SteelSeries are smashing out some new products and they are not holding back on the features and designs of their new products. I’m starting to see more and more smaller keyboards hitting the market which are perfect for someone who does not want to use too much real estate on their desks. SteelSeries are looking like they are releasing their full-sized keyboards into miniature versions around that 60% mark. The latest product is a 60% version of their Apex 9 keyboard called the SteelSeries Apex 9 Mini and I was pleasantly surprised how much I loved this keyboard.

I’ll forever love simplistic and that is what the packing on the SteelSeries products does so well, you get this beautiful mix of Orange and Grey in a matte look and the bright orange colour pulls your attention super quickly. The packaging is a little deceiving for this product as the box is bigger than the keyboard which was packed into the box well with some good room around the keyboard. I loved the two little circles on the packaging up the top right-hand side of the front of the box. Highlighting the fact it has swappable optical switches and is always an award for best gaming keyboard. Once you open the box you are greeted with a black fabric sleeve.

The first thing you want to do is pull the black sleeve straight off the 60% compact keyboard which is only 293 mm long and weighs a whopping 676 grams. This makes it the perfect lightweight and compact keyboard and adds to the convenience you need to take the keyboard around the place. You put the keyboard down and want to dive further into what else comes in the box, and like 99% of people you probably pull the Warranty Card and User Manual out and put them to the side and not take another look. You’ll notice the super long braided USB-C to USB-A cable that comes with the keyboard. You also get a little keycap puller which is fun to sit there and play with and pull keycaps to of course, which is funnily enough hidden under the keyboard under a little rubberised flap.

The keyboard itself looks stunning one of the biggest things you will notice straight away is the keyboard is super light, and that is because SteelSeries has used their Series 5000 aluminium top plate which is identical to the metal used in fighter jets. They’re going for a lifetime of enhanced rigidity and structural stability and you can feel that it’s a quality product just holding it. I’ve been using my current keyboard for about seven years and it’s always weird picking up another keyboard and feeling how crisp the keycaps are.

SteelSeries did not hold back on the body of this keyboard, with its keycaps which have a unique feeling texture that feels like your finger half-locks into the texture. 99% of the community picks up SteelSeries for the attention to detail they put into their RGB lighting on these keyboards, and there is no argument from me that there is an absolute flood of colour on this keyboard, and you definitely won’t be stuck finding a key whilst playing your favourite game at the early hours of the morning.

If you have a free USB port on your PC then that is all you need. There is no need to use the software if you don’t want another program on your PC as it’s as simple as plugging and playing with the SteelSeries Apex 9 Mini. There are some great built-in features in this keyboard such as gaming mode which has a 1mm actuation switch and then typing mode which changes to a 1.5mm actuation switch. This can be changed on the Steelseries GG software or you can press the function key and press “0” for gaming more or “I” for typing mode which makes it super easy and super convenient.

As I mentioned before there are two different variations of the actuation switches which take it down to 0.2ms response time and take out the debounce on the keys, which is roughly 33% faster with the new OptiPoint Switches which are switchable to your favorite keys. If you don’t know much about switches, OptiPoint Switches have a laser so there is no mechanical switch which in turn will bring back faster response times. I’m not sure why but the entire time I was using this keyboard I wanted it to be wireless. I think it would have added a little more to the convenience of the keyboard but being wired you don’t need to worry about battery life.

You will notice with the size reduction you will be missing some keys but not to worry, a good percentage of the keys that have been taken out have been added to the keys that have remained as secondary function keys. So you can still use things like Page Up, Page Down and Home which was great and made things much easier getting used to. Using the keyboard and like all good keyboards, there are three options added for the angle you want to use so you can type or game in comfort.

SteelSeries has a great program called SteelSeries GG which is super user-friendly and has a great user interface, so you are not going to get lost while you are trying to customise your experience with the product. The downloadable free software can be found here. Once you have downloaded and loaded up the software the first thing you will do is play around with the RGB illumination on the keyboard. I sat there for a solid fifteen to twenty minutes playing around as there are some pre-made settings you can use, or if you want to get down to the nitty gritty you can adjust each key to a different colour if you are inclined to do so. I tend to find myself going back to the rainbow wave mode so I can see all the beautiful colours the keyboard has to offer.

Colours aren’t the only thing you can adjust on the keyboard you can adjust what mode the keyboard is in with the switches, or like I mentioned before you can do that whilst using the keyboard, which is another great thing not needing to necessarily use the software but if you want that customizability of the keyboard you have the option.

I’m starting to love smaller keyboards more and more, and the more I get to play with them the more I want to slide over to the dark side. Compared to my daily keyboard, the Apex 9 Mini is such a lightweight and compact keyboard. You can pick up the SteelSeries Apex 9 Mini from JB-HI-FI for AUD 299 which is a great price and not something that is going to break the bank and for the sheer convenience, it’s worth every cent. If you want to see some beautiful photos of the product you can find some here on SteelSeries’s website.

Written by: Hayden Nelson