Capsule Review: SteelSeries Apex M500 Gaming Mechanical Keyboard
by E. Fylladitakis on June 10, 2016 10:00 AM ESTSteelSeries is one of the most reputable manufacturers of gaming-related peripherals and software. The company originates from Denmark and today has offices in the US and Taiwan. Even so, the company was a little late into the mechanical keyboards market, as they opted to focus on advanced membrane-based keyboards instead. Until recently, the company has been offering just one mechanical keyboard, the Apex M800 with their own custom QS1 switches.
The high price and, perhaps, the use of switches from an “unknown” source did do any favors for the popularity of the Apex M800, but it still had its own distinct user base. SteelSeries however is a company who is largely based and focused around the gaming community, so they rightfully felt that they ought to have at least one mechanical keyboard designed solely for hardcore and professional gamers. To that end, SteelSeries recently released the Apex M500, a high performance no-frills mechanical keyboard designed exclusively with that market group in mind.
Packaging and bundle
We received the Apex M500 in a very strong cardboard box that can withstand even the roughest of transportation services. The artwork is relatively simple, based on abstract geometrical shapes and a picture of the keyboard itself. Inside the box we only found the keyboard itself, protected inside a simply nylon bag. SteelSeries does not supply any additional parts, such as a wrist rest, extra keycaps or a keycap remover.
The SteelSeries Apex M500 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
The designer of the SteelSeries Apex M500 truly tried to make it as simple and straightforward as possible. The body of the keyboard is plastic, with narrow rounded edges, and is sprayed with a matte black paint that is highly resistant to fingerprints. It is a standard 104-key ANSI layout keyboard with a 6.25× Spacebar and seven 1.25× bottom row keys. The keycaps are made from ABS plastic and have large, smooth characters. The company’s logo is printed at the top right corner of the keyboard, above the numpad.
Although there are no extra buttons on the Apex M500, a few additional functions are supported via the FN key that is replacing the right Windows key. While the FN key is being held pressed, the F5-F6 keys provide backlight brightness control and the F7-F12 keys offer basic media and volume controls. Other than that, the Apex M500 is just a standard 104-key keyboard. We would like to have seen at least a separate mechanism for sound volume control, but as a compromise of sorts the Apex M500 is a fully programmable model, so the user can reprogram any of the standard keys to perform such functions if that is a necessity.
For some strange reason, the designer tried to make the bottom of the Apex M500 aesthetically appealing. The plastic body forms an abstract, modern design, based on simple polyhedral shapes with rounded edges. A large, full company logo is engraved on the top left side of the keyboard’s underside. The rubber anti-skid pads are thick and very effective, providing very strong grip even on the most slippery solid surfaces. There are grooves for the routing of the cable to exit from either the center, left or right top side of the keyboard.
SteelSeries decided not to use proprietary switches on the Apex M500. The company went with the proven and very reputable Cherry MX switches instead. There currently is only one version of the Apex M500 available, with Cherry MX Red switches and blue LEDs. These switches are typically considered to be the best for gaming due to their linearity and low actuation force.
The blue backlighting of the Apex M500 is very strong and even. Blue lighting can be tiring for the human eye and the Apex M500 is blindingly bright at maximum intensity, so users will have to reduce it significantly for use inside dark rooms.
After we removed the plastic frame of the Apex M500, all that is left is the main PCB permanently attached on the blue steel frame that is supporting the keys. This is the standard and proven design of most mechanical keyboards, providing excellent mechanical cohesion and durability. The soldering job is excellent, with no flaws that we could find.
ST Microelectronics supplies the STM32F072R ARM microprocessor that is the heart of the Apex M500. It is a high performance 32-bit microcontroller with a maximum frequency of 48 MHz and 64KB of integrated Flash memory.
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ddriver - Saturday, June 11, 2016 - link
My analogy implies that people can get used to anything, it does not apply the superiority of any particular keyboard layouts.inighthawki - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
ANSI vs ISO layout. I believe the ANSI layout is commonly more popular than the ISO layout, even amongst people outside of the US.TesseractOrion - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
I believe you are incorrect. Just cognitive bias favouring the US (non) standard - pretty common on US sites funnily enough... the rest of the world is considerably larger than the USA, tho 'merkins are loathe to admit it LOLinighthawki - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
My conclusion was actually based on google searching of ISO vs ANSI layouts, and the general conclusion on forums and polls was there was a [generally strong] preference towards ANSI, even amongst ISO users.For example:
https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/blog/2015/09/0...
https://wlhlm.github.io/rmk-march-2015-survey/kb.h...
From what I've read, the preference to the ISO standard is because it supports letters or keys simply unavailable on the ANSI keyboard, not because the actually layout is superior. Amongst English users, ANSI seems pretty dominant.
ddriver - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
Popularity is usually synonymous with mediocrity.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
Just as a reminder, this is AnandTech.com. A United States based website.This isn't AnanTech.uk, or AnandTech.eu, for example. ANSI is the standard here, and you can take your complaints elsewhere.
LordanSS - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
Welcome to the Internet, where people all over the world (mostly) have access to information.And AnandTech, US website you say? With so many of their editors being across the Atlantic Ocean, you still get to say that? Get a grip.
JoeyJoJo123 - Saturday, June 11, 2016 - link
And... ANSI is still the standard here in the greatest country in the world.Get a grip, third-worlder.
TesseractOrion - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
Haha agreed :-)The UK still has 'Imperial' units (in parts) but at least has a proper size 'Enter' key, thankfully!
MamiyaOtaru - Sunday, June 12, 2016 - link
I bought a SteelSeries keyboard around 9 years ago and returned it the moment it arrived and I saw it had a large Enter key. That forced backslash up into the backspace key and every time I use a board like that, when I try to hit backspace I was getting backslash instead. (bought a keyboard from Deck instead, still going strong)It's all about what you are used to, and doesn't need to be couched in terms of "hurr USA so bad"
Glad they are now providing what this market would consider a standard layout.