MX Keys for Mac and PC Review: The Ideal Productivity Keyboard?

There's something that i hate to admit i have a problem a big problem i have this tendency to buy a ton of keyboards and mice most of which i really don't even use anymore it's practically e-waste at this point and a waste of my money and i need to stop yet when logitech released the mx keys i just knew i had to dish out another benjamin just to grab one i mean i enjoy the mx master series of mice so i should probably enjoy this mx series keyboard too right

Let's find out with a little review just a quick disclosure this is the mx keys for mac which differs from the standard mx keys in only three areas this color is only available for the mac version the standard version comes in this different darker shade of gray the mac version only has mac related keys listed and the mac version when used with the windows machine reads the option button as alt and the command button as the windows key or start key on pc

Which is kind of flip-flopped and really annoying when you're os agnostic and why i recommend most people get the standard version even if you're primarily a mac os user because you never know when you need it i really only have the mac version because i bought it first not knowing those key layouts i tried alt tabbing on a windows pc it was start tabbing instead and as soon as i was ready to exchange it for the standard version my return window closed basically what

I'm trying to say is i'm an idiot for not realizing the return period expired don't be me lastly the buttons are labeled better on the standard version with both windows and mac keys printed on them this review applies to both types of the mx keys except for those three key differences between them okay so beyond that the mx keys comes with a few accessories a usb dongle that you can use if you don't have or don't want to use bluetooth and a usbc to usbc charging cable

The keyboard has a nice heft to it and has minimal flex to it when you apply some pressure but if you do apply excessive force there is some minor creaking the mx keys for mac match pretty closely to the space gray body and black keys of a macbook pro but the mx keys board isn't metal just a metal looking plastic this also applies to the standard mx keys it's all plastic it's not a deal breaker but it's very hard to tell just based off of pictures and video logitech also sells a pricier version of

The mx keys named the craft keyboard that has a bulky attached additional dial for a hefty price premium that one came out first but i personally feel that that keyboard is more for specific niche while the mx keys is more for general productivity the keyboard is slightly slanted upwards thanks to the bar on the back and there are rubber feet in every corner of the back of the keyboard the top trim of the keyboard has both the usb type c

Charging port and power switch the keys themselves have this nice circular indent that your fingertips naturally fit in it really helps you know that you're locked into a key instead of accidentally hitting a corner of one there's also white led backlighting and a proximity sensor that watches you harder than the nsa that turns the backlight on and off basically the sensor turns on the backlight when your hands are around two inches or closer to the keyboard sometimes it can be annoying because

The sensor will trigger when i'm not planning to use the keyboard but for the most part it doesn't bother me at all battery life on the keyboard is good i haven't actually measured battery life but i ended up needing to charge it every roughly two weeks without the backlighting turned on the keyboard is supposed to last much longer before charging now let's do a quick test about how the keyboard sounds when you type on it as well as some comparisons to other

Keyboards okay now that we got the physical features out of the way what's it like using it for the most part exactly what you expect the keys are nice to type on and it took me almost no time at all to adjust the spacing of the keyboard the keys feel better than the average laptop keyboard or tactile and responsive but they are still laptop style chiclet keys sure the typing experience isn't as good

As mechanical keyboard or say your typewriter but very good for laptop style keyboard i didn't experience any kind of typing fatigue for long periods of time the way i do on apple's butterfly keyboards and the keys on the mx keys aren't too loud that they would annoy someone which isn't important now but once people start heading back to offices that information might be much more valuable as far as wireless keyboards go this is one of the easiest ones to quickly just

Turn on and get started i've had chances to use both the microsoft surface keyboard and apple magic keyboard the logitech mx keys stood out while it did look modern it had some curves and the finish was different and was easier to pair to multiple devices as well there are these three buttons f13 f14 and f15 that lets you pair and switch between three different devices this is part of this keyboard's whole appeal the fast switchability of the mx series peripherals to other devices

And through using the logitech software this switching feature makes it a great keyboard to use with all the computers and devices in your house by using the logi options software you unlock the ability to switch between devices seamlessly with your mx devices that means your mx keys your mx master 2s your craft keyboard or your mx master 3 mouse with the feature logitech dubs as flow here's a nice quick little demo of that you can see here i have two computers up a macbook pro

And my now ancient because nvidia just announced new graphics cards gaming pc through the logitech options app with both devices on the same network if i just drag my mouse into the corner it can switch over to the other machine and the lights indicating which machines it's on changes you can also copy and paste text and move files across different machines if on a mac or pc sorry linux sorry ios sorry android so another difference between the standard version of the mx keys and the mac version is

That the mac version of the mx keys can only use flow with other macs however on the standard mx keys you can easily switch between mac os and windows and i can confirm on my end that my mx mouse did transfer with flow but the keyboard did not now honesty time here i might get some flack for this but i work using multiple laptops on a daily basis i have my own devices like my macbook pro and my pc then i also have laptops for work

Currently three of them so you would think the flow feature would be super convenient in this use case right the truth is i really use it for my own personal machines i use them for different purposes my macbook is for youtube related tasks like video editing thumbnail editing and writing scripts as well as general computing my desktop is for gaming there's rarely an overlap for me to need to use both at the same time for personal usage

And plus i'd rather use a mechanical keyboard while i'm gaming so what about my work laptops honestly it could have been very useful in this workflow but lots of work computers require that you use vpns they also restrict what software you can download and some just plain like bluetooth all of these can block you from using flow in some way i've encountered all three of these obstacles with these three machines so keep that in mind if you're buying this keyboard and an mx mouse just for

Flow it might not work as intended i know it sounds like i'm bashing on this keyboard i'm not flow is just a halo feature of the mx series of devices but i wanted to point out some obvious deficiencies for some professionals workflows that i felt aren't discussed too much but when it does work it's a nice feature if you want to show it off or demo it to a youtube audience or something there's also an app called synergy that provides similar features but for a one-time purchase price if you

Only care about flow then maybe that's something you want to check out instead okay so this is how i feel about the logitech mx keys overall i think it's a very good keyboard it really is it has the accumulation of all the great features offered across logitech's other keyboard offerings all shoved into a single product i think that's why it's an mx series device it's a solid keyboard first but it's filled with great creature comforts too that just make it a great keyboard to own

But you shouldn't buy this keyboard solely for flow while it's a cool feature to have as mentioned earlier it has limitations and you may be better off with using something else i personally believe the mx keys is one of the most complete keyboards in logitech's lineup and if you do pick this up for productivity you'll have no regrets as long as you pick the standard version instead of the mac version please try that one first seriously anyway guys what do you think

Is this a good option as a keyboard for you is there a better alternative out there what's been working best for you leave all that down in the comment section below if you enjoyed this video give it a thumbs up and well don't forget to subscribe i'll see you guys next time