The Apex 9 TKL works with SteelSeries Engine, which is part of the SteelSeries GG software suite. According to SteelSeries, the switches have a response time of 0.2ms and zero debounce, and they certainly felt very speedy, especially in gaming mode, which allows for very light, quick keypresses. Gaming on the Apex 9 felt better than typing - unsurprisingly, since linear switches, optical or not, usually offer a better gaming experience than typing experience. The Apex 9’s switches have both a lighter actuation force (35g) and a shorter travel distance (3.4mm) compared to the standard Cherry MX Red mechanical switches, so typing on the Apex 9 does feel a little too fluttery, and will take some getting used to - especially if you’re coming from a heavier, non-linear, mechanical switch background.

Typing on the Apex 9 feels pretty good, considering it has linear optical switches instead of my preferred clicky mechanical switches. At the moment, the Apex 9 TKL and Apex 9 Mini are only available with linear switches SteelSeries plans to offer both clicky and tactile versions of its OptiPoint switches in the future as accessory packs, but at the moment we have no information on how much these will cost or whether the company will offer the keyboards with clicky/tactile switches included in the future. The SteelSeries Apex 9 TKL and Apex 9 Mini are available now, for $140 and $130, respectively these keyboards aren’t nearly as customizable as the Apex Pro Mini, but they’re also not nearly as expensive. These switches have 2-point actuation, which means they have two points of actuation (1mm and 1.5mm) - like the Apex Pro Mini’s adjustable actuation, only with two preset points that you can toggle between, instead of per-key adjustability to the nearest 0.1mm.

The Apex 9 TKL and Apex 9 Mini are both wired keyboards sporting SteelSeries’ new hot-swappable OptiPoint linear optical switches. Grab the limited edition Call of Duty collection before they're gone forever.The Apex 9 series comes in two layouts - TKL (tenkeyless) and Mini (60 percent) this review will focus on the Apex 9 TKL, but the keyboards are largely identical (minus layout).OptiPoint Switches, Explained Read Blog Post

Apex pro tenkeyless