It has been the right time to check out SteelSeries Apex 9 TKL gaming keyboard over the previous few weeks. I’ve not needed to work, which implies I’ve not needed to depend on a full-size keyboard for all of the alt-codes I am pulling off frequently. It is a tenkeyless keyboard, in any case, so there is not any numpad for all that malarkey, however what you do get are some tremendous swift optical keys which are nice for gaming.
The Apex 9 TKL has a fairly compact footprint even for a tenkeyless keyboard. There is no bezel to it, for lack of a greater phrase, and what I imply by that’s there’s little or no periphery to the keyboard face that extends past the place the keys finish. It is just about as compact as you are going to get with out shopping for a 65% board or one with all of the keys smushed collectively. I am not a fan of the typing expertise that brings, and this already appears loads sufficiently small.
Should you’re after an area saver, then, this certain is one. For gaming it gives up a bit of extra desk area for throwing a mouse round, and I try this in most FPS video games I play so there’s some profit to the compact match. Although I’ve to say the dearth of a numpad nonetheless is not my private choice—maybe that is the place a keyboard just like the Mountain Everest 60 (opens in new tab) gives a bit of extra flexibility because of its bolt-on numpad accent.
The Apex 9 TKL’s small stature has one other profit, nonetheless. It is typically cheaper than a few of SteelSeries’ full-size wares. The Apex 9 TKL asks for $140, whereas full-size SteelSeries boards of this calibre can go for upwards of $160. The Apex 9 TKL’s price ticket nonetheless pins it as a dear choice versus different extra standard-issue tenkeyless boards, nonetheless, and that largely seems for the inclusion of optical key switches and PBT keycaps.
Apex 9 specs
Dimension: Tenkeyless
Switches: OptiPoint optical
Keycaps: PBT
RGB lighting: Sure, per-key
Media controls: Sure, quantity wheel, play/pause
Worth: $140 / £135 / €150 (opens in new tab)
Should you do not already know, optical key switches use gentle to actuate on a key press. That is as a substitute of the extra conventional mechanical contact level you’d discover on, say, Cherry MX switches. The advantage of optical over mechanical typically comes right down to issues like debounce, actuation occasions, and response occasions. SteelSeries’ OptiPoint optical switches do all of this stuff very effectively.
These OptiPoint switches additionally permit for a selection between two actuation factors for all of the keys. You’ll be able to go for the extra customary 1.5mm or the rapid-fast 1mm. The latter the selection for fast-paced gaming, the previous extra for meticulous typists. You’ll be able to swap between the 2 modes (Gaming Mode and Typing Mode) with both the SteelSeries GG app or by way of holding down the SteelSeries emblem key and hitting both I or O. Fortunately you do not actually should keep in mind that actual shortcut, as if you happen to maintain the SteelSeries key the I and O keys gentle up orange.
In the end, it is a kind of options I are likely to not fiddle with an excessive amount of. I principally simply go away the keyboard on Gaming Mode and reside with my typing errors. Not that I make any, in fact.
The OptiPoint switches additionally provide the good thing about being removeable within the Apex 9 TKL, although the optical-ness of them does restrict that hot-swappable performance considerably. You need to substitute any eliminated switches with some to match, and which means extra OptiPoint switches. Whereas common hot-swappable mechanical switches may be swapped for every kind of flavour and really feel.
Admittedly, I nonetheless discover many main companies utilizing optical switches to not fairly provide the pliability that the unique Wooting One (opens in new tab) did. That was my first actual style of what kind of expanded performance an optical swap might provide, and it did all of it very effectively. Actuation factors, particular keystroke shortcuts, and analogue enter are all on the playing cards whereas additionally netting the opposite advantages of optical switches that the Apex 9 TKL maintains. Wooting would not use optical switches anymore, preferring as a substitute to make use of Corridor Impact switches with the same characteristic set, however that have with a board that actually took benefit of optical inputs has all the time left me wanting extra out of the larger manufacturers’ newer optical keyboards.
The Apex 9’s typing expertise additionally is not my favorite. Whereas fast and conscious of sport and sort with, the empty clack of the Apex 9’s keys as they hit the swap housing simply would not resonate with me. It feels like a small deal, however a keyboard’s clack is type of an enormous deal to some. Myself included.
There’s something I completely adore concerning the Apex 9’s building, nonetheless, and that is the inclusion of PBT keycaps and a neatly hidden PBT keycap puller. Should you carry up the rubber tab on the underside of the board you will discover a keycap puller beneath, handily saved for future use. I’ve by no means wanted a keycap puller in an emergency state of affairs sorta method, however I’ve undoubtedly been scrambling by means of my desk organiser for one at occasions.
As for the PBT keycaps, you are principally getting a longer-lasting plastic building that should not break too simply. Equally the legends should not put on off over prolonged use.
On the flipside, I am not vastly impressed with the amount wheel on this board. It’s extremely skinny versus a variety of others in the marketplace, and there does look like extra space round it to broaden out additional. Equally, I had initially thought the independently lit button beneath the amount wheel to be some type of multifunction button programmable within the GG app, however it’s not. It is only a play/pause button that is oddly illuminated with a white LED and isn’t programmable to some other colors within the app. I believe I might most likely want it to not be illuminated in any respect if that is going to be the case, as the remainder of the board lights up in no matter color and sample I want.
In the end the Apex 9 TKL is a blended bag. It is definitely not a nasty keyboard by any means, and functionally as a compact gaming machine it delivers the core performance I anticipate of it very effectively certainly. It is simply not all that spectacular, both. There’s undoubtedly some additional performance I might like to see out of SteelSeries’ optical switches, on the very least a extra granular actuation adjustment setting to get that set excellent for me, and I believe the GG app might be a bit of smarter wanting. However as I say, it does ship the naked necessities for a aggressive tenkeyless keyboard, and with a great discounted sale value I would not be too afraid to advocate it.
