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Among the editors here at Knapsack, we are all fans of mechanical keyboards. There’s just something satisfying to be typing away and getting the tactile and auditory feedback. We also tend to lean towards a tenkeyless version, as it takes up much less space on the desk. If one like the last SteelSeries we reviewed (seen here) still feels too big, how about a 60% keyboard in the form of the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini?
Now, first things first – there are actually two keyboards here. You can opt for a wired or wireless version, but past that, they’re virtually the same keyboard, so we’ll refer to them both as the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini. Being a 60% size keyboard, you do lose the arrow keys and things like Home and Page Up, so you’ll need to consider if that’s a deal-breaker for you. For the regular corporate drones, yeah, that’s going to be a miss we feel. However, these boards are intended for gaming, not spreadsheets.
Aside from the compact size and requisite per-key RGB lighting, there’s another very, very clever trick hiding in the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini that will grab the gamer’s attention. In the switches (OmniPoint Adjustable) allow you to program in two different actions depending on how far down you press the key. For instance, you might have it just walk your character forward when you press the key down 0.2mm, and go into a full-on run when you bottom the key out at 3.8mm. Again, Excel isn’t going to care about this, but this could definitely give you a boost in whatever your game of choice happens to be.
All of those settings, keybindings, RGB color schemes and the like, that’s all handled via the SteelSeries Engine software. Along with those mappings, if you’ve got multiple SteelSeries items going, it’s a solid way to coordinate the color schemes across them. If you’re looking to up some of your gaming capabilities, the Apex Pro Mini goes for $179.99, while it’s fully wireless version runs $239.99. Check them all out over at steelseries.com
Tech Specs from SteelSeries
- Key Switches: OmniPoint Adjustable Mechanical Switch
- Switch Rating: Guaranteed 100 Million Presses
- On-Board Memory: 5 Custom Profiles
- Processor: 32 Bit ARM
- Adjustable Actuation Points: 0.2- 3.8mm
- Connection: Detachable USB Type-C (wired) or 2.4GHz/Bluetooth (for the wireless version)
- Battery life (wireless version): 30 hours (Wireless) / 40 hours (Bluetooth with default lighting)
- Design
- Width: 293 mm / 11.53 in
- Depth: 103 mm / 4.02 in
- Height: 40.3 mm / 1.59 in
- Weight: 610 g / 1.34 lbs
- Height Adjustment: Rubber Tri Level Feet
- Lighting: Per Key RGB Illumination
