Capsule Review: SteelSeries Apex M500 Gaming Mechanical Keyboard
by E. Fylladitakis on June 10, 2016 10:00 AM ESTConclusion
I always try to use every keyboard that we review as my personal keyboard for at least a week. My typical weekly usage includes a lot of typing (about 100-150 pages), a few hours of gaming and some casual usage, such as internet browsing and messaging. I personally prefer Cherry MX Brown or similar (tactile) switches for such tasks, but I do not consider linear switches to be inconvenient either. The Apex M500 was actually a little tiring for such use, not because of the switches but because the height of the keyboard and the lack of a palm rest place a lot of stress on the wrists. It does work just fine for the occasional typing of an essay/report or any other <10-page text with a couple of breaks, but I would not recommend it to professional writers and typists.
The intended market of the Apex M500 however is advanced and professional gamers. As far as gaming goes, assuming that the left wrist will require limited movement, the Apex M500 is highly responsive and very convenient to use. Even though it lacks a palm/wrist rest, the Apex M500 did not feel uncomfortable after an hourly gaming session for me.
The software left me with mixed feelings. As I use a few complex macros that include mouse movements and button presses, I had to use a third party macro programming software, compile the macros to .exe files and program the keyboard to launch them as external applications. For simpler macros and layout changes however, the SteelSeries Engine works great. It is a very simple, smooth and stable piece of software that has great potential should the company decides to throw some more resources into it.
As a keyboard, the Apex M500 has a very specific market and design focus. It is minimalistic, without extra buttons, USB ports, or even custom keycaps. In terms of durability however, the Apex M500 is very solid and the high quality of Cherry’s MX switches is widely known. Even though its external body is plastic, the Apex M500 does not feel “cheap” at all, yet it probably does lose in terms of visual prowess and prestige against aluminum-based models. The designer was truly focused on designing a simple, solid mechanical keyboard specifically for gaming.
In summary, the Apex M500 is a durable, no-frills mechanical keyboard that is an excellent choice for casual and advanced gamers alike. Although the macro recording capabilities of the supplied software are limited, it is smooth and very stable. Hopefully the company will invest more on it as they release more mechanical/programmable models, as it has great potential.
The only issue that the Apex M500 has is its very high retail price. SteelSeries suggests an MSPR price of $120 for the Apex M500, which is very steep and has virtually no hope against the competition. We found the Apex M500 currently retailing for $100 including shipping, a more reasonable price, and yet it still has many direct competitors retailing for significantly less. For example, the aluminum frame and Cherry MX based Cougar Attack X3 is currently retailing for just $70, a difference of about 30%. The Apex M500 is a very good choice for a gaming mechanical keyboard, but as keyboards are very much a commodity market, we feel that its retail price needs to be lowered if it is to stand a chance against the strong competition.
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kaidenshi - Saturday, June 11, 2016 - link
My wife has gotten interested in playing Rust since she started watching me play, and she's never been a gamer so her instinct is to use the arrow keys for movement. That actually works for her, since she is hardcore left-handed and has the mouse on the left side. (I'm left-dominant but mostly ambidextrous so I use the mouse/kb like right-handed folks). Oddly enough, the hardest thing for her to overcome is using two fingers on the mouse; she normally uses her index finger on the left button and moves it to the right button when necessary. That just doesn't work for FPS style games.MadAd - Saturday, June 11, 2016 - link
Get her her own mouse she can swap the buttons on, leaving your one normal, its what I do when I'm teaching/sharing desktops with left handers.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
>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.Blue light, f.lux, and such are grand ol' meemees.
>my eyes hurt from this blue light, maaaan.
>this blue light is messing up my sleep, maaan, but yellow light is a-okay for helping me sleep.
ddriver - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
Not only is it the possibly worst color to the eye, it is also the lease efficient energy wise - blue leds suck compared to other colors. It is a complete mystery why the industry keep shoving it down people's throats.DanNeely - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
Because it's the newest color. Red, green, and amber LEDs are old and boring.inighthawki - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
Dare I say, a professional look of white? I recently bought a corsair mechanical keyboard and opted for the RBG version solely so I could change the keys to white from the non-RGB version which is locked at red.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
It's literally just a color dude. I don't buy all this garbage of "I have scientific proof that blue is bad for you". Yeah, go ahead and stand in line next to the loser telling me that gluten is bad, that carbs are bad, that cellphone radiation gives me cancer, etc.Literally everything is bad for you and will kill you down the road.
I don't care at this point.
inighthawki - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
It's not that blue is bad for you, it's simply the hardest color for the human eye to see, and it's overall less energy inefficient to produce an output in blue that is as visible as other colors. There is a reason that night vision typically uses green, and it's not because blue or red are bad for your eyes, it's just because green is really easy for the eye to see and contrast against other shades.From a technical perspective he is completely correct - blue is not a wise color choice. From a manufacturing perspective, though? Not sure, maybe blue LEDs are the easiest/cheapest to produce. Power draw is likely also not their primary concern.
JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
You do realize that all of that is thrown out the window, because the majority of buyers buy based on appearance, right?Blue LEDs are the most common on peripherals. Monitor on/off LED. Speaker on/off LED. Computer cases most often have on/off and HDD activity blue LED. It's pretty natural for people to buy the keyboard that matches what they already have going for them, and it's not as if they got RGB LEDs on their monitor and speakers, and such.
I doubt anyone has ever looked at buying a backlit mechanical keyboard, noticed the blue LED and thought to themselves, "No way! I'm not going to buy something that's 'hard' for my eyes to see, and the inefficiency of using blue LEDs was an awful idea! And using these at night will ruin my sleep/wake cycle!"
If you asked a manufacturer how many units sold of an several _identical_ keyboards, save for LED colors, you'd see that blue backlit keyboards sold hand over fist way more than any other individual color. It's in the manufacturer's best interest to not introduce too many models on the market and blue LED backlighting captures the majority of buyers anyways, so there's very legitimate logic going on here.
You're overthinking this WAY too hard, man. The absolutely majority of users are just out there to get a black keyboard, to match their black peripherals and computer, and to match with LED color, too.
You're in the minority if you're one of the few who cares about blue LED eyestrain, inefficiency, and sleep/wake cycle. And people of this opinion know very well that having an evenly lit desk, through an overhead lamp, is more ergonomic than backlit keyboards.
inighthawki - Friday, June 10, 2016 - link
I think you're taking my reply way too seriously. I have nothing against blue LEDs, I'm just pointing out ddriver's statement is factually accurate, and that it has nothing to do with blue being *bad* for you, simply that it is less efficient. If people like the color blue then... great! Let them buy it.As for me, I have no issues with eye strain, efficiency, blah blah blah. I do, however, choose the most practical product for my needs, which is the one that offers better contrast. It doesn't hurt my eyes to see blue, but it's also a lot easier to see green or white.
I also didn't say anything about impact on sleep/wake cycles, nor do I care.