Award-winning gaming keyboard reaches a historic low of $17 just before Prime Day — get 66% off on the Apex 3 TKL for a limited time

A keyboard can make or break the experience of using your PC, so it’s highly recommended that you get a proper one for your workstation or gaming rig. Unfortunately, these peripherals can be pricey, with the best gaming keyboards often costing over $100. Fortunately, we found a budget option just before Amazon Prime Big Deals Day in the $50 SteelSeries Apex 3 TKL — even better, it’s currently on sale at just $16.99 on Woot!, giving you even bigger savings.

• Check out this deal on Woot!

We reviewed the SteelSeries Apex 3 TKL soon after it launched, and it received our Editor’s Choice award. That’s because even though it costs just a little less than $50, it surprisingly punches way above its weight. This keyboard gives budget PC builders a chance to get a decent peripheral, and at 66%, you’re saving even more if you buy it right now.

The Apex 3 TKL isn’t a mechanical keyboard, which will disappoint some enthusiasts. But despite that, it offers a lot for $16.99. You get dedicated media keys, IP32 water resistance, adjustable feet, and a user-friendly app. There’s also an RGB backlight to help you see the keys in the dark (although it isn’t per-key). And if you do not appreciate the racket that more expensive clicky mechanical keyboards make, you’re going to love the Whisper-Quiet membrane switches SteelSeries used on this budget keyboard.

Of course, you’re going to miss out on a few things. For example, it doesn’t come with a detachable USB cable and only supports 24-key rollover. It’s also pretty light, coming in at less than one and a half pounds (639 grams, to be exact) — close to the weight of the 13-inch iPad Air. However, these are trade-offs I’m willing to accept to get a decent gaming keyboard for under $20.

The TKL layout is ideal for budget gamers who also use their PC for productivity tasks. You get large swathes of desktop real estate for swiping your mouse during intense gaming sessions, but you still get all the alphanumeric and navigation keys on it. You’ll only lose the numeric keypad, which some people don’t use anyway, while still retaining the alphanumeric key layout most are accustomed to, minimizing mispresses.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.