Logitech Casa reviewed: home away from home

Laptops are made for many viewing angles, but they won’t rise without a stand, and stands aren’t portable. But what if they are? The Logitech Casa Pop-Up Desk does something few other accessories can.

Home is known for many things, but the home for your laptop is typically going to look different from when you take that same computer to go. Move to a portable environment like a remote desk, and where you sit your computer will likely change.

Working from home, you might have raised your laptop off the desk, but things are a little different when you’re travelling. Carrying that raised surface isn’t likely on the cards, so when you travel to work, your laptop is flat, unless your workplace has catered for laptop risers and stands. Not all workplaces have.

Logitech has an interesting solution in the “Casa”, an idea that gives your laptop a permanent sense of the same home environment it might have when it actually is at home, and it’s not just about a laptop stand.

What is the Logitech Casa?

Built in plastic to look like a folio of some sort, the Logitech Casa is a combination between keyboard, trackpad mouse, and laptop stand that you can take with you.

The idea is clever, with the folio’s folds effectively becoming the stand, and the keyboard and mouse hidden inside, complete with a hidden compartment for a cable to charge both peripherals. The stand itself needs no charge, but the Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad do, and they can also switch between three devices, as well.

Officially, it’s a pop-up desk thanks to the name being rather direct: the Logitech Casa Pop-Up Desk. Unofficially, it’s a bit of a WFH transition piece, allowing you to take the laptop stand, keyboard, and trackpad where you go.

It’s handy, for sure.

What does it do?

When closed, the Casa folio holds a keyboard and trackpad comfortably, and just becomes another folio you can carry with you. Easy.

But when opened, the inside of the folio opens up and clips into a little recess at the lip, which in an almost origami-like fashion folds into place to hold devices up. Officially, the Casa will hold up computers ranging from 10 inches to 17 inches, though we found a 16 inch MacBook Pro didn’t feel as stable.

Clearly, the point is all about portability, so we’d probably stick to a max of 15 inches. Testing with both the 15 inch M2 MacBook Air and the 13 inch M3 MacBook Air, we found the Casa handled them with no problems.

It can also support something smaller, such as an iPad, but only the one angle is supported, and it mightn’t be as useful for a tablet.

Does it do the job?

The keyboard is fine, providing some comfortable travel, even if it isn’t the best in the business. The trackpad is much the same: you get a small-ish trackpad to swipe, scroll, press and click on, and it all feels very much fine.

Both devices are entirely USB-C rechargeable, which is nice and easy to deal with, and the battery life covers up to five months for the keyboard and closer to 3-4 weeks for the trackpad. It does come with a USB-C cable in an extra compartment with room for another, so recharging either peripheral from your laptop should be easy as.

The keyboard and mouse also offer support for up to three devices, meaning your laptop and two others, with a button letting you jump. It’s not as cool or clever as Logitech Flow, which automatically connects supported Logitech MX devices to other computers with ease, but you can quickly jump through different Bluetooth connections by pressing a button, which is handy.

Logitech also provides some minor customisations through the Logi+ Options app, should you wat to change a macro or two, or even configure a different emoji.

What does it need?

Overall, the keyboard isn’t bad, and the trackpad is a handy inclusion, but while the Logitech Casa is made for laptops, it feels like it needs an extra position for smaller devices, namely tablets.

There are individuals that could use a similar design for an iPad or other tablet, and might at the moment. Annoyingly, the one position Logitech’s Casa officially offers feels suitable only for laptops, and specifically those where the screen can be pushed far enough back so that it’s perfectly aimed at your face.

Tablets won’t have that. The one viewing angle for this first-gen Logitech Casa will be at a clear angle. We hope there’s a second generation, and if there is, maybe Logitech can fix this.

Is it worth your money?

Priced at $289, the Logitech Casa is a little exy, but not dramatically so, largely because of what you get: it’s a portable keyboard, portable trackpad, and portable stand married into one. That doesn’t actually exist anywhere. Normally, you need to buy each separately, and the stand is almost never compact.

By comparison, a compact wireless keyboard might cost $50 to $90. Compact trackpads are rare, but a trackpad is closer to $179. Meanwhile, a portable laptop stand ranges from $30 to $80. At this point, we’re already pretty close to Logitech’s $289 price point, and that’s before you mention that the folio collapses it all into a neat little package.

What Logitech has made is clever, particularly for someone who needs all three for their portable work-from-home environment.

Yay or nay?

As much as we love working from home, the reality is that so many workplaces will ask you to come in, and that can come to the detriment of how you work.

We’ve been spoiled, for sure. A big screen, a comfortable neck position, external keys and mice — these are partly what makes working from home so enjoyable, as is being able to listen to any music you want without annoying your cubicle neighbours.

You can easily fix the latter with a good pair of headphones. That’s fine. But the former? Taking tech to go and keeping your neck happy isn’t easy.

Logitech’s Casa Pop-Up Desk makes it easy. Frankly, we’re surprised no one has thought of this sooner. This is a clever take on tech that provides a home away from home.