SteelSeries Apex 9 TKL – Mechanical Gaming Keyboard &ndash
SteelSeries Apex 9 TKL – Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – Optical Switches – 2-Point Actuation – Compact Esports Tenkeyless Form Factor – Hotswappable Switches – English QWERTY Layou
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| Weight: | 1.1 kg |
| Dimensions: | 12.83 x 35.54 x 4.19 cm; 1.1 Kilograms |
| Brand: | SteelSeries |
| Model: | 64848 |
| Colour: | Optical Switch |
| Manufacture: | SteelSeries |
| Dimensions: | 12.83 x 35.54 x 4.19 cm; 1.1 Kilograms |
extremely nice keyboard but takes a few days to get used to even if your used to red linear switches
he keys can produce a ringing sound when typing fast, but is not particularly noticeable if wearing headphones, and are not noticeably different from cherry keys which are what I have previously used (went from cherry brown to the steelseries brown switches). otherwise there is a lot of nice customization options in the Steelseries software which was nice for me since my last keyboard only had options for key brightness. the OLED screen is pretty cool (currently using it to display cpu and gpu temps) but the software it uses needs you to re-authorize them each time you log in to windows. I personally don’t see a reason to buy any keyboard at this retail price (~190 euro) so would wait for a decent sale price before buying
perfect for gaming brown switch click sticks the good stuff
I bought this keyboard on a recommendation from friend who had also just bought one. For the most part I really like it but just after I had had the keyboard for 2 years, the blue LEDs on some of the keys started to fail.
On speaking to my friend, his keyboard had done the exact same (to a much worse extent in fact) and after a quick google, it seems this is a really common fault.
While it’s only cosmetic, it does really bother me that some of the keys look “dead” and for the price and from a brand like Steelseries, I expected more
I bought this to replace a Das Keyboard, which I made the mistake of buying without the lettering. Fine for touch typing, until I came to enter 30 character passwords with loads of special characters. That one also had Cherry Brown keys, which I found too clicketty. I also bought a HyperX keyboard for another computer, which was 50 cheaper and is also excellent, but somehow this one still feels worthy of the extra money.
I haven’t yet worked out what the OLED screen is for – it never seems to change. Does a keyboard need an OLED screen? I suspect not. Easy to switch between colour modes, but I don’t understand why these gaming keyboards don’t offer a “business mode” with more subtle lighting – they would sell so many more. And yes, I could probably download software to achieve that, but I am on Linux and the software isn’t compatible (I assume), and anyway – it’s a keyboard, it really doesn’t need software.
But a lovely and beautifully made keyboard.
Please note that it does use two USB ports, and my laptop docking station only had one spare – so I ended up buying a 60 powered USB3 dock as well. An expensive business, but so worth it.
PROS:
* Beautiful keyboard – the RGB is really understated, and the control software is highly configurable
* The construction is very solid and feels extremely premium
* The legends on the keycaps is very classy
* Wrist rest is a fantastic addition and feels very nice
CONS:
* PINGING! This keyboard has an annoying ringing sound, especially when using the space bar, return key, tab/shift keys or other larger keys.
During faster typing sessions the ringing reverberates through the keyboard as well, with a very annoying high pitched ringing sound that could not be ignored.
It’s so unfortunate because otherwise this would have been a perfect keyboard. As it stands, we had to send it back (after trying the Apex PRO as well, which suffered from the same issue).
For gaming, where you’ll almost certainly be wearing headphones, this would be a perfect product, but for productivity and at work, it’s a no go unfortunately.
The steel base of the keyboard gives it that much needed rigidity and ease-of-cleaning. The rubber (and magnetic) wrist rest is great, I prefer it to the click-in style ones.
I mostly have it on one mode but the colours are bright and pleasant. *No application needed*
But it is incredible, the red switches offer a silky smooth linear feel and have a great actuation point, and sound great – not too loud nor cheap.
And the OLED screen has a load of use cases – I use it to display my CPU and GPU temperatures.
A great purchase for anyone looking for a brilliant mechanical gaming keyboard.
The software to control the RGB lighting is great and allows for superb customization, also allowing the little LCD screen to be programmed to show what you like, mine shows CPU & GPU load and temps.
Great keyboard, I expect it to last longer than the PC it is attached too.
If you’re looking for a keyboard purely for gaming, I’d recommend choosing linear switches (Cherry MX Red or equivalent) instead. Otherwise, the blue “QX2” switches provide a lovely typing experience. Smooth and sharp with a loud click, clear actuation point and light keypress.
The Steelseries software seems reliable, though don’t expect tight integration with many games out of the box. There seems to be quite a lot of work involved with configuring at an in-game event level, which I’m not personally that interested in. It’s quite disappointing that you can’t have something like a simple digital clock displayed on the screen as default. There are tech demos that show this, but it’s not an out of the box feature.
The RGB is fine. It’s a shame there aren’t any separate indicators for the status of NumLock, CapsLock, etc. Instead, it’s just the keys themselves that change colour, which isn’t necessarily always the easiest to discern.
Ergonomically, it isn’t the best keyboard I’ve used. There is only one tilt angle at the rear of the keyboard. The screen can also be slightly hard to see depending on your posture. The wrist rest is okay. Nothing special.
Build quality is quite good. There is very little flex, and the volume rocker has a nice knurled finish to it. The pause/mute button under the volume rocker as well as the USB passthrough on the left hand side of the keyboard are permanently illuminated white, and can’t be disabled/dimmed in software. The QX2 switches are not hot swappable, but Cherry style keycaps should technically fit.
My previous mechanical keyboard was a Corsair Vengeance K60 (genuine MX Reds) which worked perfectly for 9 years until a pint of Rum and Coke got poured over it. Oops. I’ll let you know if this one makes it to 10. Cheers.
The keys are sturdy and have a nice clicking feel to them when pressed and this keyboard does not feel like one where letters will wear away like with cheaper ones.
Very happy with my purchase and my friend is too.
And son number 2 also has the same keyboard but for some reason he wanted the one without the numeric keypad – which cost the same if I remember right….. strange..
As a keyboard though it is good, the brown switches are fine, not as tactile as I had hoped, but fine. Lighting is good as is comfort, the latter aided by the magnetic palm rest which is nice. I was a bit worried the palm rest would want to detach all the time but it’s pretty good at staying in place. Overall I am glad I didn’t pay retail for this, however, I don’t think you can get anything better for the same price.
EDIT – 1 YEAR UPDATE: All running smoothly, but I decided not long after posting this review, that I actually very much dislike this keyboard for typing. For gaming, it is fine. In terms of typing, the ‘tactile’ keys do not offer enough feel, I also find the key travel way too long. I am actively looking for a replacement. This is all personal preference, but for context, I have always preferred laptop keyboards.
The top right button is very useful for quickly turning your volume down and much more.
Great keyboard and would recommend.
2) UK format
3) key type
There were others from logitech, hyperX, and Razer that I looked at but none of these had brown tactile keys in a UK format. Bizarre but hey, this keyboard has not disappointed. The screen is a gimmick but the keys strokes are excellent, actuation is on point, great for typing and it is a great compact size with great styling. My gaming had never been better.
My favourite bit of the keyboard (apart from the keys themselves) is the volume roller, which gets a lot of use. I’m not sure on how useful the LED display is – whilst I’ve had fun changing what it displays, I’m pretty sure I know who is using the computer without having a display tell me.
This one feels amazing, not too loud, great features, and the removable magnetic wrist rest is genius. And does not get dirty easily, despite what I’ve read in reviews. But for me, one thing that I hadn’t realised is that a full keyboard is less convenient for quick touch typing + mouse control vs a TKL keyboard. So I’ll be returning mine just to get the TKL version. You might want to consider the same if you’re a professional who types a lot.
The only negative are the keycaps. The keycaps become very shiny over time and make the keyboard look kind of dirty and ugly. So I recommend switching the keycaps for a different set of keycaps.
Overall, I recommend this keyboard but I like using my Razer Huntsman Mini more because of the 60% factor and I like the Razer switches more. However, the steelseries is a good option because of the screen and the overall quality you get for the price tag you pay.
Don’t buy cheap Chinese knockoffs, pay the extra and get a top quality board like this. Hope this review is helpful to potential buyers.
Pros:
~Immensely customizable RGB experience like no other.
~Compact design but still has the essential manual volume control.
~Macro/RGB/illumination software highly intuitive
~Heavy and solid
~Very plush design and lovely wrist support
~The display is fully customized with each profile, along with the RGB settings e.g. you can upload gifs and images from dedicated websites for this. You can swap between led/screen profiles with a hotkey.
Cons:
~Very thick cable may annoy some users although there is an under-keyboard tidy to select left/centre/right exit for cable.
~Requires 2 USB ports if using the USB passthrough (one for keys/lighting and one for UBS passthrough port (Usb3.1)).
~Some audible ping from all keys after pressing which is somewhat annoying (o-rings have lowered bottoming out sound but the ‘ping’ is a separate sound)
~If you are moving from a membrane keyboard to this it is significantly louder i.e. I have to be conscious about not waking up people who are sleeping in another room. I certainly can’t use it as I want to This is with the o-rings fitted to all keys. This is a big downside for me.
Purchased as “used – like new” but greesy and used. Got 10% refund to keep.
Keyboard works great though.
The audio scroll wheel is also a button you can click to mute.
Double/Triple press the media button to skip/rewind tracks.
Only has a single USB pass-through unlike its predecessor
The “SteelSeries” key does not act as context menu key like on some other keyboards and cannot be remapped.
I bought this to replace a clicky mechanical keyboard that had a failing key (I know I could replace it, but I wanted a new toy), and it was a bit loud and annoying my discord friends.
I was a bit hesitant buying a keyboard that was this expensive. But once it arrived then I think it’s worth it.
The keys have a nice feel to the touch/press and typing on it feels great.
I bought the brown switch version and they are so quiet compared to my last one.
The cable is pretty chunky, but that’s because it’s got the two split out at the usb end ( one is for the keyboard and one is for the usb pass through hub)
The RGB is easy enough to control in the app and the coulours are nice.
I know the screen can be a bit of a gimmick to people and honestly I thought it would be for me as well.
But I actually am finding it really useful, I installed the monitoring app in the software and a quick glance at the screen shows me my cpu/gpu temps and usage also shows ram usage.
The included wrist rest has a rubber feel and I like the fact it is attached magnetically rather than clipping in with plastic clips.
This was definitely a worthwhile purchase for me.
Great build quality, very nice blue keys and super flexible illumination.
The RGB is mega flexible, every key can have its own colour and even have its own effect too, mental. The SW to set it up is easy to use also.
The Oled screen is OK, it’s handy to have the volume & mute, maybe of more use for gameplay as its a quick way to change profiles etc.
The only negative is that the cable is very chunky, and it’s not exactly cheap.
My overall thought – I love this this thing
Added functions: for me the RGB light effects were less important than function in choosing this one, but now that the board is here and in use I find I quite like them. I work evenings, and it gives me the option to work with a lower ambient light level if I feel like it, which is sometimes quite nice. The OLED display may be useful for some, but for me it really is just a gimmick. It doesn’t work with the main game I play, so I’ve set it to a static image and left it that way. I haven’t had cause to use the USB passthrough as I already have a USB hub on my desk so there’s no need, so I can’t comment on it. The volume roller is excellent for me, as a transcriptionist I am constantly adjusting volume up and down, and this is considerably easier than having to access the volume settings on the PC each time, or even using the push buttons on the old keyboard. This gives immediate, precise fingertip control, which is perfect.
Overwhelmingly I’m delighted with this keyboard, and would recommend it wholeheartedly.
The Apex 7 with red switches is a joy to use. The keys are much quieter and have a quality feel. In my opinion the blue switches are best avoided unless you like your keyboard to be loud. The brown switches would also be a good choice if you prefer more tactile keys.
The wrist rest has a velvety feel and is quite comfortable and the USB passthrough port is illuminated.
The Steelseries software works fine, it just takes a bit of time to map the keys for each game.
Some would say the OLED screen is a bit of a gimmick, but it works well and it’s quite handy if you want to change settings etc without closing down your game.
I got the Apex 7 for over 47 less than the RRP so although it’s still expensive for what is just a keyboard I would recommend it if you want a high end keyboard.
PROS:
-One of the best looking sleek keyboards I have ever had, it’s quite minimalistic and the overall feel to it is quality, there is barely any plastic to be seen. (Except for the keycaps)
-The screen is built into the keyboard and is amazing, I love that I can control the keyboards lighting effects, brightness of the screen, macro settings and even a factory reset if needed all from a little screen.
-Keycaps honestly feel nice and your fingers end up resting into curved middle quite nicely, the keys themselves don’t wiggle that much and it’s very nice to type with.
-I chose the cherry red switches as there wasn’t any other switches in stock but I would’ve chosen red regardless, it’s very nice to hear the switches click and provide sound feedback when your typing and it has a linear switch as well, that means when pressing a key down it will feel smooth and linear from top to bottom during the travel of the switch.
-Hand-rest is a pleasant additional touch, I have a wooden desk and my wrist aches with other keyboards but with the Apex 7 you have a magnetic hand-rest that feels nice whilst typing. If I need any space I can easily detach the hand-rest by simply pulling away from the keyboard as it’s only held in by two magnets, that being said there is still enough force between the magnets to ensure no accidental detach during usage.
-The media controls, which are very simple are easy to use and usually register what I’m trying to do (pause a track, skip a track, go to the previous track, mute the volume) so I don’t have to switch screens trying to do it.
CONS:
-This keyboard can get very, very dirty. I had to remove all of my keycaps and even then I couldn’t clean it properly with the switches in the way. The hand-rest attracts a lot of dust that is quite hard to clean unless you have a micro fibre cloth, even then you have to scrub the rubber in order to get the dust completely off.
-I had a problem with a gif not being able to be removed from the screen (you can upload gifs to the keyboard’s screen via the SteelSeries engine application) so I had to factory reset the keyboard.
-The screen for some reason doesn’t have colours, it’s only black and white unfortunately which limited the option for certain gifs to be uploaded.
In summary I’m honestly surprised that a keyboard with a screen could look so clean, especially considering that many many keyboards have tried this same screen effect and it not looking clean as the Apex 7. There are barely any problems I’ve had with the keyboard, and at the price I would recommend this keyboard.
The RGN functionality is good but the steel series engine is still riddled with app bugs, mainly linked to the OLED screen. But for the basic options it works fine.
I found the cherry reds too light and perhaps black would be better. These keys can activate even if you lightly rest on them, they dont have to be fully depressed to activate.
The screen is gimicky as it is on the 710 rival mouse. Displaying a normal gif is fine but the apps that show other stats etc can bug out so arent reliable. Also only about 6 games have support for this.
Steelseries software is some of the best on the market as well, I cannot think of a single negative, highly recommended.