
After a bit, our fingers acclimated to the Whisper-Quiet switches. SteelSeries’ Whisper-Quiet membrane switches most definitely live up to their name, making the Apex 3 a good choice if you play or type a lot at night while others are sleeping nearby. However, quiet performance is one of the Apex 3’s checkmark features, and it’s hard to achieve that with the clickiness of mechanical switches. After using mechanical boards for so long, the Steelseries Apex 3’s softer switches felt slow and chunky. Admittedly, this was a primary concern of ours as we unboxed the unit, and it persisted even as we began typing and gaming.

Gaming-focused consumers are likely to decry SteelSeries’ choice to opt for membrane switches on the Apex 3 rather than mechanical ones, especially considering the fact that there exists a market for budget-minded mechanical boards.
