PC Gamer Presents - PC Hardware Handbook - May 2018

STACKED UP

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

PRICE (£) KEY TYPES

Gaming keys

Multimedia keys

TOTAL KEYS

7

70 %

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Cherry MX

Cherry MX

Razer

Cherry MX

SteelSeries

QS1

TTC

Logitech

Romer-G

Keyswitches

ESSENTIALS

Ye s

Ye s

No

No

Ye s

No

No

Volume wheel

No

Ye s

Ye s

No

Ye s

No

No

USB pass-through

Ye s

Ye s

Ye s

No

Ye s

Ye s

Ye s

Programmable macros

Asus ROG Claymore

200

1

106

Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro L

90

109

Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2

165

110

5

Corsair K95 Platinum

195

6

120

6

Logitech Orion Spark G910

120

1

126

9

Roccat Suora FX

120

3

109

SteelSeries Apex M800

80

111

6

Group test

KEYBOARDS

7

6

Things get off to a good start. Although all-plastic,

there’s a simplicity to the design of this keyboard,

with the illuminated sides being a nice little flourish.

You also get five extra keys down the left side,

there’s a two-port USB hub on the back and the

massive spacebar is surprisingly useful.

Unfortunately, this keyboard has a couple of

issues. The first is forgivable given the low price,

which is that the keyswitches are SteelSeries’ own

QS1. Like the Logitech they’re incompatible with

replacements, though you do get replacement keys

for the Alt and SteelSeries keys in the box. The

switches otherwise feel nice and are rated for 60

million keystrokes. They have a linear action, like

Cherry MX Red, but with a short throw of just 3mm.

The other problem, though, is that the

backlighting on the keys flickers. This is an issue

we’ve encountered before and we find it

troublesome. It’s distracting, and can

make it difficult to focus on the keys

when looking directly at the keyboard.

STEELSERIES APEX M800

http://www.steelseries.com £80

The SteelSeries Apex M800 is the cheapest keyboard

on test, at least here in the UK. Available for just £80, it’s

incredibly cheap for a fully programmable RGB keyboard.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s an instant bargain.