SteelSeries Apex RAW Gaming Keyboard

The keyboard in NOT mechanical. Other than that, its amazing. The eight shades of white light is vibrant, the anti-ghosting is nothing less than perfect, everything comes as promised. The SteelSeries Engine has a great user interface, allowing instant, full customization and two layers of FIFTEEN macros, and the ability to change the intensity of the illumination. With the elevated function (F) and macro keys, gaming has never been better. Keyboard response time is near instant. The keyboard is elevated and has a wrist rest, allowing for hours of nonstop gaming marathons in complete comfort. My only issue is that it's quite big, ranging around 20.5 inches wide.

Mainly I've given this KB 1 star for the useless customer support, the fact that it is incompatible with other steel series products in the way of the management software that comes with the keyboard and the mouse and the headphones and lastly the quality of construction.Each Steel Series product comes with a management tool that is built into the device. This tool is meant to be able to map keys on the keyboard, alter the way the KB works and also to manage your mouse and headphones setup in one convenient mini app that loads with your startup programs on boot. Great idea except none of the items are compatible with the apps in the other items, so instead of one control interface you have three loading up every time your boot your system. Is this a major issue? To some it is in the regard of using system resources in a sloppy manner. To others it just adds to the clutter in your system tray.Construction is a sore point with me which of course leads to the weak customer service. If you will notice in the product description this keyboard's keys light up and allows you to use it with just the light from your monitor. Some people like this, to me its just a gimmick which doesn't play very well. Each key is molded of clear plastic and then another key, in black with the letter shape laser cut into the surface is bonded to the clear key. Now with the light coming from inside the key board shines through the letters. All well and good and after 6 months of use, the black has literally chipped off the WASD keys which are the primary keys used in gaming for movement as well as most of the vowels which are oddly used in all words in the English language. Also one of the rubber feet on the KB has slid out of position and upon inspection the paper thin double sided tape used to hold it in place has folded over onto itself and will no longer hold the foot in place.Upon sending in a request for some new keys and adhesive for the foot ( as the KB is otherwise functioning ) I got to wait a week for the initial response telling me I had to put in an RMA before anyone would even talk to me. Then I put in the RMA and I was told I had to ship the keyboard back to them at my expense and IF they felt it was a warranty issue, they would send me a new keyboard. If they felt the issue was not a valid warranty claim then they would ship the KB back to me at my expense again. I advised them that I was not willing to send my keyboard on "vacation" for a week or more and end up with my old defective item back. I simply stated I needed some new keys and some glue and all they had to do was drop that in the mail for .42! I then got an email from them saying that I didn't have to send my old keyboard back but no mention as to resolving my issue. Repeated emails and messages left at their tech support site have gone unanswered.I normally use an inexpensive generic keyboard after being burned on a Logitech Gaming KB and a friend suggested this one for me as he had it and loved it. I figured to give it a try as Steel Series is a well known brand in the gaming community. Does it do what it's supposed to do; sort of. When you press the keys, letters then words appear on the screen so that part works. Do the macro keys work? Yes they do, there are 19 of them and someone that needs that many macro keys can have a blast assuming you can figure out which one is which when the paint comes off the keys. But worries, the KB is designed to fail within the warranty period which they may or may not cover assuming you are willing to spend more money to let them look at it. Oh and if you love boiler-plate, you will get a huge does of it from the typical robotic customer service.I repaired the thing myself with super glue for the rubber foot and a fine point acrylic black paint pen that I got here on Amazon.

I was looking for a white keyboard, or a backlit keyboard due to being in a darker than average room. Tried a white mechanical that worked very well, but was very loud. The only other model I have used was the Logitech backlit keyboard, but after a couple keytops fell off the 4th one I decided enough was enough.The only complaint I have with this keyboard is that the keytops are a bit closer together than I like, and I make a few typos here and there. If they were a bit wider it would be perfect.BTW, this is a BIG keyboard! The extra keys along the left side increase the width, and the extra keys along the top increase the length. It's a bit of a squeeze on my keyboard tray, but since I use a marble mouse no big deal.While it is quiet, there is a bit of noise. The keys are "pressed in" with plastic ears to hold them in place. If Logitech did this with their backlit KB it would be simply fantastic. There is occasional noise if you type harder than average from the keys rebounding and the plastic tabs slapping back. Also an occasional squeak here and there, but nothing overly obtrusive or annoying, about average for a keyboard of this style.You can also adjust the brightness of the keyboard from full on, which is adequate for a darkend room to completely off, with seven levels in between. Also, this is a single-colour keyboard so if you're looking for one of those "rainbow" things, this 'ain't it. Thankfully..Not using it for gaming I can't comment on the extra keys. Without loading the software the extra keypresses are not available to the KB interface of your OS, so if you're running Linux the extra keys are useless. There is a "Haskell" hack available but it looks like a lot of effort for the extra keys.Overall I am pleased with the keyboard, both with operation and esthetics. Will follow up at a later date if issues arise.

This keyboard is really underrated. It's one of the cheapest boards from SteelSeries and the extra features are more than worth it. A backlit keyboard and 17 extra macro keys with a comfortable feel and quiet keypress. This was exactly what I wanted in a keyboard and I highly recommend this if you're getting into gaming. The software you download from the website takes very little time to understand and is easy to set up.Initially I did have problems with my keyboard and mouse glitching out and changing settings; however, there have been software updates and it has not messed up since.If you want a great keyboard with a great feel, great performance, and is loaded with macros and backlit keys for a relatively cheap price, then this is for you.