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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.

A Closer Look Part II

Apex M800 comes with a braided two-meter cable and the keyboard weights a total of 1390g:

A closer look at the layout reveals extra programmable keys and a larger Spacebar key which we did find quite ergonomic:

The keycaps on the M800 are a bit concave and feature clear plastic characters/digits in order to let the LED light shine through. The key travel is much less than on traditional Cherry MX switches and the switches also feature a semi-transparent housing in order to leave light shine through (RGB type). The placement of the extra programmable keys takes a while to get used to since we were often tempted to press them instead of the usual CTRL, Shift, CAPS or TAB keys but this process should only take a matter of days:

The Function keys also double as multimedia controls and LED brightness adjustment starting with F5:

On some samples, reviewers have reported the Spacebar key to be squeaky but we did not observe this with our revision; probably they have got samples from the first batches which were affected by this issue:

The SteelSeries key must be pressed in order to work with the double function F keys:

Here is a close look at the other usual keyboard keys:

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