#A Budget Keyboard Worth Giving a Chance – Review Geek

Rubber dome (or membrane) switches get a bad rep a lot of the time, and for primarily justified reasons—a lot of really cheap keyboards that don’t feel good use them. As I just mentioned, you’ve likely used a membrane board before in an office or attached to a laptop. They’re usually characterized by a shallow, mushy feeling that doesn’t compete with most gaming keyboards’ mechanical switches. I’m a big fan of mechanical switches, but the Apex 3’s is a great example of how to do a gaming keyboard right without them.

This is easily one of the best membrane keyboards I’ve ever used; it still keeps a surprising amount of tactility and depth to each keypress, removing a lot of issues with membrane switches while keeping the benefits like the low noise factor. It’s still a bit mushy, which is to be expected, but it’s clear that SteelSeries put a lot of effort into making sure these switches would support the budget price tag while still feeling good to type on. For gaming, they won’t be as good, even if SteelSeries optimized them for that specifically, but they’re more than okay if you’re anything other than a hardcore competitive gamer.

You could consider that a failing of the product as a gaming keyboard, and you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. Still, frankly, most people don’t fully utilize most gaming benefits mechanical keyboards offer. Mechanical boards tend to be preferred for the feel of the switches, with some minor performance advantages that will only be noticed by the keenest touch.

Generally speaking, typing on the Apex 3 has a very soft feel to it. And while personal preference will ultimately make the final call here, I like it. Going from my usual keyboard, which has exceptionally tactile and loud switches, to this doesn’t feel worse per se, just different, and there’s a lot of value in that. If you’ve never fully understood the appeal of mechanical keyboards, or even if you do and tend to prefer smoother switches smoother with less tactility, I think there’s a good chance you’ll like these switches as well.

That’s not to mention the price tag—there are $50 mechanical keyboards, but not only are they lacking features, they usually don’t feel great. For the money, it’s just not realistic to have the build quality a good mechanical keyboard needs. While it’s not the best, the Apex 3 offers a significantly better typing experience than most budget mechanical keyboards, along as you’re willing to meet it on its terms.

But let’s not stop there; the Apex 3 as a physical product is great in almost every mark. While most of the keyboard is made of plastic, making it remarkably light, it still feels reasonably solid and doesn’t flex while typing. The keyboard’s body has the same soft feel as the switches, and the keycaps bold legends make it look sharp without being overly “gamer.” Thanks to the membrane base inside the keyboard, RGB lighting can smoothly glow under all the keys, which looks great regardless of the settings you’ve applied.

There are even some media controls here, with a volume dial and pause/play button located above the navigation keys. The play/pause button lacks any labels, which is sort of strange, and pressing it is a bit awkward due to how close it is to the navigation keys, but it’s helpful to have. As is the fact that you can push down on the volume dial to mute audio.

Besides that, there’s also a pair of quality kick-out feet on the bottom for angling the board alongside some cable routes. Pretty standard, but what isn’t is that this keyboard is water-resistant. According to SteelSeries, this keyboard can handle some light splashes and maybe even a big spill or two, so you can be a bit more comfortable drinking things at your desk. That said, don’t expect it to survive complete submersion by any means.

This is all what I would hope to see out of a $50 membrane keyboard and even more. Like the switches, I think the Apex delivers something better than most budget mechanical keyboards can offer here. It’s impressive, to say the least, and only makes the Apex 3 more enticing.

The Apex 3 offers a lot for $44.99, and it manages to stick the landing on most of it well. It’s not a keyboard to surprise or impress you, but it is good. The biggest weakness is the software, and while it’s a bit lackluster, it still delivers the essential features you’d want out of a gaming keyboard.

If you’re looking for high-end hardware and software, then this is not the keyboard for you or the right price bracket, to be frank. I’ve used mechanical keyboards that cost less than $50, and they don’t offer nearly as many features as the Apex 3 nor feel as refined on the hardware front. While the lack of mechanical switches will be a big downside for some, the keyboard more than makes up for it with premium rubber-dome switches and solid hardware.

It’s nothing inherently extraordinary, but for the money, it’s about as good as you’re going to get unless you absolutely need mechanical switches.