CONCLUSION

   As we speak i consider 3 gaming peripherals manufacturers as the top in this industry and SteelSeries is amongst them for a reason so i never had any doubts about the success of their APEX gaming keyboard. The materials used are of high quality, it has a very sleek design, it's very easy to use (largely thanks to the fact that it has no unnecessary bells and whistles on it) and it offers many features that serious gamers will find extremely useful such as a total of 88 macro key commands, low-profile keys which are faster to use compared to regular ones, rubber feet which make it extremely hard for the keyboard to get pushed around and finally five different illumination zones which can certainly help (although mostly for show). That however does not mean that the APEX is perfect and it's really not since aside the fact that the keys are very soft to press and offer little feedback (after using mechanical keyboards this may annoy some people) the main keyboard area (l/r shift) is not as large as with other keyboards so if you go from let's say the 6GV2 to the APEX you will probably need some time getting used to it. That's not really a serious drawback since it took us but a couple of hours to get used to it (including the large space key) but we like calling things as we see them.

   Since the APEX gaming keyboard doesn't have the extra bells and whistles that the majority of users out there will probably never get to use SteelSeries has given it a very attractive price tag which is currently set at USD99.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 99.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Granted since we are not talking about a gaming keyboard with Cherry MX keys many people will find it expensive but at the end of the day SteelSeries also gives their rubber dome keys a lifespan of 5 million keystrokes so if the end result is the same durability-wise i don't see a problem. Perhaps the sole problem is the lack of tactile feedback which you can get by using a mechanical gaming keyboard but many gamers will probably like that (i didn't however). Still overall the APEX is without doubt one of the best gaming keyboards we've used in the last 3 years and that's why gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Low-Profile Keys
- 22 Macro Keys (88 Macro Commands Total)
- 5-Zone Color Illumination
- Independent Media Keys
- Anti-Ghosting Technology (Up To 6 Simultaneous Key Presses)
- Enlarged Space Bar
- Removable Rubber Feet
- 2 Front USB Ports

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Membrane Keys (For Some)