Introduction
The Logitech MX Keys Mini Combo For Business is a keyboard and mouse combo that’s looking to target the more premium end of the market, but for the sort of people who maybe wouldn’t be drawn to like a kitschy black and red gaming mouse with speed stripes down the side. As the name implies, these would not look out of place in any office, and some nice design choices make them well suited to modern corporate life.
First impressions
The Logitech keyboard is definitely ‘mini’, but if you’re worried the keyboard is in any way cramped, rest assured that the actual layout of the keys is much the same as any standard keyboard (sans the numeric keypad). All of the space-saving is around the key layout.
A big part of whether a keyboard comes across as high quality has to do with how the keys feel when you push them; the Logitech keys feel and sound premium and are satisfying to type on.
The mouse has pleasant rubber sidings and is well moulded, and you will notice straight away that the scroll wheel is metal, with a smooth scrolling feel.
Set up
If your PC doesn’t have Bluetooth, you can use the supplied USB-C receiver to get started right away. Otherwise, pairing the keyboard and mouse with Bluetooth is really straight-forward. Both the keyboard and mouse have buttons to enable quick swapping between up to 3 saved devices, which is really handy if like me you want to bounce between multiple laptops without moving your desk around.
Both the keyboard and mouse have a number of extra keys you can customise. If you want to get really deep with your customisation, you can install the Logi Options+ app. This can also push through firmware updates, which I did for the keyboard without a hitch.
In Use
I swap between using a Mac and a Windows laptop, so I am square in the target market for the design of this keyboard, which provides a unified OS-agnostic layout that handles both equally well. I have literally complained a dozen times to my long-suffering loved ones about how badly my brain handles the swap between Mac and Windows keyboards – having one consistent layout for both is a game changer for me, and for the people in my life.
The top row of the keyboard provides a number of handy shortcuts that are honestly way more relevant than anything any laptop ships with. My favourite is the snip shortcut, which lets you screenshot a section of the screen, and which frees up the valuable brain-space I’ve dedicated to trying to remember both of the stupidly circuitous key combinations necessary to accomplish this feat on Mac and Windows. The emoji shortcut key also deserves an honourable mention.
The mouse uses Logitech Darkfield Tracking, which I can’t believe is called that, and let’s just take another moment to again appreciate that this mouse has something they have decided to call Logitech Darkfield Tracking. Okay, apparently this means the mouse can be used on just about any surface, even glass. I can confirm that I did use the mouse on glass, and it worked great! Thanks, Logitech Darkfield Tracking!
Both the keyboard and mouse have excellent battery life – a single charge of either will last you a significant chunk of time. This is pretty impressive given all the Logitech Darkfield Tracking the mouse does in the background.
If you do need to charge, both the keyboard and the mouse have pleasingly sane USB-C port placement that enables them to charge while in-use, which would be a really odd thing to even bother mentioning unless you are a Mac user who has been stung before.
Other features
One interesting design choice is the ‘Smart Backlighting’, which senses your approaching hands to light up the keys before you touch them. It feels like the kind of premium quality signalling a designer does when you are about to pay too much for something, like when a high-end retail store smells suspiciously good.
Issues
On the subject of paying too much, we really do have to talk about price. At this price-point, the MX Mini Combo for Business is approaching the price-point of some of the really crazy mechanical keyboards. This design is quite stylish and pleasant to work with, and I really do love that emoji button, but this is quite a price premium given the dirt-cheap entry level we’re comparing the product to.
I did find myself having to Google a few basic key shortcuts that I think the MX keyboard should probably make more apparent out-of-the-box, like how to work around the missing the ‘home’ and ‘end’ keys which a Windows user will feel lost without. When I found the answer I thought it was a smart choice (because it again unifies Windows and Mac shortcuts), so this complaint is really just more about the documentation the product comes with rather than the actual design itself.
Conclusion
Logitech MX Keys Mini Combo For Business is a premium product offering with a price tag to match. Each little design choice shows an intimate understanding of the needs of modern employees; simple things like understanding that muting or unmuting your mic and finding an emoji are probably tasks you want to do more frequently than putting your laptop to sleep or toggling your WiFi on or off (both real stupid things my Windows laptop’s keyboard designer thought I might need to do really urgently).
More importantly if you’re trying to justify the price tag to yourself, the keyboard and mouse feel high quality, and are satisfying to use. At the end of the day it is just a wireless keyboard and mouse, but if you’re already looking at the premium side of the market, they are pretty nice to use.
The Logitech MX Keys Mini Combo For Business retails between $228 on the lower end to quite a bit more so it pays to shop around.
DRN would like to thank Logitech for providing the hardware for this review.
Specifications
- Wireless technology
- Logi Bolt USB Receiver
- Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE): 5.0+
- Wireless operating distance: Up to 10 meters. Wireless range may vary depending on operating environment and computer setup.
- Keyboard battery: USB-C rechargeable Li-Po (1500mAh) battery, 10 days on a full charge
- Mouse battery: USB-C rechargeable Li-Po (500 mAh) battery, up to 70 days on a single full charge
- Keyboard size:
- Height: 131.95 mm
- Width: 295.99 mm
- Depth: 20.97 mm
- Weight: 506.4 g
