The most impressive feature of the Apex M750 is the RGB lighting, the LEDs are bright, produce accurate colours and the fade effects are like nothing else. The SteelSeries Engine 3 helps to support the RGB effort through an excellent ability to adjust the effects and even stack one upon another; the software can enable slow-moving waves of colour across the keyboard, but also stack reactive effects on top. The overall result is beautiful. The keyboard will also change the backlight colour of all the relevant keys once the SteelSeries key is pressed, allowing you to detect the media/volume keys quickly and easily.
Thanks to the aluminium faceplate, the M750 is strong, resisting twisting and bending forces well. The underside, still made from plastic, also feels premium. The rubber feet on the underside do well to absorb key noises from the board instead of passing them into your desk. SteelSeries have chosen to go with large removable feet, instead of the typical “flip-up” style; the idea is good, in theory, but the act of swapping them over almost brought on a fit of rage – they’re far too fiddly to get into place.
SteelSeries have gone against the grain, opting to design their own mechanical switches, instead of using Cherry MX or anything similar. Gateron have been chosen to produce the QX2 switches to the SteelSeries spec. The overall aim of the QX2 switch is speed, above all else; the actuation point is 2mm with an overall travel of 4mm, this isn’t the fastest key out there, but the required force is low at 45cN (centiNewtons). During testing, the keys felt excellent for gaming, providing ample spring back, and being reasonably fast, but they’re loud, incredibly loud for such a light key; they could easily be very annoying to anyone else in the room, especially if typing for long periods. They feel like Cherry MX Reds but sound almost like Cherry MX Blues. We tested gaming performance with Battlefield 4, Paladins, Orcs Must Die: Unchained, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS and War Thunder, all of these games seemed to benefit from the fast switches. The keyboard features full N-Key rollover to help assist you in tight situations. Unfortunately, the typing performance of the M750 was lacking, somewhat, with too little “feel” from the keys to get an accurate measure of when a key is pressed. We found that there were too many mistakes made, even after a few days of testing and opted to switch back to the “daily driver” to type the review. The keyboard was also a little uncomfortable for typing, which leads us on to the final point.
SteelSeries haven’t included a wrist rest with the M750, which for a tall keyboard isn’t the best move. They do, however, offer this as an optional extra, to the tune of £11.99 in the UK and $14.99 in the US; considering the keyboard is priced at £150, this really should be included as standard. The lack of any USB or audio pass-through, or a braided cable isn’t great, either; those are pretty common-place within the gaming peripherals market, especially when considering options upwards of £140.
Thanks to the aluminium faceplate, the M750 is strong, resisting twisting and bending forces well. The underside, still made from plastic, also feels premium. The rubber feet on the underside do well to absorb key noises from the board instead of passing them into your desk. SteelSeries have chosen to go with large removable feet, instead of the typical “flip-up” style; the idea is good, in theory, but the act of swapping them over almost brought on a fit of rage – they’re far too fiddly to get into place.
SteelSeries have gone against the grain, opting to design their own mechanical switches, instead of using Cherry MX or anything similar. Gateron have been chosen to produce the QX2 switches to the SteelSeries spec. The overall aim of the QX2 switch is speed, above all else; the actuation point is 2mm with an overall travel of 4mm, this isn’t the fastest key out there, but the required force is low at 45cN (centiNewtons). During testing, the keys felt excellent for gaming, providing ample spring back, and being reasonably fast, but they’re loud, incredibly loud for such a light key; they could easily be very annoying to anyone else in the room, especially if typing for long periods. They feel like Cherry MX Reds but sound almost like Cherry MX Blues. We tested gaming performance with Battlefield 4, Paladins, Orcs Must Die: Unchained, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS and War Thunder, all of these games seemed to benefit from the fast switches. The keyboard features full N-Key rollover to help assist you in tight situations. Unfortunately, the typing performance of the M750 was lacking, somewhat, with too little “feel” from the keys to get an accurate measure of when a key is pressed. We found that there were too many mistakes made, even after a few days of testing and opted to switch back to the “daily driver” to type the review. The keyboard was also a little uncomfortable for typing, which leads us on to the final point.
SteelSeries haven’t included a wrist rest with the M750, which for a tall keyboard isn’t the best move. They do, however, offer this as an optional extra, to the tune of £11.99 in the UK and $14.99 in the US; considering the keyboard is priced at £150, this really should be included as standard. The lack of any USB or audio pass-through, or a braided cable isn’t great, either; those are pretty common-place within the gaming peripherals market, especially when considering options upwards of £140.
