Clicking on a mechanical keyboard emits a great feeling of pleasure and satisfaction the moment you tap on the keys. As a gamer, having that sweet RGB lighting accompanied with the satisfying clicking of the keyboards is a “necessity” on their desktop. But for some games, it requires more than being able to just type. MMORPGs, for example, are famous for its various buttons that players must press that go even beyond what a keyboard can offer. This would lead to the development of macro-supported gaming keyboards and mouses as they are able to trigger a chain of actions with the single press of a button. But that begs the question, what is the best gaming keyboard in the market currently? Enter the Apex Pro mechanical keyboard created by Steelseries.

Steelseries is one of the most popular manufacturers for gaming related products, including headphones, mouse and keyboard. They are sponsors for some of the most well known esports teams such as NAVI, Faze Clan, and Fnatic. They have many outlets across the world with the main office located in Denmark. Steelseries is one of the companies that are competing in the market for the top spot along with Razer, Corsair, Mad Catz and many more.

Functions

At first glance, the Apex Pro looks like another mechanical keyboard with everyone’s favorite feature, RGB lighting. Can’t be a gaming equipment if it doesn’t have RGB right? As you analyze a bit longer, you may notice that it has a screen at the top right. That is an OLED screen, a small screen that has a few uses for casual and gaming purposes. For example, the OLED screen will display your KDA and score depending on what games you are playing. If you’re feeling a little narcissistic, you can even write or sign your name and it will display nicely on the screen. Additionally, the OLED screen allows users to quickly adjust the actuation point, which can be set to suit the user’s preference. It can be exceptionally useful to see notifications as it will display new messages on the screen, so you won’t have to tab out of your main screen. It also comes with a wrist rest, which is nice to lay your wrist on during long gaming sessions. But, if you find it as an annoyance, you can always remove it as it is detachable. 

Moving onto the technicalities, the keyboard has one of the most unique and advanced switches built into their computer, the OmniPoint switches. In most gaming keyboards, they are built with two pieces of metal touching each other to register the action whenever they are tapped. However, the Apex Pro keyboard uses a magnet system where the keys levitate by a magnetic field instead, which provides great response times and actuation points allowing users to type away without any issues. This unique magnetic function helps the keys in lasting much longer than other keyboards as physical degradation is not an issue. Because of its unique function, you will not have to worry about annoying your neighbours as you will generate little noises.

Of course like every expensive gaming equipment, you can’t enjoy the keyboard at its best without downloading its software, namely the Steelseries Engine 3 software. The software allows users to customize various keybindings of the keyboards as well as working alongside with the OLED screen to provide maximum optimization. Additionally, the software allows users to set up customized profiles, which automatically switches the functions of certain buttons depending on the games they have opened and had the settings adjusted to. This will also affect the actuation points of the keyboard depending on the settings as it will help to prevent mistyping of certain buttons during gaming sessions. The software also supports macro customization, which allows users to freely customize their buttons to work differently depending on the apps and games they have set for. Imagine having the 1 key doing only a specific thing by default, but you can set the same key to do multiple things at once. This is ideal for MMORPG players as it helps them to save time and effort of casting spells by pressing multiple individual buttons simultaneously.

Besides that, the Apex Pro keyboard offers plenty of options when it comes to deciding how you want your keyboard to shine its glorious RGB whenever you are playing or away from the computer. As mentioned before, the software allows you to customize how your keyboard works depending on what you are playing or whenever you are doing work. The RGB lighting can also be adjusted to suit your preferences and the settings will automatically switch whenever you open certain apps or games. 

Disadvantages

  1. Dust. Dust, Everywhere

In most cases with a wrist rest, it provides a nice comfort for your wrist whenever you are gaming or doing work at home for a long period of time. However, the Apex Pro keyboard is prone to absorbing dust, so it is important to occasionally wipe the wrist rest every once in a while. 

  1. More Wires?!

On a gaming desktop setup, wiring is extremely annoying and triggering to deal with as it tangles up with your other equipment. Since the Apex Pro keyboard is wired, you will have one more annoyance to deal with.

  1. Extremely Expensive

As SteelSeries is one of the most popular manufacturers for gaming equipment, most of their products can be very expensive. The Apex Pro keyboard is no exception as it sits at a whopping USD 209.99 in the market right now, which is one of the most expensive keyboards in the market.

Conclusion

Overall, the Apex Pro keyboard is one of the best keyboards in the market right now, but it  can be an expensive investment to get one. There are other alternatives that have more functions like Corsair’s K95 Platinum XT Keyboard that specializes in having more options for macro, but in the end it heavily relies on what you prefer to have on your desktop.