Sorry, Apple: This Logitech keyboard is my new go-to for the Mac

It takes me a while to become friends with a new keyboard. Back in 2012, I reviewed the Logitech K810 mini-keyboard. I disliked it so much that I planned to return it. A few weeks later, I updated my review to say I was keeping it. The keyboard had grown on me.

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Well, this month, a full 11 years later, I’m finally taking it out of service and replacing it with the current-generation version of the same-style keyboard. Eleven years. That little keyboard survived my pounding on it roughly 12 hours a day, every day, for 11 years. Impressive. It became a good friend, and I’ll miss it.

Recently, however, Logitech sent me its MX Keys Mini for Mac. It’s a very nice keyboard, but like every other new keyboard I’ve ever tried, I started off disliking it.

Now, a few weeks into using it, I think we’re going to be good friends.

ZDNET RECOMMENDS

Logitech MX Keys Mini for Mac

Small, backlit keyboard for Mac users that can switch between three devices.

A feature every multitasker needs

I set up the MX Keys Mini for Mac as the keyboard I use in the family room. I spend a lot of time working here because I can work with my wife and my little dog can sit on my lap. Don’t underestimate the quality of life benefit of writing with a warm, fuzzy pup on your lap. He’s sleeping on my left thigh right now.

I regularly connect to three computers when in this position. There’s my main Mac Studio, which I’m using now. My wife and I also each have a Mac mini connected to the TV that serves as our conference and collaboration center. (We both work full-time from home.)

Also: Logitech Easy Switch: Switching mice and keyboards between computers is so un-KVM

The MX Keys Mini supports Logitech’s Easy-Switch capability, which allows you to connect up to three devices to your keyboard over Bluetooth. Pressing F1, F2, and F3 toggles between the devices. Paired with the Logitech MX Master 3 mouse, I can hop to another computer in seconds. The current model is the MX Master 3S, but I’m perfectly happy with my MX Master 3, so I haven’t felt the need to upgrade.

Review: Logitech MX Master 3S: The best mouse gets even better

Don’t underestimate the power of this Easy-Switch option. I’m now at the point where I won’t consider a keyboard that can’t switch between machines.

The competition

I was sent the Mac version of the MX Keys Mini, which has been a little different for me. I’ve been using a PC keyboard connected to my Mac for as long as I can remember. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to remap keys to make it work the way I want. More on that later.

Right now, let’s compare the MX Keys Mini with the Apple Magic Keyboard and the Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID.

Both have the same key arrangement (Logitech obviously cloned Apple’s layout). In terms of dimensions, the Logitech keyboard is slightly wider and taller, and also about twice as thick. It also weighs twice as much.

The Logitech MX Keys Mini and the Apple Magic Keyboard both list at $99, but the MX Keys Mini is currently available on Amazon for $79. The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is an extra $50, listed at $149 from Apple. If you get the Touch ID version, Apple removes the sleep button and replaces it with the Touch ID sensor. We’ll talk more about the sleep button later, too.

Here on ZDNET, we often talk about getting the technology that best fits your use case. I don’t personally need Touch ID on my keyboard, but it can be a huge time-saver for other folks. One big feature is that it allows you to sign into your Mac with a fingerprint, and recognizes three prints. So you could have three people in your family or office able to share the machine and sign into their profiles with just their fingers.

It also lets you approve purchases done with any Apple service (iTunes, app store, etc) as well as some other digital payments. If you need to do this a lot, the time savings may well justify the extra $50.

The Apple keyboards don’t have Easy-Switch. You’re binding those keyboards to one computer, and one computer only. As such, unless you have a massively compelling reason to want the Touch ID sensor for logging into things, it just doesn’t make sense to buy the Magic Keyboard. Get the MX Keys Mini instead.

Also: Best keyboards right now: Expert tested and reviewed

The Apple keyboards are also not backlit. I’ll talk more about my slight disappointment with Logitech’s backlighting below, but at least it has backlighting. Apple doesn’t.

One important note: Don’t confuse the Mac Magic Keyboard with the iPad Magic Keyboard. They are completely different devices. The iPad version is either $279 or $329 depending on whether you’re using it with a smaller or larger iPad.

Tweaking the keyboard

People become seriously fussy about how they want their keyboards to work, and I’m no exception. The way Apple lays out its keyboard annoys me.

My biggest complaint is Apple made the key at the lower left of the keyboard into an Fn/Globe key. On PC keyboards, it’s usually the Control key. I have not found a way to overcome this and it makes me cross.

Review: Logitech MX Mechanical: A masterful keyboard in all switches and sizes

I also like to swap the Command and Control keys. I don’t like having the main Command key right next to the Space bar. This can be swapped fairly easily using the Keyboard Settings option. Open System Settings, scroll down to Keyboard, click the Keyboard Shortcuts button, then scroll down to the Modifier Keys tab. And then swap the Command and Control keys:

Try as I might, even though there’s a key assignment option for the Fn/Globe key, nothing seems to work. I think the option is there just to mock me.

One more key frustration is the absence of a Forward Delete key. The standard Delete key removes the character to the left of the cursor, moving back one character per delete. But on PC keyboards, there’s a Forward Delete key, usually at the far upper right of the keyboard. Forward Delete removes characters on the right side of the cursor, which can be very helpful for precision editing. I use it constantly.

Also: My favorite keyboard shortcut of all time (and it works on every browser)

This is where the Apple Magic Keyboard and Logitech MX Keys Mini for Mac have the Sleep key. The Touch ID key replaces the Sleep key if you have the Touch ID Apple keyboard. If you bought that keyboard specifically for Touch ID, you can probably live without the Forward Delete key.

I couldn’t live without the Forward Delete key. Here’s how I solved the problem. Logitech keyboards come with a Logi Options+ app, which allows you to tweak your Logitech devices. One feature is Smart Actions, which is essentially a simple Macro tool triggered by key presses in the function key bar.

With Smart Actions, you can trigger an action based on a key press. In the macro above, the action is triggered based on the press of the Sleep key which then sends the Forward Delete key signal to the Mac. To find the Forward Delete key, which is really Fn Delete, this great video from MacMost shares keyboard delete tricks well worth knowing.

Magic Keyboard users can use the third-party Karabiner Elements app to redefine keys, although the Sleep key isn’t accessible. Karabiner Elements can set Shift Delete to send a Forward Delete keypress to the Mac.

In any case, it is possible to tweak keys to make any Mac-focused keyboard more tolerable to fingers with PC muscle memory.

Minor disappointments

I can’t figure out why the MX Keys Mini is as heavy as it is. The old K810 weighed 337g, only about 60% of the MX Keys Mini. And yet the K810 could go a month or more on a single battery charge. The MX Keys Mini barely makes it two weeks.

It’s not exactly hard to plug in the MX Keys Mini to charge. It just baffles me why it weighs more, has no really unique features over the much older model, and yet has a shorter battery life. Battery life on the Apple Magic Keyboard is quite good, often clocking in close to a month and weighing half as much.

Also: 3 essential Windows tools for troubleshooting (and how to use them)

Both the K810 and the MX Keys Mini have backlighting, but I liked it better on the K810. A big part of that is because the MX Keys Mini for Mac is white, so even backlit, the keys don’t stand out as well. The K810 was black. The lighting also bleeds around the keys in the MX Keys Mini, which I never saw on the K810.

ZDNET’s buying advice

Overall, comparing my experience of the K810 with my first impressions of the MX Keys Mini for Mac, I preferred the K810. But the MX Keys Mini is a fine keyboard that gets the job done.

In terms of comfort, the MX Keys Mini is just as good as the K810, with a slightly nicer keypress feel. I like it. I can type on it for hours and hours without pain or discomfort.

Given the choice of currently-available devices, I strongly recommend the MX Keys Mini from Logitech over the non-Touch ID Magic Keyboard from Apple. For 80% of the price, you get similar performance (not counting the battery), plus backlighting and linking to three devices.

Unless you desperately want Touch ID, get the MX Keys Mini. That said, if Logitech was still making the K810, that would be my top recommendation.

Oh, and little Pixel pup is still asleep on my thigh.

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