Review of the Steel Series Apex 5 hybrid

Now as you may or may not know Steelseries pretty recently made a new type of keyboard with mechanical switches that had a rubber backing for less impact on your fingers when you press down on your keys. and I recently was in need of a keyboard for my gaming set up so I decided to get this keyboard. And I know in my previous blog post I said that the best keyboard was the Razer cynosa V2. But I did not get this keyboard for 2 reasons. First it only has partial mechanical switches as they are made out of membrane secondly the quality and performance pales in comparison to the apex 5 and I’ll be getting into why shortly.

Apex 5: Hybrid Mechanical SteelSeries Keyboard - YouTube
Steelseires Apex 5 Hybrid

VS

Chroma RGB Backlit Keyboard - Razer Cynosa V2
Razer Cynosa v2

But before I elaborate on the main differences between the two keyboards first ill go over some more basic things like cost. The cost of the apex 5 is considerably higher than that of the Razer Cynosa as it is 100$ (USD) compared to the 60$ (USD) Cynosa but this increased price is definitely for multiple good reasons.

Now that we have gone over the cost difference between these keyboards lets dive a little deeper into their more important differences We’ll start with pros of the apex 5. Firstly the Steelseries Apex 5 is made out of high grade aluminum making it more durable and reliable. Next it has an OLED Hud (heads up display) that allows you to see what music you might be playing or it can play gif’s which you can watch while you type or game. It also has a magnetic wrist rest so it is easier to game for longer periods of time with out injuring your wrists. This is a pretty important feature as a razer wrist rest can cost you anywhere from 20-35$ depending on which version you buy. Finally the Apex 5 has a hybrid custom version of the cherry MX blues that was created by steelseries these switches are nice and tactile but they have a rubber backing making them not too loud but still nice and audible while playing or streaming.

Apex 5 | SteelSeries
unfortunately the rubber backing is hard to see but it is just below the spring of the switch

Now that we have gone over the pros of the apex 5 lets go over the pros of the cynosa v2. To start it is definetly a more affordable option at 60 dollars. It also has membrane switches that are not mechanical so if you want a quiter keyboard this is the way to go. Also the cynosa has more media buttons that include a pause/play button, a skip forward button, a skip backwards button, a mute button, and a raise and lower volume button. (The apex 5 also has a volume button but it is more of a volume scroll wheel).

Now that we have gone over the pros of both keyboards we should go over the cons. first lets start with the cynosa. The main con of this keyboard is that since it’s switches are not mechanical it has a slower response time.

And the main con of the apex 5 is its price

But all in all these are 2 excellent keyboards but they obviously are better for different purposes and budgets.

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