SteelSeries makes impressive mechanical gaming keyboards. My go-to keyboard has been the SteelSeries Apex 7. This is a keyboard that has been near perfect for the past year thanks in part to the excellent build quality, features, and pro features that gamers love and need. However, when the opportunity arose to check out their flagship SteelSeries Apex Pro keyboard, I couldn’t pass it up. The Apex Pro is everything that makes the Apex 7 special but with its first-of-its-kind adjustable mechanical switches that reduce response time, Actuation, and is more durable than standard switches.
THE DESIGN
The SteelSeries Apex Pro isn’t a new keyboard, but there’s a reason why it hasn’t changed much and why SteelSeries has stuck with this same design for so many years. It’s a fairly stylish design that features a plastic body with an aircraft-grade aluminum face. The Series 5000 metal frame is manufactured for a lifetime of unbreakable durability and sturdiness. It is of a matte dark metallic gray color and feels cool to the touch. The surface reflects the RGB lighting subtly, with most of the under glow confined to the underside of the keys.
The keyboard is very sturdy, has some really good weight to it, and I really like that the cable on the back can be routed in three different positions depending on how you need the cable to sit. I also really like the built-in USB passthrough on the keyboard, which I use for the mouse, though you can use it to attach something like a flash drive if need be.
I should also mention the built-in OLED Smart Display that can be used to display various types of information as well as used to configure keyboard settings on the fly.
The SteelSeries APEX Pro is still a fantastic design, even though it shares it with the Spex 7. It looks great whether it is set up for gaming or being used as an office keyboard. It’s a classic design that I don’t think will ever go out of style.
THE OMNIPOINT SWITCHES
So the major bullet point of the Apex Pro and why you would pick this over the Apex 7 and its different switch choices is that the OmniPoint Switches here are adjustable. That’s something standard mechanical switches can not do. In fact, this might be the only mechanical keyboard out there that can do this.
To adjust the switches, you’ll have to use the SteelSeries GG app or the onboard software via the OLED Smart Display. The difference is that the keyboard software only allows for changing the actuation on all the keys at once while the SteelSeries GG app lets you change them per key.
The OmniPoint Switches however are not on all the keys. They are only on the main keys (60% portion of the keyboard) while the other keys use red mechanical switches. This is most likely because those other keys do not really get used much when gaming, so there’s no need really to make them adjustable.
So why are the OmniPoint Switches better? The diagram above should answer that clearly. Basically, the OmniPoit Switches can have much after response times due to a shorter actuation. Of course, response time is really only great for gaming and sometimes you don’t want that while you are just typing, which is why it’s also neat that you can increase the actuation point to something much larger, this way typing becomes more accurate and precise.
Lastly, another big advantage to these OmniPpoint Switches is that they last much luger and have higher durability at 100 million keypresses.
NEGATIVES
Are there any negatives to the SteelSeries Apex Pro? While you can swap out the keys to really anything you want, that’s a different story for the switches. While there are some mechanical keyboards that allow you to also swap out the switches, the Apex series of keyboards do not. These are basically stuck to the keyboard so if anything happens to break on these, there’s no easy way to service this yourself.
That’s the only real negative I see because everything else about the SteelSeries Apex Pro is just perfect, including the companion software.
THE FINALE
The SteelSeries Apex Pro is a very good mechanical PC gaming keyboard. The OmniPoint Switches is a game-changer, especially for those who like to customize every aspect of their gaming experience. However, if you already own an Apex 7, there isn’t really much reason to upgrade since the keyboards are almost virtually the same. If you’re picking up your first mechanical keyboard or replacing something else, the SteelSeries Apex Pro is a really great choice.
In my opinion, SteelSeries still makes one of the best mechanical gaming keyboards out there that have been proven competitively and if it’s good enough for the pros, it’s most likely more than good enough for you.
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