SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Wireless
MSRP $240.00
“The price isn’t cheap, but if you can afford it, the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Wireless is probably the best gaming keyboard money can buy.”
Pros
Unique Omnipoint 2.0 switches
Dual actuation inputs
Perfect size for gamers
Comfortable typing; good for gaming
Bluetooth Wireless & 2.4GHz Connections
Cons
Unnecessarily expensive
SteelSeries GG is a little weird
Limited use cases due to 60% form factor
SteelSeries is making a foray into territory it has never touched before—the newly charted wasteland of 60% gaming keyboards. Using a model very familiar to anyone playing games on PC in 2022, SteelSeries shrank down its flagship Apex Pro into an extreme form factor geared towards maximizing all the needs (and desk space) real gamers want. SteelSeries has gone beyond simply removing individual keys, resulting in the Apex Pro Mini and its wireless counterpart being among the top gaming keyboards available for purchase.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right keyboard for you. The second-gen Omnipoint switches and dual wireless connections are huge selling points for the Apex Pro Mini Wireless, though its absurd price tag likely means buyers will have some shopping to do before shooting for SteelSeries’ inaugural small form factor gaming keyboard.
Price
Before diving into any part of the Apex Pro Mini and Apex Pro Mini Wireless, let’s discuss the price. The Apex Pro Mini is $180, while the wireless variant runs $240. It’s easily the most expensive 60% gaming keyboard money can buy, at least from a mainstream brand. The Corsair K65, a pricey keyboard in its own right, is only $110 by comparison.
In many cases, not even close. Asus’ ROG Falchion NX is wireless, $150, and nearly $100 cheaper than SteelSeries’ asking price. And the wired HyperX Alloy Origins Core is $70, $110 less than the wired Apex Pro Mini. Even SteelSeries’ own sales make it look pricey. For $20 more, you can get the full-size Apex Pro with a wrist rest and OLED display.
The SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Wireless is a truly awful value proposition.
Note: I want to get this out of the way because I love this keyboard. It’s excellent, and I would have no qualms about recommending it even if it was a touch more expensive than the competition. But it’s an awful value. This keyboard is ideal for those who have a strong passion for expensive peripherals. If you’re after a deal, read up on the best budget mechanical keyboards in our roundup.
Design
It’s difficult to appreciate just how compact a 60% keyboard is until you really hold one in one hand. The Apex Pro Mini measures 11.5 inches wide, 1.6 inches tall, and 4 inches deep and weighs just over one pound. That makes it smaller than the Razer Huntsman Mini but heavier than the Asus ROG Falchion. That extra heft is most likely thanks to the aluminum frame that the keyboard is built in, which still feels pretty light alongside a full-sized keyboard.
It’s a simple look, but I like it. The front of the keyboard has a tasteful SteelSeries logo on it, and there’s a logo on the back, too. The Apex Pro Mini Wireless is about as basic a gaming keyboard as you can get, but the little branding touches still make it feel more premium than a black plastic rectangle.
Dropping to a 60% form factor requires sacrifices, specifically with the arrow keys. While I personally prefer a 65% form factor with dedicated arrow keys, SteelSeries offers a solution with the Apex Pro Mini. It has a “Meta” layer that you can access with the SteelSeries key, which unlocks media buttons and arrow keys and functions and a whole lot more. In fact, through SteelSeries GG, you can assign any key to perform any function in the Meta layer.
While I usually go with 65% for everyday use, the little boards are undoubtedly fantastic for gaming. The Apex Pro Mini’s length barely exceeds that of two gaming mice, allowing you to position the keyboard optimally while maintaining ample desk space. This is the opposite of my experience with the Asus ROG Strix Flare II, which was nearly the size of my gaming monitor.
Connectivity and ports
The wireless version of the Apex Pro Mini has a $60 price increase over the wired version, but well earns that additional price. You get Bluetooth or 2.4GHz wireless, and the low-latency version will make it feel like your connected with a cable. SteelSeries promises 40 hours of battery life—but you’ll probably get a lot more, thanks to the keyboard’s automatic sleep mode.
As with other SteelSeries peripherals, sleep mode isn’t quite perfect (check out our SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless review for more). When you wake the keyboard up, the dongle responds slowly. Apex Pro Mini has a delayed action of about a second or two, which makes it feel much less snappy than a wireless keyboard like the Logitech G915 TKL.
The USB-C port on the keyboard’s back is how you can charge the Apex Pro Mini when the battery runs out. There’s a connection switch next to that, letting you switch between Bluetooth and 2.4GHz or turn the keyboard off.
Omnipoint switches
Aside from being SteelSeries’ first 60% keyboard, the Apex Pro Mini is also notable for being the first keyboard to feature the company’s Omnipoint 2.0 mechanical switches. The original version arrived on the full-size Apex Pro, and SteelSeries claims this 2.0 version has response times that are 11x faster, actuation times that are 10x faster, and they’re two times as durable as “standard mechanical keyboards.”
Surprisingly, I can confirm some of those claims. To ensure longevity, the existing Omnipoint 2.0 has 100 million keystrokes durability (double that to a standard Cherry MX switch) and a 0.2mm actuation depth (where the Omnipoint 2.0 switches can go, for comparison). That’s faster than a mechanical switch, especially in the high 1 mm range.
The Apex Pro Mini is an incredible opportunity for gamers.
It’s that actuation point that sets Omnipoint 2.0 switches apart. Overall or per-key, you can tweak it from 0.2 mm to 3.8 mm. And it works. I pushed everything down to 0.2 mm, and it felt like all I had to do was touch a key with my finger for it to register an input. It’s terrible for typing, but as far as gaming? The Apex Pro Mini is nothing short of a dream.
Razer also features adjustable actuation on its Huntsman Mini Analog, but the acts of action don’t drop nearly as low as what SteelSeries is giving. I’m not ever going to use 0.2mm as the actuation force for the keyboard as a whole, but going down into sub-1mm ranges on my space bar and WASD keys while gaming was fun. It’s a wholly different way to play, and I had no problems with doubled or missed inputs.
Gaming and typing performance
Once I adjusted my actuation points, playing games on the Apex Pro Mini gave me a sense of flight. I especially enjoyed it in fast-paced shooters—Destiny 2, Doom Eternal, and Valorant—where the low actuation point seemed to make a perceptively large difference. However, using the keyboard outside of gaming can be somewhat challenging.
A 60% form factor includes all of the keys you’ll use (with the exception of arrow keys), but using one as a daily driver isn’t perfection. The keys themselves aren’t smaller, but there’s no additional board underneath your hands. I balance my hand on top of a keyboard without thinking, for instance, when hitting number keys, and a 60 percent keyboard like the Apex Pro Mini lays those handrails bare. The longer I typed, the more I had slip-ups with typos, which is further proof that the Apex Pro Mini is first and foremost a gaming keyboard.
As for feel, it’s still a joy to type on. The Omnipoint switches are stiff with a heavy, hollow clank to them that’s not too much to deal with. Again, the Omnipoint switches prioritize gaming over typing, but they don’t feel like a copy of Cherry or Kailh.
SteelSeries GG software
Tying it all together on the Apex Pro Mini is SteelSeries GG—an imperfect piece of software for sure, though it unlocks a ton of functionality for the Apex Pro Mini. So starting with the good, GG provides control over key bindings on both the base layer and in the meta layer, and you can rebind the keys to macros, application controls, OS shortcuts, and a lot more.
In addition to giving you more than you’d ever expect out of a $200 keyboard, GG also lets you set up dual bindings and dual actuations. While there are many possibilities to personalize your input devices, these two capabilities are some of the more remarkable options in SteelSeries GG. Dual bindings let you bind a different action when you let go of the key, while dual actuations let you set different inputs based on how far you press the key down.
Or just have SteelSeries GG execute pretty much any PC input—and often multiple ones—with the push of a single key.
It’s difficult to overstate the possibilities this setup represents.” I think most people will simply use the keyboard in the normal way, but the power that GG provides is a game changer for those users that have a very specific use case. Macros you can execute with ease in your favorite MMOs, a full productivity shortcut board, and even a row of keys dedicated to advanced Excel tricks—you can do most any PC input, and usually several inputs, with just a single key press.
Fortunately, the key bindings are pretty fantastic, as the rest of SteelSeries GG is a slog. The Rainbow RGB lighting engine supports a handful of different effects, but it’s nowhere near as flexible as Corsair iCue (and the RGB colors inside GG don’t really represent the colors on your keyboard). The macro recorder (built-in) works but is not intuitive like Logitech G Hub. The list goes on.
GG is the one I have the biggest issue with, but because of bloat. There’s a dedicated section for giveaways, for instance, and the Moments section captures moments of key gameplay in supported games (something AMD and Nvidia’s software already does). Moreover, the app requires that you sign up for a SteelSeries account just to use it, and the home page is just a collection of tiles to promote other SteelSeries devices (rather than, you know, the ones you have plugged in). Let’s just say GG is a rough diamond software-wise, but it is required to get that potential out of the Apex Pro Mini.
Our take
The SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Wireless is a beast of a gaming keyboard that does everything that big-boy keyboards do but better. Even if they don’t entirely explain why the keyboard is so expensive, the big selling point of the Omnipoint switches. I would buy this keyboard, but only with full awareness that it’s excessive for what it provides.
Are there any alternatives?
While no other keyboards offer Omnipoint 2.0 switches, there are some competing options from SteelSeries’ rivals:
It can be cheaper than the Apex Pro Mini while providing key actuation point adjustment. You don’t have quite as much wiggle room, however, and there’s not a wireless version.
Asus ROG Falchion NX: A 65% keyboard that’s ever-so-slightly bigger but still super small and has wireless connectivity. Although it lacks Bluetooth, it is significantly less expensive than the Apex Pro Mini.
HyperX Alloy Origin 60: A significantly cheaper alternative to the Apex Pro Mini, yet still includes genuine mechanical switches and a 60% form factor. This keyboard is ideal for those who prioritize functionality over extra features.
