Gadgetory

this video is brought to you by NCI XCOM great technology selection and service hey guys Eber here with hurricane axe and in every key board review we mentioned how saturated the market is you either focus on design or release a new switch to attract attention and SteelSeries with this new keyboard has done both meet the SteelSeries apex M 800 mechanical gaming keyboard that retails for surprisingly high and most likely white won't sell $200 price I mean we have a wide range of Corsair and coolermaster keyboards that cost south of 150 dollars so at first sign the m855 x didn't quite match our expectations the plastic exterior feels cheap that's also a huge fingerprint magnet and compared to robust plastic or even Lumina MEMS found on competing gaming keyboards the flexing frame will seriously hinder the appeal of the m808v used to adjust the height of the keyboard although without a compartment to store the extras SteelSeries also includes a set of key caps that you can replace for OS 10 Yosemite since the apex is Mac friendly although they haven't included a key puller plus the proprietary and virgin nature of the switch means key cap customization is off limits for now I found the enlarged space bar a huge bonus for FBS shooters as the pressure point is pretty consistent throughout plus the new mechanical switch complements easier actuations as I noticed my thumb to be less tired after gaming compared to my Corsair k95 at the front you'll find two USB 2.0 ports that can be used for connecting other peripherals like a gaming mouse or even charge mobile devices the cable is weighted and it ends with two USB plugs it comes with a proper logo at the tip to help differentiate between other cables that you may have plugged in into your machine there are six programmable macros located on the far left side of the keyboard which can be assigned through the driver software the media playback keys are assigned with the function keys with play pause skip track and volume adjust considering how large the apex is we I prefer dedicated media buttons instead so this keyboard is a big deal because of one thing a new mechanical switches emerged the qs1 switch developed by Steel series it's advertised to be 25% smoother than a typical MX cherry switch actuations felt lunch faster than MX red switches since the travel distance is only 3 millimeters compared to 4 on MX red and actuation point at 1.5 millimeters compared to 2 on MX red it requires 45 grams of actuation force and the switch is linear there's no clicky feedback to tell when your registration occurs but the fast response and super-quick bounds all account for satisfactory fingers it doesn't feel like a mechanical switch though it actually kind of reminds me of a membrane keyboard but with redesign mechanics for longitude and eliminate all the mushy and sticky problems you experience with the membrane the keys are extremely low-profile and I have to mention how quiet they are compared to my K 95 they are by far the quietest mechanical switches I've experienced let's take a listen moving on the lighting system on the apex screams attention this is by far the most in depth color customization on a keyboard we've ever reviewed you can change the color of every individual key so creating gaming zones productivity zones or writing zones with only preferred keys let-up is awesome these LEDs have received the RGB treatment with sixteen point eight million colors and the LED is centralized to eliminate that common brightness grading found on MX switches and overall quality of vibrance and brightness is fantastic plus the subtle side lighting and the logo can change color as well that looks gorgeous there are multiple color templates to choose from for different patterns but some of my favorites includes the disco mode vertical wave down and even an American flag pattern than truly represents the custom nature of this backlight all this can be configured within the SteelSeries Engine 3 software that acts as a main hub for all SteelSeries peripherals you are greeted with a very clean and simple design with a physical layer of the keyboard in the center and the adjustable settings on both the left and right sides you can assign macros to any key on the keyboard thanks to the built-in dual Phi coprocessors although the six dedicated macro buttons are there for a reason but it's still awesome to see SteelSeries not restrict this customization the macro editor is a useful tool if you want to make changes to your macro setting the illumination tab is where I spend most of my time playing around with lighting patterns and flexible customization as I mentioned earlier you can personalize each and every key of the colour to your choice with a plethora of lighting effects so SteelSeries has bought as one hell of an expensive keyboard sure the new qs1 switch is an almost perfect hybrid between a membrane key but with proper mechanics for 16 million keystrokes the switch is incredibly quiet that we consider a major positive plus not skimping out on lighting customization is appreciated really the major complaint we have is the build quality for the price it's not at all what we were expecting for $200 and I'm hoping sting series will take a hint and also focus on compact more robust version of the apex to be released in near future we like the new switch but we're hoping for a more aggressive entrance to compete against the MX cherry offerings while that concludes our review of the SteelSeries apex in 800 let us know what you think about the keyboard and what you will see in the appropriate price point for this product thanks for watching make sure to subscribe for more similar content and we'll see you in the next one you