The SteelSeries Apex M750 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review: Set Apart by Software
by E. Fylladitakis on September 7, 2018 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Peripherals
- Cherry MX
- SteelSeries
- Mechanical Keyboards
- QX2
Conclusion
The Apex M750 currently represents the best mechanical keyboard that SteelSeries has to offer. As a flagship product, this keyboard is designed to characterize the company's vision, embodying their most advanced technologies and features with little regard for the retail cost. SteelSeries is a company known for their high quality but subtle designs, usually preferring practicality over aesthetics. The Apex M750 is the avatar of this concept, with a modern, simplistic design, yet paired with a lot of software-based advanced features.
SteelSeries's Engine software is practically the main feature of this keyboard. It is a very nicely written and presented software package, with plenty of features and options. Most of them are for the programming of fancy illumination effects, but the option to program multiple layout profiles and tether them to specific applications is there, as well as advanced per-key programmability options. SteelSeries could upgrade their macro recorder to be more flexible and to include relative/absolute mouse movements, but we cannot complain about the current state of the software. The only downside here is that the Apex M750 does not have any dedicated keys for profile switching, so either profiles will have to be tethered to specific applications and launch automatically or the user must be switching them manually via the software's interface.
In terms of quality, the SteelSeries Apex M750 left us with mixed feelings. The keyboard itself is well made, with a beautifully machined aluminum top frame and an immaculate assembly. Its electronics are also of top quality, as expected from a product of this tier. The only downside is the SteelSeries QX2 switches, which essentially are a clone of the Cherry MX Red switch. Producing a clone is not necessarily a bad thing, but the difference between the QX2 and the MX Red is quite obvious, with the former displaying much greater key-to-key disparity than the originals. Furthermore, the keys wobble significantly, enough to question the premium character of the keyboard and making the difference between the clone and the original switch all too apparent.
Another problem that the users of the Apex M750 will have to deal with is the lack of any extra media/programmable keys. Resorting to keystroke combinations just to lower the sound volume is at the very least impractical during a gaming session, especially if some of the keys have been reprogrammed to serve other functions. We believe that at least dedicated sound volume controls are a must with a keyboard of this class.
Ultimately, the SteelSeries Apex M750 is an excellent mechanical keyboard that is supported by an even better software package. However, it faces incredibly stiff competition from the dozens of companies offering similar products. If the keyboard sold for the company's suggested retail price of $140/170€, that price would essentially place the Apex M750 out of the market. But in practice the keyboard can currently be found for around $110, a relatively reasonable retail price for an advanced mechanical keyboard. This allows the Apex M750 to be more of a threat towards mid-range mechanical keyboards, and avoid competing directly with the significantly more expensive top-tier products of other manufacturers.
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timecop1818 - Saturday, September 8, 2018 - link
So hold on, is menu button completely gone to be replaced with their Fn key equivalent?wavetrex - Saturday, September 8, 2018 - link
Yes, there is no "menu" button.Which I found inconvenient as well, but resolved it quickly by remapping the right "Windows" key to be the "menu" button".
The "Steelseries" key cannot be remapped, but every other one can.
This is an absolutely excellent keyboard and I've been enjoying it since March 2018, and to this day nothing else to complain about it.
It looks great, works great, easy to maintain (clean), software is awesome (and could be improved even more).
timecop1818 - Sunday, September 9, 2018 - link
Thank you. that seems like a decent compromise, I do use left winkey as well as menu (a lot), but can't recall many cases where right winkey would be in use.wavetrex - Saturday, September 8, 2018 - link
@E. FylladitakisSome people (that includes myself) like and want the minimalist design, which still keeps full ANSI compatibility.
I bought this keyboard especially for this, it has the minimum size for a full-104 key keyboard and fits my desk well.
Other mech. keyboards might have extra functions, dedicated media or macro buttons, but they are also significantly BIGGER, and that becomes a problem for many people.
The position of the media combo-keys make it easy to distinguish between "Play/Pause - F8" and "Next - F9", since there's that gap between them, and these are basically the most useful ones.
Volume Up/Down are also well placed, at the end of Fn row, making them easy to find blindly.
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Finally, you seem to have missed in your article the fact that lighting can be controlled through the keyboard itself as well, not just the software.
Pressing "SS Key" + Print screen / Scroll Lock / Insert / Home / Delete / End changes lighting modes and adjust parameters (like color, speed)
Even without installing the software, it's possible to switch to a more "pleasant" lighting, like "Starlight" mode. The keyboard remembers the last setting event through power-off, so moving it to a computer without the software installed is nice.
E.Fyll - Sunday, September 9, 2018 - link
There is no need to try and justify your purchase to anybody. Every product has a potential market - if it didn't have any potential at all, nobody would bother reviewing it anyway. I am just highlighting what I think it is important, from my point of view. Readers are free to decide themselves whether the product fits their wants and needs.About this however:
"Other mech. keyboards might have extra functions, dedicated media or macro buttons, but they are also significantly BIGGER, and that becomes a problem for many people."
That's not even remotely true. There are at least a dozen mechanical keyboards available with dedicated media keys/volume control knobs which are not even bigger than the M750. The dead space occupied by the company's logo would be enough to host at least dedicated volume controls.
Finally, that's a gaming keyboard and its target group is, well, gamers. I really don't think that a gamer cares about being able to switch to "starlight mode" without the software if plugging in the keyboard to another computer. I just never fathomed that someone would buy such an expensive keyboard for that feature. But thank you for pointing that out, just in case someone actually does care about that.
Sarah Terra - Saturday, September 8, 2018 - link
Sad how badly Ian Cutress has run this once great publication into the ground. Irrelevant, boring articles combined with endless keyboard reviews....ladies and gentlemen, I give you the result of liberal millennials "at work"m16 - Sunday, September 9, 2018 - link
It just so happens that the majority of people happen to use keyboards and there's a lot of new offerings showing up.If you want to talk about drivel and politics, there's a place for you, fox is elsewhere on the internet, and it includes retirees.
imemerson - Sunday, September 9, 2018 - link
This site still does amazing work, including reviews of keyboards which are the most important peripheral for any computer. To make this site more useful to those of us that are here to learn and use it correctly, please remove yourself. I'm sure you can find plenty of low-quality "liberal millenials are ruining everything" places to spout your nonsensical drivel (try InfoWars or anything under the label of Fox News) and please stop slandering a site that actually engages in high-quality reviews and writing with a long history of excellent and truthful reporting.Ryan Smith - Sunday, September 9, 2018 - link
"Sad how badly Ian Cutress has run this once great publication into the ground."Hey, credit where credit is due. I'm the editor-in-chief, I am the one who's running it into the ground! =P
But in all seriousness, if you have specific concerns about the site I'm more than happy to hear them.
However as far as keyboard reviews go, I am very satisfied with them and intend to continue. They are a nice way to mix things up in terms of content, and they draw reasonable traffic and reader interest.
Ian Cutress - Monday, September 10, 2018 - link
What's been irrelevant and boring recently? Lots of investigative work and new launches, as well as extensive show coverage in the past few weeks