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Logitech MX Keys S Keyboard Review

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Gamers are spoiled for choice when it comes to premium keyboard options, but for general productivity and day to day working there are far fewer options. These professional keyboards may not be quite as exciting, but they are equally as important as more people begin to dock their laptops in a home office setup and look beyond their built-in laptop keyboard.

A familiar name in the game is Logitech and the MX Keys S keyboard sits as a premium but accessible option in its range. A full-size, wireless and low profile option, the MX Keys S makes a few minor tweaks from the original MX Keys keyboard with a focus on productivity and efficiency in mind. £109.99 is no small investment, but if this keyboard can live up to its performance moniker it could be tough to find a better option.

simply put

For day to day use, the Logitech MX Keys S is a wonderful keyboard to type on with a sleek design and a handful of software-side tricks up its sleeve too.

the good bits

Full-size layout
Excellent typing experience
Multi-device connectivity
Options+ app offers customisation

the not so good bits

Surprisingly heavy
Nowhere to store USB dongle

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Logitech MX Keys S Advanced Wireless Illuminated Keyboard

design

There’s something particularly Apple-esque about the Logitech MX Keys S, in both the Pale Gray and Graphite colour options it carries the vibe of a product straight out of Cupertino. Squint your eyes and you’d be forgiven for mistaking the rounded corners of the MX Keys S for Apple’s own Magic Keyboard. That’s a compliment of course, because despite its curves this is a strikingly sharp keyboard and one that’ll look right at home in any modern desk setup.

While it may not feature the more eye-catching bells and whistles of some other keyboards, there are a few things that quickly stand out with the Logitech MX Keys S. Firstly, for a keyboard so simple it’s incredibly heavy, the best part of a kilo, which does limit how viable the MX Keys S is as a laptop bag companion. It has the opposite effect in a static setup though with that extra weight giving the Logitech MX Keys S a robust and premium feel despite a completely plastic build. 

Logi doesn’t include a wrist support with the MX Keys S as standard, though an extra £10 at checkout will see one coming your way. Realistically though, this is as low profile as a keyboard comes and throughout testing I didn’t feel like the MX Keys S needed extra wrist support beyond my desk surface anyway. The front lip sits tight to the desk and while I’d have liked to have seen some level of customisation when it comes to the overall angle of the MX Keys S, the fixed position it sits in felt natural and comfortable to use for my taste.

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Across the face the full-size keyboard is neatly laid out with a double height enter key and numpad on the right. While you’ll find a complete row of function keys along the top of the MX Keys S, Logitech has opted to relegate the F keys in favour of their own selection. There’s an interesting mix here with classic media and brightness controls sitting alongside some more unique options like a dedicated emoji menu key and snipping tool shortcut. You’re not limited to Logitech’s choices either as each of these keys can be manually remapped to actions, shortcuts or even full macro sequences using the accompanying Options+ app.

performance

The Logitech MX Keys S keys themselves are aggressively low profile, only rising a couple of mm above the frame and feeling distinctly like a laptop keyboard as a result. Personally, I love this chiclet style for typing and day to day productivity so I quickly felt at home working with the MX Keys S. The keycaps themselves do have a little bit of a wobble to them but not enough to be distracting while typing and a small indent on the top of each helps align your fingers nicely.  Not only is it a comfortable, accurate typing experience but it’s a quiet one too. The membrane-scissor keys of the MX Keys S make it an open-plan-friendly keyboard with muted taps that are actually quite pleasant in an office-ASMRy kind of way.

Each key is backlit with plenty of punch that stands up even in bright office environments, though there is a disappointing amount of light leak around the sides and particularly the front edge of each key which makes the effect a little rough. An ambient light sensor will adapt the strength of this backlighting to your surroundings and while Logitech touts hand proximity sensors to activate the backlighting when needed – in testing this never seemed to work and more often than not it would take a keypress to break the darkness. With the backlights enabled Logitech says you can expect around 10 days of use from the MX Keys S’ built-in 1,500mAh battery which blows out to a whopping 5 months with the backlights disabled. Through my testing I think six or seven days is a more realistic figure but it’s certainly enough juice to ensure charging doesn’t become a chore.

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Much like the matching Logitech MX Master 3S mouse, the MX Keys S not only offers multiple ways to connect but also seamless support for connecting to and switching between multiple devices. I’ve been testing the keyboard using its low energy Bluetooth mode and consistently experienced a rock solid connection. Even waking my laptop from standby having not used it for a day or two the MX Keys S was immediately ready for action, you’d have been able to convince me it was wired if it wasn’t for the empty space below my monitor. Again mirroring the MX Master 3S, the Logitech MX Keys S can be paired with up to three devices at once and quickly switch between them with a single button press. It’s a satisfyingly simple process and one that will no doubt be well received by home workers transitioning between machines.

Logitech also includes a Logi Bolt USB receiver which will happily talk to up to six devices at once, meaning you can also connect other peripherals like the MX Master 3S mouse without sacrificing multiple USB-A ports. That’s great, but bizarrely there’s nowhere to dock the Bolt in the keyboard itself when not in use. The Logi Bolt receiver is impressively tiny and so without an onboard home I can see it being easily lost. The Logitech G515 keyboard has a storage area so Logi knows the idea exists – I guess they just kinda, forgot here?

summed up

Refined, understated and good at what it does, I’m glad to have the Logitech MX Keys S as a workday companion. Yes it’s an all-plastic keyboard but there’s a premium vibe and solid overall build quality here that make it feel every bit of the £109.99 it will set you back.

The typing experience is laptop-like and lovely, with responsive low-profile keys that while perhaps not well suited to gaming are right at home when it comes to productivity and general use. Coupled with the customisation potential of the Options+ app and seamless multi-device connectivity, there’s a lot to enjoy with the Logitech MX Keys S and little holding it back.

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