Steelseries Apex M750
Strong, but with strong competition.
There’s nothing superfluous or even slightly gamercentric about the M750’s appearance; no harsh angles on its smooth aluminium base or obnoxious media keys, just a standard layout with readable, well-lit keys. SteelSeries’s Prism lighting system offers a stack of effects that you can store on the keyboard itself or customise through the SteelSeries Engine software, and the transparent switches make for one of the best lightshows we’ve seen on a gaming keyboard.
The new QX2 switches from SteelSeries are, technically, silent — press them gingerly enough and take advantage of the halfpress actuation distance, and there’s little to no noise, but there’s definitely a clatter with heavier typing. This shorter actuation depth and low-resistance springs may prove a little too sensitive for some, as we found we would accidentally trigger the keys when resting our digits on them. Despite the otherwise luxurious featureset, the non-braided cable doesn’t seem ultra durable and the height adjustment rubber feet seem like a step backwards from the triedand-tested fold-out feet.
While none of these drawbacks are truly major, and the keyboard is indeed a pleasant and premium offering, the asking price compared with that of its competition makes it difficult to recommend.
For a full per-key RGB mechanical gaming keyboard, you can look at the admirable ASUS RoG Cerberus for $100 less and, frankly, with a nearidentical featureset.
Verdict
Several inconveniences and a hefty price tag ultimate let this keyboard down.