Gaming Keyboards
SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini review: An enthusiast’s keyboard
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SteelSeries Apex Professional Mini Wi-fi
MSRP $240.00
“In the event you can afford the worth, the SteelSeries Apex Professional Mini Wi-fi could be the most effective gaming keyboard you should buy.”
Professionals
- Distinctive Omnipoint 2.0 switches
- Twin actuation inputs
- Excellent dimension for avid gamers
- Satisfying typing and gaming expertise
- Bluetooth and a pair of.4GHz connections
Cons
- Unnecessarily costly
- SteelSeries GG is a bit complicated
- 60% kind issue limits use circumstances
SteelSeries is coming into a realm it has by no means gone to earlier than — the lately charted land of 60% gaming keyboards. Utilizing its ever-popular Apex Professional as a template, SteelSeries lower down the scale of its flagship to create a keyboard that meets the wants (and desk house) of avid gamers in 2022. SteelSeries went additional than pulling out keys, too, which is why the Apex Professional Mini and Apex Professional Mini Wi-fi are among the many best gaming keyboards you should buy.
That doesn’t imply it’s the best keyboard for you, although. The second-generation Omnipoint switches and twin wi-fi connections are huge promoting factors for the Apex Professional Mini Wi-fi, however its prohibitively excessive price ticket means you need to store for different choices earlier than selecting SteelSeries’ first small kind issue gaming keyboard.
Value
Earlier than attending to any facet of the Apex Professional Mini and Apex Professional Mini Wi-fi, we have to discuss pricing. The Apex Professional Mini is $180 and the wi-fi model clocks in at $240. It’s, by far, the costliest 60% gaming keyboard you should buy, at the least amongst mainstream manufacturers. The Corsair K65, an costly keyboard in its personal proper, is just $110 by comparability.
It’s not even shut in a whole lot of circumstances. Asus’ ROG Falchion NX is wi-fi and $150, practically $100 lower than what SteelSeries is asking. And the wired HyperX Alloy Origins Core sells for as little as $70, $110 lower than the wired Apex Professional Mini. It’s costly in comparison with SteelSeries’ personal choices, too. The total-size Apex Professional, which comes with a wrist relaxation and an OLED show, is just $20 costlier than the Apex Professional Mini.
The SteelSeries Apex Professional Mini Wi-fi is a downright horrible worth.
I wish to get this out of the best way as a result of I like this keyboard. It’s nice, and I’d simply suggest it even when it was barely costlier than the competitors. However it’s a downright horrible worth. This can be a keyboard for staunch fanatics who don’t thoughts throwing some cash away on premium peripherals. If you’d like a deal, ensure that to learn our roundup of the best budget mechanical keyboards.
Design
It’s laborious to know how small a 60% keyboard is till you choose one up with one hand. The Apex Professional Mini is 11.5 inches vast, 1.6 inches tall, and 4 inches deep, and it clocks in at simply over one pound. That makes it smaller than the Razer Huntsman Mini however barely heavier than the Asus ROG Falchion. The additional heft is probably going as a result of aluminum body the keyboard makes use of, although it feels removed from heavy when stacked up in opposition to a full-sized keyboard.
The look is fundamental, however I’m a fan. There’s a tasteful SteelSeries emblem on the entrance of the keyboard, in addition to a emblem on the again. The Apex Professional Mini Wi-fi is as fundamental as gaming keyboards come, however the small branding touches nonetheless make it really feel extra premium than a black plastic rectangle.
Happening to a 60% kind issue comes with sacrifices, particularly the arrow keys. I a lot choose a 65% kind issue with devoted arrow keys, however SteelSeries doesn’t depart you out within the chilly with the Apex Professional Mini. It has a “Meta” layer that you would be able to activate with the SteelSeries key, which opens up media buttons, arrow keys, capabilities, and rather more. Even higher, you may set any key for any operate within the Meta layer by way of SteelSeries GG.
Though I choose 65% for day-to-day use, there’s little question that this tiny kind issue is superb for gaming. The Apex Professional Mini is just barely longer than two gaming mice however end-to-end, lets you place the keyboard precisely the place you need whereas leaving ample desk house. It’s the alternative expertise of Asus ROG Strix Flare II, which is sort of as vast as my gaming monitor.
Connectivity and ports
The wi-fi model of the Apex Professional Mini is $60 greater than the wired model, however it earns that additional value. You might have the choice between Bluetooth and a pair of.4GHz wi-fi, and the low latency model feels such as you’re utilizing a cable. SteelSeries claims 40 hours of battery life, however you’ll doubtless get way more as a result of keyboard’s automated sleep mode.
Like different SteelSeries peripherals, the sleep mode isn’t good (learn our SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless review for extra). There’s a delay whenever you get up the keyboard because it responds to the dongle. It’s a couple of second or two on the Apex Professional Mini, which makes it really feel a lot much less snappy than a wi-fi keyboard just like the Logitech G915 TKL.
When the battery runs out, you may cost the Apex Professional Mini with the USB-C port on the again of the keyboard. It sits subsequent to the connection change, which lets you toggle between Bluetooth and a pair of.4GHz or flip the keyboard off.
Omnipoint switches
Outdoors of the truth that that is the primary 60% keyboard from SteelSeries, the Apex Professional Mini additionally stands out as the primary keyboard to make use of the corporate’s Omnipoint 2.0 mechanical switches. The primary model debuted on the full-size Apex Professional, and SteelSeries says this 2.0 model presents 11x quicker response instances, 10x quicker actuation instances, and are two instances as sturdy as “customary mechanical keyboards.”
And to my shock, I can really validate a few of these claims. For sturdiness, the Omnipoint 2.0 switches are assured to supply 100 million key strokes (double that of a conventional Cherry MX change), and for actuation, the Omnipoint 2.0 switches can go down as little as 0.2mm. That compares to only over 1mm on the quickest mechanical switches.
The Apex Professional Mini appears like a dream for avid gamers.
That actuation level is what makes Omnipoint 2.0 switches stand out. You possibly can regulate it from 0.2mm as much as 3.8mm throughout the board or on a per-key foundation. And it really works. I bumped every part right down to 0.2mm, and it felt like all I needed to do was lay my finger on a key for it to register an enter. It’s horrible for typing, however for gaming? The Apex Professional Mini appears like a dream.
Razer additionally has adjustable actuation on its Huntsman Mini Analog, however it doesn’t go practically as little as what SteelSeries is providing. I’ll not often use 0.2mm as an actuation pressure throughout the keyboard, however I loved bumping right down to sub-1mm ranges on my house bar and WASD keys whereas taking part in video games. It appears like a completely completely different solution to play, and I by no means had points with doubled or missed inputs.
Gaming and typing efficiency
After configuring my actuation factors, I used to be flying when taking part in video games on the Apex Professional Mini. I notably preferred utilizing it in fast-paced shooters — Future 2, Doom Everlasting, Valorant — the place the low actuation level felt prefer it was making an enormous distinction. Utilizing the keyboard outdoors of gaming is a little bit of a trouble, although.
The 60% kind issue has all the keys you want (minus arrow keys), however utilizing one as a day by day driver isn’t good. It’s not that the keys are smaller, however the truth that there’s no additional board underneath you fingers. I subconsciously stability my hand on the highest of a keyboard when urgent quantity keys, for instance, and a 60% keyboard just like the Apex Professional Mini exposes these hand rails. I discovered myself having extra slip-ups with typos when typing for a very long time, which additional proves that the Apex Professional Mini is a gaming keyboard first.
It’s nonetheless a pleasure to sort on in the case of really feel. The Omnipoint switches are linear with a chunky, hole clank to them that isn’t too distracting. They’re, once more, for gaming first and typing second, however the Omnipoint switches don’t really feel like one other knock-off of Cherry or Kailh.
SteelSeries GG software program
Bringing every part collectively on the Apex Professional Mini is SteelSeries GG — an admittedly flawed piece of software program regardless of how a lot performance it unlocks for the Apex Professional Mini. Beginning with the great, GG provides you full management over key bindings each on the bottom layer and within the Meta layer, and you’ll rebind the keys to macros, software controls, OS shortcuts, and rather more.
Past what you’d anticipate out of a $200 keyboard, GG additionally lets you arrange twin bindings and twin actuations. These two options are a number of the extra attention-grabbing choices in SteelSeries GG. Twin bindings permit you to bind a separate command upon releasing the important thing, whereas twin actuations lets you set separate inputs for various actuation factors.
SteelSeries GG lets you carry out mainly any PC enter, and often a number of ones, with a single key press.
It’s laborious understating the scope of potentialities with this setup. I think about most individuals will simply use the keyboard as regular, however the energy that GG presents is an enormous deal for those who have extremely particular use circumstances. Simply executable macros in your favourite MMOs, a complete board of productiveness shortcuts, or perhaps a row of keys dedicated to advanced Excel tricks — you may carry out mainly any PC enter, and often a number of ones, with a single key press.
It’s an excellent factor that the important thing bindings are so nice as a result of the remainder of SteelSeries GG is a slog. The RGB lighting engine works with numerous completely different results, however it’s not practically as versatile as Corsair iCue (and the colours in GG aren’t consultant of the colours in your keyboard). The built-in macro recorder works, however it’s not as intuitive as Logitech G Hub. The listing goes on.
My greatest subject with GG is how a lot bloat there may be, although. There’s a devoted part for giveaways, for instance, and the Moments part captures moments of key gameplay in supported video games (which AMD and Nvidia’s software program already does). As well as, it’s good to create a SteelSeries account to even use the app, and the house web page serves as an inventory of tiles to promote different SteelSeries merchandise (as an alternative of, you recognize, those you might have linked). GG is a flawed piece of software program that, sadly, is important to unlock the potential of the Apex Professional Mini.
Our take
The SteelSeries Apex Professional Mini Wi-fi is a monster gaming keyboard that does every part the most effective keyboards can do and extra. The Omnipoint switches are the largest promoting level, even when they don’t utterly justify the keyboard’s insane price ticket. I’d purchase this keyboard, however solely with full consciousness that it’s unnecessarily costly.
Are there any options?
Though there aren’t another keyboards with Omnipoint 2.0 switches, there are some related choices from SteelSeries’ rivals:
- Razer Huntsman V2 Analog: Cheaper than the Apex Professional Mini and comes with adjustable actuation level. You don’t have as a lot room for adjustment, although, and there isn’t a wi-fi model out there.
- Asus ROG Falchion NX: A barely bigger 65% keyboard that’s nonetheless tremendous small and comes with wi-fi connectivity. It lacks Bluetooth, however it’s less expensive than the Apex Professional Mini.
- HyperX Alloy Origins 60: Considerably cheaper than the Apex Professional Mini whereas nonetheless coming with true mechanical switches and a 60% kind issue. In the event you don’t care about all of the bells and whistles and need a keyboard that simply works, this one is for you.
How lengthy will it final?
SteelSeries says its Omnipoint switches are assured for 100 million keystrokes every. That’s to say, the Apex Professional Mini will final you till you select to improve.
Must you purchase it?
Sure. It brings one thing distinctive to the desk, even on the planet of high-end gaming keyboards — and even at its sky-high value. Keyboards just like the Logitech G915 TKL show {that a} excessive value isn’t a dying sentence, however there are nonetheless a number of different nice 60% gaming keyboards which can be $100 cheaper than the Apex Professional Mini.
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