The keyboard is the most intimate and least glamorous accessory on the desk. You may spend thousands on a computer and months deciding which monitor to buy, then spend years touching the same set of plastic rectangles without giving them another thought. The Logitech MX Keys S makes the argument that the sensible keyboard is not necessarily the loudest, most elaborate or most fashionable. Sometimes it is the one that lets you forget it is there.
The MX Keys S is a full-size, wireless scissor-switch keyboard. Compared with the earlier MX Keys, it adds more flexible backlight customization, automatic brightness behavior and Logi Bolt connectivity, according to RTINGS’ comparison. These are modest changes, but a keyboard is an intimate piece of equipment. Small improvements in the daily routine can count for more than dramatic styling.
The full-size layout is particularly attractive for anyone who works with spreadsheets, deadlines or numerical data. It preserves the familiar arrangement rather than asking a new owner to memorize layers of shortcuts. The low-profile design will be familiar to laptop users who want a more permanent desk setup, though the feel of a particular switch cannot be established from a specification sheet.
There is a distinct pleasure in equipment that refuses to perform for an audience. Mechanical-keyboard culture has produced wonderful inventions, but it can also turn typing into a hobby of switches, sound profiles and expensive keycaps. A low-profile scissor-switch board takes another road. Its appeal lies in the familiarity of a laptop-like action attached to a more spacious, permanent workspace.
The trade-off is straightforward. Enthusiasts seeking hot-swappable mechanical switches, deep travel and unusual key layouts should look elsewhere. People who want a well-organized, understated work surface have plenty of reasons to put the MX Keys S on their shortlist. It is an unusually sensible sort of upgrade: one designed to disappear beneath the work rather than interrupt it.
Further reading: product details.
