HardwareGaming KeyboardsI tried SteelSeries' new Hall effect gaming keyboard and I’m genuinely surprised these switches deliver such a satisfying THONKWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareGaming KeyboardsI tried SteelSeries' new Hall effect gaming keyboard and I’m genuinely surprised these switches deliver such a satisfying THONKWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
I didn’t care about software features; I needed another hit of that sensory goodness that only other fellow dampening and lubricating button pushers could understand.
I could’ve spent the hands-on time I got with the keyboard testing its latest software features—and sure, I did at least some of that—but more than anything I just wanted to type. So type I did, and colour me impressed.
My phone mic, hastily positioned in my chest pocket as I leant over to test out the keyboard, doesn’t do it justice at all, but it’s better than nothing and you can certainly hear the difference. Here’s a comparison between me first typing on the previous-gen Apex Pro (up to 0:08) and then on the new one (0:08 onwards).
SteelSeries says this improved typing experience is thanks to a “triple layer sound dampening foam solution”, improved stabilisers, and per-key lubrication. In other words, all the gubbins you’d want out of an enthusiast keeb.
Now listen, I’m not saying the Apex Pro 3 is up to the high standards of typing enthusiasts who spend hundreds modding their custom keyboards for the perfect timbre and downstroke resonance. The Pro 3 isn’t that good. It doesn’t offer quite the typing experience of my circa-$180 Varmillo keeb with aftermarketTecseeGreens, and it certainly doesn’t offer a typing experience as enjoyable as the gloriousKeychron Q3 Maxdoes.
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But that’s not the point. The Apex Pro 3 isn’t an enthusiast keyboard. It’s a Hall effect gaming keyboard, and for this market segment it’s superbly thocky (or “creamy”-sounding, as the SteelSeries rep put it). Thocky and pleasant-sounding enough to bring into work, for sure, which adds a secondary use to the keyboard that I do think is the way forward, these days.
“A lot of our gamers these days either work from home or they’re taking their smaller format keyboards with them to the office”, a SteelSeries spokesperson told me, and the Apex Pro seems to be aimed at making such use cases more enjoyable. If this is the strategy, then I can certainly see how the Apex Pro 3 pushes things towards this goal.
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(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
(Image credit: SteelSeries)
Importantly, however, the Apex Pro 3 does seem to remember that it’s first and foremost a gaming keyboard, and this is what might carve out a space for it amidst the many enthusiast keyboards that do “typing experience” that little bit better.
To be clear, Hall effect analogue keyboards aren’t new. What’s new, at least to my ears and fingers, is a Hall effect keyboard that thocks like no other. Such a combination bags you the benefits of these sensors—analogue input, adjustable actuation points, “Rapid Trigger” dynamically adjusting actuation reset, and so on—while sacrificing little on the feel front.
Of course, I only had very limited time trying it out, and this isn’t a full review, but if my 20 minutes with the keyboard has done anything, it’s made me excited for the future of gaming keyboards that actually nail the typing experience, too. Watch out Keychron, I guess!
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