If you liked the look of the MX Keys keyboard, but not the inclusion of arrow and a number pad, the pint-sized version might be your next set of keys.
It can be very difficult to find a keyboard to suit what you’re doing. Sure, you could just keep working with your laptop, but not every notebook keyboard offers the best experience, and if you’re working at a desk with a large monitor, an external keyboard is probably going to be better for you for long term working comfort.
External keyboards aren’t exactly hard to find, and can be found anywhere. Your nearest office supply store or its online listing will largely confirm that, but they still won’t always be the same. A good keyboard is not a bad keyboard, and typically cheap keyboards don’t sit in line with the former, more the latter.
It’s one of the reasons why Apple and Logitech tend to ask for higher prices for theirs, as do the various companies making keyboards with mechanical switches — Hyper-X, Logitech, Razer, to name a few — as a good keyboard can make the computer experience even better.
However you don’t always need to go for something big.
While a big keyboard is almost always the consideration, it isn’t always required. If you don’t need a number pad or macro buttons, you may not need to stretch your budget into expensive territory.
We previously checked out the Logitech MX Keys for Mac, and there’s an equivalent version outside the Mac that replaces the typical Apple command keys with Windows ones, but while we loved it, the keyboard can be a little on the large side for everyone.
If you’re after a smaller take on that, Logitech now has one, arriving in the MX Keys Mini, a more bag-friendly approach to carrying a good set of keys around with you if you need one, or just tidying up your desk in a pinch.
Logitech’s MX Keys Mini takes rather the same approach as the MX Keys and cuts it off at the main keyboard, the QWERTY section laptops have seen for ages. There’s still a row of function keys at the very top, paired with operating system media control buttons, and we’re told the MX Keys Mini should work with Logitech’s other MX devices including the MX Master 3 mouse and its software, which means you should also gain support for custom functions on an app level as well as Logitech’s computer-switching “Flow”, something we’ve previously called a revelation when you have more than one computer on your desk, not just more than one screen.
The keyboard does work specifically with Bluetooth, however, a change from Logitech’s usual inclusion of a Unifying key which this no longer supports. The company has said it will support Logitech’s replacement for that, the “Logi Bolt USB receiver”, which doesn’t sound like it’s included in the box. That means the MX Keys Mini is a Bluetooth only keyboard, something that may not be a deal breaker, but means if your computer doesn’t always switch on Bluetooth first when you start up (Mac laptops, we’re looking at you), it mightn’t necessarily be the ideal choice.
Logitech is appealing to potential customers with colour and price, however, offering the MX Keys Mini in three colours — rose (pink), pale (white), and graphite (grey) — while the price sees the MX Keys Mini and MX Keys Mini for Mac at $169.95 in Australia, below the $230 mark its MX Keys big brother can be found for. Expect to find it at retailers across the country in late October.
