Capsule Review: SteelSeries Apex M500 Gaming Mechanical Keyboard
by E. Fylladitakis on June 10, 2016 10:00 AM ESTSoftware
The SteelSeries Engine software that can be used to access the advanced features of the Apex M500 is very simple, quick and well compiled. There is only one main screen, from which the user can adjust basic illumination settings and the polling rate of the keyboard, launch the macro programmer, the configurations manager or select any of the keys for reprogramming. The illumination options are limited to brightness level controls and a single (breathe) effect.
If any of the keys is selected, a configuration menu pops up and allows the reprogramming of the key. There is a wealth of options here, allowing the user to perform simple layout changes, use advanced media/mouse/OS shortcuts, launch macros or launch external applications. After the action has been selected, the user can also add repeat options with programmed intervals and reiterations. The option of selecting whether the action will be performed on the key press or release is also offered.
The Macro Editor allows the programming of either keypress or text macros. Text macros, as the name suggests, merely insert a piece of text once used. This function is useful in gaming for the quick sending of short or long repetitive team/guild messages. Keypress macros are a little more complex, allowing the user to program a sequence of keystrokes with programmed or no delays between them. Once the macro has been programmed, the delays or the keystrokes can be manually edited. Unfortunately, the macro recorder is still very basic, as the user cannot insert any mouse movement functions, or even mouse button presses. It registers only key presses coming from the keyboard itself, which is very limiting for a gaming product.
The configuration editor allows the programming of a practically infinite number of profiles. Each profile can be linked to automatically start alongside one or more applications/games. Since the Apex M500 has no extra keys for the manual switching of profiles, this feature is a necessity.
Quality Testing
In order to test the quality and consistency of a keyboard, we are using a texture analyser that is programmed to measure and display the actuation force of the standard keyboard keys. By measuring the actuation force of every key, the quality and consistency of the keyboard can be quantified. It can also reveal design issues, such as the larger keys being far softer to press than the main keys of the keyboard. The actuation force is measured in Centinewton (cN). Some companies use another figure, gram-force (gf). The conversion formula is 1 cN = 1.02 gf (i.e. they are about the same). A high quality keyboard should be as consistent as possible, with an average actuation force as near to the manufacturer's specs as possible and a disparity of less than ±10%. Greater differences are likely to be perceptible by users. It is worth noting that there is typically variance among keyboards, although most keyboard companies will try and maintain consistency - as with other reviews, we're testing our sample only.
The machine we use for our testing is accurate enough to provide readings with a resolution of 0.1 cN. For wider keys (e.g. Enter, Space Bar, etc.), the measurement is taking place at the center of the key, right above the switch. Note that large keys generally have a lower actuation force even if the actuation point is at the dead center of the key. This is natural, as the size and weight of the keycap reduces the required actuation force. For this reason, we do display the force required to actuate every key but we only use the results of the typical sized keys for our consistency calculations. Still, very low figures on medium sized keys, such as the Shift and Enter keys reveal design issues and can easily be perceptible by the user.
As expected, the performance of Cherry’s MX Red switches is outstanding. The average actuation force is at 45 cN, equal to the exact specification of the particular switch, while the disparity over the main keys is just ± 3.19%, a figure that is definitely imperceptible by human touch. Even the Space Bar, a key that is usually giving reading far out of spec due to its size, has an actuation force close to that of the rest of the keys. In short, the keys of the Apex M500 are exceptionally consistent and of the highest quality currently available.
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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.