SteelSeries Apex M500 Keyboard Review
Overview
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a SteelSeries product here at pcG the last one we saw was the mightily impressive M800, a keyboard that is best described for the hardcore Gamer or enthusiast. But we would not say that it was for the Professional (Pro) Gamer; as these people are really rather special!
With this in mind Steelseries has gone on to develop its latest gaming keyboard, a Gaming keyboard for Professional Gamers, real tournament-grade Gamers. This is the SteelSeries Apex M500
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‘The Apex M500 is a tournament-grade backlit mechanical gaming keyboard built entirely around the needs of professional gamers. The Apex M500 adds to the legacy which began with our release of the first mechanical gaming keyboard, the 6Gv2. With the addition of Cherry MX Red switches, the M500 creates a new standard for pro-performance and durability. Featuring the industry-leading Cherry MX Red Mechanical Gaming Switches, the Apex M500 delivers the game-winning performance required by pros. The low force and actuation point of the switch results in dramatically faster gameplay making Reds the undisputed choice of professionals. Games are decided in seconds, and every advantage is essential.’ |
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The SteelSeries Apex M500 arrived at pcG in a compact dark grey box with an over-sized image of the Apex M500 front left. In addition to this, and other than the brand and product name, SteelSeries have chosen to highlight compatibility with both Windows and Mac and the use of Cherry MX (Red) switches as well as the blue LED illumination.
Looking at the back of the box we see a full size image of the Apex M500 with some blurb on the Cherry MX Red key switches along with some information regarding Anti-Ghosting and N-Key Rollover. This can be found in English and various other languages.
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On opening the box we find that the Apex M500 is well packaged and presented, although presentation could be a little better IMHO! On the side of the box we also see that the keyboard has been designed with the world’s best eSports teams (Evil Geniuses, Edward Gaming & Tyloo).
There’s not much in the box though, well nothing really other than a Quick Start Guide. But then considering that this keyboard is for Professional Gamers, I’m unsure as to what else you’d expect or need…
At the time of writing the SteelSeries Apex M500 is available on Amazon
Specifications/Features
courtesy of SteelSeries
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SWITCHES Switch Type: Mechanical Switch Name: Cherry MX Red Gaming Switches Throw Depth: 4 mm Actuation and Reset Depth: 2 mm Actuation Force Needed: 45cN 50 Million Click Lifetime Guarantee DESIGN |
Full Anti-Ghosting Support CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS BOX CONTENT |
* Additional details available here
First Impressions
First impressions of the SteelSeries Apex M500 are along the lines of; ‘so it’s a keyboard then, a mechanical one at that’. But of course to begin to critique the Apex M500 for not having RGB illumination, not having per-key lighting, not having USB, not having audio ports or dedicated volume control etc. would be to miss the point. This keyboard is designed to be used by Pro Gamers in Tournament situations and needs to do one thing above all else. And that’s work and work flawlessly! 😉
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Looking at the keyboard as a whole it’s apparent that the Apex M500 is built to last and high quality materials have been used throughout. The words built like a tank come to mind. The M500 features a standard keyboard layout and is compact in size so that it doesn’t take up too much desk space. There’s just one additional key and that’s the SteelSeries key found to the right of the right ALT key. What’s difficult to see in the image above left is that the inner part of the chassis (beneath the keys) is actually blue to help further promote the blue LED illumination.
Looking at the back of the Apex M500 we see that it’s equipped with five (all rubber) feet; three at the front and two at the back. What’s quite interesting though and very useful is the cable management channels that have been placed into the back of the keyboard. This allows the cable to exit either centrally, left or right.
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The back of the keyboard features two legs that can be extended to raise the back of the keyboard up. These legs flip out (although they’re somewhat difficult to get a hold of!) to the back of the keyboard and once locked into position they stay locked. Meaning that if you push the keyboard backwards, the legs don’t have a tendency to collapse.
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With the Apex M500 flat on the desk it was a little too uncomfortable for Gaming as my wrists were very bent and of course there’s no wrist rest either. With the legs extended (lifting the back by approx 10mm) this was alleviated to some degree (there’s a joke there somewhere!) and comfort levels were increased, but I’d still prefer a wrist rest…
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Surprisingly the SteelSeries Apex M500 does have some additional functionality thanks to that SteelSeries key at the bottom right of the keyboard. This allows access to functions for brightness (five levels inc off) F5 and F6 and Media controls F7 – F9 and volume control F10 – F12. But that’s it folks…
Over on the right hand side (image above right) we find the main lock indicator panel complete with non-illuminating SteelSeries logo. All the usual lock indicators are here. Num/Caps/Scroll as well as a Windows Key lock activated via the SteelSeries key + Windows key.
Well there’s really not much here to get excited about, but what we do have is a solid mechanical keyboard with the best switches in the form of Cherry MX red. Let’s get it plugged in and take a look at the illumination and get some Gaming done! 😉
Hardware Installation
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The SteelSeries Apex M500 connects by way of a single USB plug found at the end of a 2 metre rubber cable. The cable, while rubber and not braided, is nice and flexible and isn’t that prone to snagging either. |
Testing Methodology/Setup
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For full functionality of the SteelSeries Apex M500 keyboard you’ll want to install the SteelSeries Engine 3 software (here) as it’s not supplied. At the time of review the software version was labelled as 3.8.2 and the firmware version was 0.21.0.0, this was used throughout testing. |
The following games were used during testing:
Hardware Performance
From a pure hardware performance point of view the SteelSeries Apex M500 performed well, extremely well in fact. This is down to the fact that the Apex M500 has a very solid chassis with zero flex. This gives the Cherry MX Red switches a great platform on which to operate. In fact I’d go as far as to say this is one of the best Cherry MX Red (my fav switch BTW!) platforms that I’ve Gamed upon. At first I was concerned about the lack of a wrist rest, but actually found the Apex M500 quite comfortable (with the rear legs extended) even during those longer play sessions (in The Solus Project).
The blue illumination is both bright and vibrant but the lack of a choice of colour does disappoint. There are 4 brightness levels on offer (three via software!?) with the brightest being bright enough for the user to need some glasses, so no complaints there! 😉 It is again here we see the Apex M500’s roots that are buried deep within the eSports world, but these lack of features (simple ones at that) are the very thing that may limit its appeal…
Software
To get the most out of the SteelSeries Apex M500 you’ll need to install SteelSeries Engine 3 software, this can be found here. The software itself is unified meaning that it’s a one stop shop for all of SteelSeries’ peripherals which is always good.
As you can see from the image below left the Engine 3 software has picked up our test Apex M500 and clicking on the bar allows further configuration (see below).
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The SteelSeries Engine 3 software is a little basic but functional enough to support a Pro Gaming keyboard such as the Apex M500. The main Apex M500 screen (above centre) pops up when you select the M500 on the main screen, here you can program any of the keys simply by selecting the one you want to modify. Options pop up in a small selection window and are split into various sections by key type. As simple Macro can also be recorded here. Over on the right is a simple brightness control that seems to support one less (three) than the keyboard’s (four)!? Polling Rate and region can also be selected here, all of our testing was done with a a Polling Rate of 1000Hz.
Or you can go to the Macro Manager via the Launch button in the top left. The Macro Editor can record both keyboard and mouse commands either in real time, using a fixed delay of (15ms) or no delay (although most Macros in Game don’t tend to work when this is used). Somewhat disappointingly though is there appears to be no edit functionality. Above right you can see a simple Grenade throw Macro that I put together.
Final Thoughts
The SteelSeries Apex M500
The Apex M500 arrived at pcG in a small yet smart box with the contents within (keyboard & Quick Start Guide) well packaged and presented. Once out of the box it is soon apparent that the Apex M500 has a tank like build quality. Not only may the M500 be a good weapon of choice in game it might well prove useful outside of the game too! 😉 Construction is top notch as is the quality and feedback form the Cherry MX (Red) switches. As far as Gaming with a Cherry MX red based board goes the Apex M500 is easily up there with the best of them. This is all thanks to a very sturdy chassis and of course the MX switches themselves. To be honest the Gaming experience offered up buy the M500 is nothing short of faultless.
Looking further afield there’s not much to talk about; while the illumination is both bright and vibrant (thanks to the inner blue colour of the board) a choice of colours would have been nice as would per-key lighting. In built functionality (via the SteelSeries FN key) is also limited to brightness, media and volume control. One feature of note though can be found beneath the M500, as there you’ll find the cable management slots allowing the cable to exit the board centrally or left or right.
The software that accompanies the Apex M500 is of course SteelSeries’ Engine 3 software, but as there’s not many features aboard the M500 the software can seem a little lacking. But all of the necessary features for a Pro Gamer are here including full programmability of all of the keys and a decent Macro Editor.
In summing up it’s extremely important to understand what the SteelSeries Apex M500 is and what it’s supposed to do! To that end and using SteeSeries’ own words it is designed to be a ‘tournament-grade backlit mechanical gaming keyboard built entirely around the needs of professional gamers’. Now if I were to measure the M500 against those words then I’d have to say that SteelSeries have been entirely successful. But there’s just a couple more points that I need to make…
The first is that a lot of people who do buy or aspire to buy this keyboard are not Pro Gamers! The other issue is the price, as at £95 (at the time of review) the SteelSeries Apex M500 looks expensive when you look at what it offers and of course when you compare it to the competition. Now those last two points obviously raise some questions, but they are questions that I don’t have the answers to I’m afraid. But hopefully it’s given you some food for thought. The bottom line is as a Pro Gaming keyboard the Apex M500 is undeniably a winner, but the question is – is that really what you want?
Verdict
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Many thanks to SteelSeries for providing this sample for review
