Watching The International 2017 and seeing SteelSeries on one of the team jerseys really alerted me to how much into eSports the company has been. A lot of other mainstream brands go with sponsoring twitch streams or YouTube influencers to get the same kind of attention, and it was happenstance that the Apex M750 was announced and released around the same time. A couple of emails later and I had my first SteelSeries keyboard to take a look at. I am glad I did as I am left very impressed with the product overall.

The Apex M750 is SteelSeries saying this is a launch product to show off their new QX2 switches in the best way possible, and a partnership with Gateron has shown you can now get excellent switches outside of Cherry. Their previous switches were part of the reason why the likes of the Cherry MX Speed (Silver) switches were developed, so it is interesting to see SteelSeries go with a switch that is nearly identical to the older MX Red in functionality here.

The rest of the keyboard is a sleeper until plugged in and backlit. The relatively clean aesthetics on the front coupled with the larger, non-gaming/aggressive font used for the legends and the semi-matte aluminum alloy frame make for a well-built keyboard that would be at home in any environment. There is some flair added via the side plates, although I still would want to see the glossy middle section on the back be gone. It is a dust magnet in a location no one will see, just causing you more work when cleaning up the keyboard. Speaking of which, the floating keycap design coupled with the Cherry-style stabilizers helps there with the easier removal/installation of keycaps as well as room to navigate an air blower in.

Functionality and customization is where the Apex M750 really shines with a very powerful software driver. It has integration also with other applications via the so-called "Engine Apps", which are more than just profiles or configurations, but all this also means having an awkward arrangement of items spread across multiple tabs, menus, and even windows. For what is otherwise a well implemented UX design, this is slightly off-putting, and I urge SteelSeries to work on accommodating everything under a more cohesive umbrella. For those who prefer onboard functionality, you have a good set of secondary functions pre-programmed for media control, but the bulk majority here go to control the backlighting options, which are indeed saved on the device.

At $139.99, the SteelSeries Apex M750 does enough relative to the competition and within itself to merit a high score and my top award here. I definitely look forward to seeing what they do next, and that will preferably begin with an increase to the warranty period as well.