’s a good keyboard, you can change the activation point to your own prefrence, it may take awhile to get used to since am used to keys that click as this doesn’t, for those who prefer clicks shouldn’t get this. The lighting is well.. as expected with any RGB keyboard, just abit more showy under the keys compared to razor lighting up the key letters. It’s also cool that u can have apps like discord linked up to the keyboard to light up if something talks or get a msg……. but kinda pointless tbh.
But it has its flaws, u can change all the lighting and do cool things with it but the media button at the top right u can’t do anything to it.. so it is a constent bright white light which is annoying, same goes for the usb at the back of it, i would of liked it if i can turn it off or dim it.
The other issue is the aircraft metal they used under the keys… feels sturdy and all but… if it gets dirty it going to be hard to clean due to it being rough (think of very very fine sand paper) same goes with the wrist rest… it’s rubber.. also hard to clean or swipe away pet hairs / debris.
So if your the type to like keeping a keyboard clean…. do not get. Am actualy hesitent to refund it knowing later on it going to be a problem of cleaning.
To start with, the keyboard has an amazing build quality, the keyboard frame is made from aircraft-grade aluminium, and the detachable wrist rest is made out of soft, smooth material making it an extremely comfortable place to rest your hands.
Secondly, the switches on the Apex Pro are a new type of switch called “OmniPoint” switches which means they have an incredible response time at just 0.7ms compared to the 5.0ms of a Cherry MX Speed switch. The main feature of these switches is that they have adjustable actuation points which means you can adjust how far you have to press a key for it to register as a keypress. You can set the actuation point from 3.6mm to as little as just 0.4mm, this feature is great for competitive gamers who want to have that edge over other players.
The last thing I want to talk about is the amazing OLED screen. SteelSeries has a bunch of apps that can utilise this screen, some of which can display your CPU/GPU usage, or even show stats from a game you’re playing. You can also keep it simple by uploading a gif to show on repeat, whatever you want to use it for, you probably can. The keyboard also comes with a volume rocker and button which is also used to control the OLED screen settings on-device.
Overall this is the best keyboard I have ever used, it’s great to type on, and as someone who averages about a 95-100 WPM type speed, this keyboard can certainly keep up. I would recommend the Apex Pro for anyone looking to get a new, feature-rich keyboard.
I had Corsair, Razer Logitech and this SteelSeries is my favourite.
I have an Apex pro.
Clicks – nice and satifying, not too loud
Material – really nice rubbery plastic and quality plastic, doesn’t feel or sound cheap, feels quality
RGB – yep, good colours, good software with no bugs
LED screen on top right – pretty nice, looks a bit rubbish in pictures but in person it actually looks nice.
Best thing, I have my temps showing on the little display, so CPU and GPU temps are showing. Combined with my Arctis Pro Dac showing same, it looks really sweet and can monitor temps easily
The best keyboard I’ve ever owned
Cherry red keys for a quieter experience when typing and gaming
Customisable RGB that can also adapt to certain games
Little led screen on the keyboard is great to add a little gif
Overall best keyboard I’ve ever had
I previously had a much cheaper Corsair keyboard which didn’t have detachable keys, I wanted to upgrade to one of the best keyboards out there and I landed on this one 🙂 I’m glad I did, even though my Corsair keyboard had macro keys on the left side and the keys were more spaced out, within a day or two of constant use… I got completely used to this keyboard no problem, which I was kind of worried about but if you use your keyboard a lot then you will absolutely get used to it! The keys feel great, not too loud which I was worrying about, very clicky and satisfying to type with. The color lights look great due to the keys being slightly raised. The volume slider is also more satisfying to use than a simple button, the LED screen I could do without… it’s more of a gimmick than anything else but it’s still kind of cool you can put whatever you like there I suppose. The arm rest is amazing, it’s attached with magnets and comes off super easily and it’s a rubbery texture so it feels great on my wrists. Honestly I have no regrets about buying this, if you’re looking for a gaming keyboard or just a top quality keyboard in general, I think you’ll be happy with this!
What’s not to like about this. Quite expensive but well worth it. The whole thing is sturdy and the keys travel a bit more than most keyboards but the feel is solid. Don’t use this if you want to type a letter quickly – it’s not built for that, but it’s completely ideal for gaming.
The RGB lighting and programming of keys is vast and is a tiny bit fiddly to get to know but there’s plenty of info on the internet to help you through. There are 5 profiles for different games which are easily switchable. Looks fantastic and has a detachable wristsupport that simply attaches with magnets in seconds. I also like the USB throughport for a mouse.The whole thing has a great feel about it and I love it.
Bought it for my partners birthday and they love it. They have done some works with the colours and effects and even have a repeating meme set up on the display.
I’m writing this review after a few days of ownership so I cannot comment on reliabilty or durability.
I have owned and used many keyboards. Cherrys, Razer Black Widows, A Logitech G710+, Thermaltake, Corsair K95, a Roccat Aimo 120 which this keyboard replaces and many others. All these keyboards were good but from my point of view the SteelSeries Apex Pro is significantly better than all of them.
Obviously it is very expensive so it would be reasonable to think it should be good.. it is. The keys feel fantastic, I have fairly large fingers and a find some keyboards (like the Aimo and the Corsair) have key tops which are a little too small. The Apex keys are perfect for me. The wrist rest feels good. The lighting is better than the Aimo (which was good). It feels heavy. The keys don’t sound to loud but still make satisfying “clacks”. The keys actuation point can be changed through software although the default for me is fine.
If I were to be super picky – changing the lighting in the software is slightly confusing because it doesn’t (on my computer at least) show the most recent selected setting. It just shows “Color Shift” which is the default so I can’t tell what I’m currently running. It is possible I’m missing something though.
Overall – Other than the very minor problem I have with the software, an absolutely rock solid product. I can’t think of anything I would change about it.
I really like this keyboard!
The macros and key customisation are really great to do simple tasks fast.
It’s helped me react/post fast in games.
Only sad thing was that once I bought it, the price dropped and Amazon were unable to refund the difference.
From the outset, taking this thing out of the box, it feels heavy and solid, with an amazing, reassuring build quality unlike anything I’ve ever used before.
The key action is smooth, solid, and has no flex. It just shouts high quality. The action is possibly the quietest keyboard I’ve ever heard. And the adjustable actuation, wow what an upgrade. As a pianist, I appreciate sensitivity. At the lowest actuation, you can type by brushing keys. This is far more accurate than you’d think, and allows rapid typing with massively reduced fatigue.
The illumination is amazing too. You can control lights individually with any key. And loads of presets for fun.
I would pay twice this for a keyboard this good. Wish I had bought something of this quality years ago, not that this technology existed then. If you’re on the fence, do it.
The best keyboard you will ever own. Full stop.
I’m the man to ask _ had a lot of high end keyboards. I’m a touch typist and also avid gamer.. this is the best I have used.
I didn’t buy this as a gaming keyboard, as I am trying to giive up, but the quality of the keys and the response is awesome.
As heavy as regular steelseries, 2 big gripes, 1 is it slips around the desk, frustrating. I am sure if I had a rubber table it wouldn’t do that. 2. I normally lift the keyboard over with one hand, but because they have made the keyboard taller (function keys are more spaces), this causes me to lose my grip or bump a function key resulting in menus popping up.