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SteelSeries Apex M800 Gaming Mechanical Keyboard Review

Others/Mice & Keyboards by stefan @ 2015-12-02

SteelSeries really succeeded to make a difference with the brand new mechanical switch design, which is capable of lower 1.5mm actuation, a 3mm throw and 45cN force (similar to Cherry MX switches). The central LEDs now allow a more uniform lighting of the keycap while the lettering/digits are made from semi-transparent plastic in order to allow LED light shine through. This is not all! We do also have a larger, re-designed Spacebar key for easy access, extra keys for programming, replaceable bottom feet, a dual-CPU configuration for allowing N-key rollover (up to 256 key presses at once, overkill) and dual USB 2.0 ports for connecting multiple low-powered devices.

Packaging, A Closer Look Part I

The gaming peripheral market is really active nowadays and one of the manufacturers which innovates a lot in this segment is SteelSeries; a recent example is the Apex M800 keyboard, which does incorporate a brand new mechanical switch which is baptized QS1. This switch does feature a throw depth of 3mm, an actuation and reset depth of 1.5mm, while the actuation force needed is calculated at 45cN. The product is shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard box, which sports the usual SteelSeries box art styling:

In order to advertise the new switches even better, the box does feature a small opening so potential buyers can press some of the keys in order to get an idea of the actuation force:

The main keyboard components along with the integration with the SteelSeries Engine software is described on the bottom area of the box:

After removing the top packaging layer, we will get to see another plain black cardboard box:

The Apex M800 is held inside along with its accessories:

Speaking of the bundle, this one can be found in the lower layer, which is made from a plastic mold:

The Apex M800 was also designed for Mac OS X operating system, so SteelSeries saw fit to include some replacement keycaps for it; we will also get a small instruction manual along with two replaceable rubber feet:

The taller rubber feet are easy to remove and replace when needed:

Besides the manual we will also get some nice case stickers:

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