SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3: A Hall Effect 60% Keyboard Leave a comment

Like virtually each keyboard right now, the Apex Professional Mini has a number of layers of sound-dampening contained in the case. This features a dense foam layer between the plate and PCB, a secondary foam layer beneath the PCB, and a thick piece of silicone filling the underside of the case. Peeling again the silicone reveals two inside metal weights, which serve to make the keyboard really feel extra dense, together with stopping it from sliding round in your desk, which isn’t sometimes accomplished on a keyboard with a plastic case. Nevertheless, these weights and the silicone dampening make up a big a part of the keyboard’s heft, leaving it feeling gentle and insubstantial when they’re eliminated.

As an alternative of being held along with commonplace Phillips screws, the Apex Professional Mini makes use of a T6 torx bolt. This makes disassembly marginally harder for the common purchaser, however T6 screwdrivers are cheap and commonplace. As soon as these screws are eliminated, the PCB itself makes use of the usual Pok3r/GH60 mounting factors, which means the vast majority of tray-mount 60% circumstances (such because the Tofu60) are suitable with it.

Ultimately, the Apex Professional Mini Professional is an alright keyboard. It feels good to sort on, works nicely for gaming, and has acceptable construct high quality with a couple of unusual particulars. It’s troublesome to justify the $220 worth. Each Wooting and Keychron have Corridor impact keyboards with comparable performance, related construct high quality, and higher software program that may run in-browser.

{Photograph}: Henri Robbins

For $80 much less, Keychron provides Corridor impact keyboards just like the K2 HE which have virtually similar efficiency, the identical tray-mounted meeting, and wi-fi connectivity. Or for $20 greater than the Apex Professional Mini, the Keychron Q1 HE has all of those options plus an aluminum construct and gasket mounting, which each make the typing expertise way more fulfilling.

Nevertheless, solely the Wooting 60HE and SteelSeries Apex Professional Mini have a real 60% structure. Whereas the Apex Professional Mini has smoother switches and options like mis-input safety, the 60HE has the next 8K polling charge, much better software program, and is out there for $175 with in any other case comparable specs and efficiency. I don’t really feel that the cash is well-spent on the Apex Mini Professional. In the event you actually like the way it appears, attempt to await a sale.