SteelSeries launches Apex M750 TKL compact keyboard

SteelSeries has announced a shrunken version of its Apex M750 mechanical gaming keyboard, dropping the number pad section to reduce its footprint and the distance between the WASD cluster and a right-handed gamer's mouse hand.

Known in keyboard enthusiast circles as a 'tenkeyless design', from the loss of the ten-digit - though more-than-ten-key - number pad region, the more compact designs reduce the required desk space while also dropping the distance between a user's two hands. The design is popular among gamers due to the relative rarity of number pad use outside spreadsheets and ultra-complex simulators, so it's entirely unsurprising to find that SteelSeries has taken the knife to its existing Apex M750 and dropped the pad.

'I use a relatively low [mouse] sensitivity, so I need all the desk real estate I can get,' claims Sander 'VoO' Kaasjager, SteelSeries-sponsored pro-gamer. 'The SteelSeries M750 TKL has no numpad and all the awesomeness of the regular M750, so I never have to worry about hitting my keyboard again!'

Aside from the loss of the number pad, the Apex M750 TKL is near-identical to its larger predecessor. The board still uses SteelSeries' own-brand QX2 mechanical switches in place of the more common Cherry MX switches of the competition, is housed in an aluminium alloy frame with a black matte finish, and has per-key RGB lighting. Naturally, this lighting is controlled via the SteelSeries Engine software, which includes the ability to synchronise the lights to in-game activity and external application notifications.

SteelSeries has launched the device in the US now with UK stock to follow shortly, priced at £125.99 (inc. VAT) - a discount over the £149.99 full-size Apex M750 - and available through the company's official website.