Peripherals

SteelSeries Apex 7 Review – Finally, a Brown Switch Keyboard!

I have reviewed a lot of keyboards here at eTeknix, I can’t even be bothered to count all the ones I’ve used here, but it’s most certainly well into the triple digits. However, I can tell you now that damn near all of the mechanical ones have red switches, more often than not Cherry MX Red or Kailh, or at least something similar.

SteelSeries Apex 7 Brown Switch Edition

However, in recent years, many keyboard brands have been moving away from Cherry switches and making their own. One of the best examples of this has to be SteelSeries, and I think their red switches are as good or better than anything Cherry is doing. They’re SteelSeries designed and manufactured by Gateron. The Apex 7 uses their 2nd generation QX2 switch, which is similar to Cherry in design, features a 2mm actuation, 4mm total travel and a 45cN force. They’re also rated to last at least 50 million keypresses, so they’re unlikely to ever wear out really.

SteelSeries Switches

The APEX 7 is available in a choice of SteelSeries Red, Blue and Brown Switch. What I also love is that they have it available in 11 languages directly on their own website, most brands make it really hard to nail down a specific model like this.

Features

Durable mechanical gaming switches
OLED smart display
Five onboard profiles
Aircraft-grade aluminium alloy frame
Dynamic per-key RGB illumination
Premium magnetic wrist rest
Dedicated multimedia controls
USB pass-through port
Three-way cable routing
100% anti-ghosting with 104 key rollover

What SteelSeries Had to Say

“The Apex 7 keyboard has mechanical switches guaranteed for 50 million keypresses. Red switches are known for their consistently smooth movement from top to bottom without any bump, allowing for lightning-fast actuation. An integrated OLED Smart Display with on-board storage is your command centre for on-the-fly info from your game, Spotify, or Discord, and provides software-free customization for tweaking and saving your settings. An unbreakable aluminium alloy frame makes it a standout mechanical keyboard.” – SteelSeries

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Peter Donnell

As a child still in my 30's (but not for long), I spend my day combining my love of music and movies with a life-long passion for gaming, from arcade classics and retro consoles to the latest high-end PC and console games. So it's no wonder I write about tech and test the latest hardware while I enjoy my hobbies!