The SteelSeries Apex[RAW] is one of the more idiosyncratically shaped keyboards on the market right now. The main face of the keyboard is all one piece of rigid plastic, with textured black around the outer edges and a glossy black surrounding the keys themselves; part of the textured black area forms the keyboard's small wrist-rest, measuring only a little over 4cm from bottom of space-bar to base. Towards the rear the keyboard curves downwards rather than introduce a harsh angle, whilst the sides are steeply angled into a triangular cross-section with white accenting. It leaves a great first impression of attention to detail and a near-unique design not common to keyboards in and around the price bracket.



Moving to the keys themselves, they're low profile in the main with a membrane switch mechanism. The black keycaps are slightly glossed with the character etched out of the surface resulting in very clear and bold print which should be clear even in conditions where lighting is poor. The layout shown is for the US standard, typified by the long shift keys and half-height space bar; the Apex[RAW] is also available in a variety of localisations.



Whilst not strictly designed to be, and quite difficult to lever out thanks to the tightly packed layout, the keycaps can be removed with careful application of a keycap remover. This should be done sparring however - the clips holding the keycaps in place are relatively fragile and will wear quickly. Both keycap base and rubber dome switch are translucent, allowing light to pass through and illuminate the key character.

SteelSeries deviate from the layout norm in some key areas that provide the keyboard with its distinctive functionality. The most obvious is the double-height Space, increasing the surface area for striking two-fold and allowing a more flexible hand position when gaming. The Escape key gets similar treatment, in this respect it's 50% taller than usual. These alterations begin the trend of specialisations made to the Apex family of keyboards, allowing them to stand out in a busy market.



Ideally situated on the left and sharing the low-profile form of the main keyset are the macro keys MX1-MX5. Keeping them close to the WASD-zone reduces both response time and the adjustment needed to return your position to WASD, which conveniently also includes two pips on the W-key to help locating your hand without the need to take your eyes off the screen. It's noteworthy that the non-[RAW] Apex doubles up on macro keys in this column.

L1 and L2 are layer toggles which swap between two sets of key assignments within a keyboard profile quickly. They're well out the way but still close enough to WASD to make triggering them fast and fluid where necessary. Once again, the Apex doubles up on layers and adds two layer keys for four total.



Aligned across the top of the Function keys are the remainder of the Apex[RAW]'s macro keys: M1-M12. They're angled slightly forwards and are double the height of the keys directly below, a design quirk which makes them far easier to trigger without simultaneously pressing a Function key. They slightly stiffer than the other keys on the board, although not so far removed from the rest of the keyset nor difficult to deal with.

The Apex[RAW], unlike the Apex, doesn't have dedicated media keys. Instead F7-F12 share duties are back, play/pause, forward, mute, volume down and volume up respectively. These secondary functions are activated when pressed simultaneously with the SteelSeries key between the Alt and App keys on the bottom row, which isn't a bad compromise. Some will decry the lack of dedicated media keys, but in all honestly they're not often used in wired setups.



Finally, the bottom-right includes two additional arrow keys. With the software installed they are by default set to Up+Left and Up+Right, but can be reassigned as desired. Although not many games call for arrow keys these days, some console ports or emulated games could benefit from these additional keys.



The rest of keyboard is really quite standard. The base of the keyboard is a flat plastic with four rubber feet keeping it stable on a desk. The rear USB cable uses a simple rubber sheathe rather than braided plastic fibre, the latter of which is reserved for the more pricey Apex. This choice could potentially have a few long-term durability ramifications, especially if threaded in such a way that wear is likely, but generally should be a aesthetic rather than quality failing.

Overall it's looking pretty good. There's certainly an excess of macro keys to take advantage of, and the first impressions of the membrane keyboard doesn't seem too far off the ideal. Most importantly it's stable and no part seems loose or unsecured - [RAW] this may be, but SteelSeries don't seem to have skimped on the build quality.