So, if it already isn’t painfully obvious, I love buying tech. Some of it maybe awesome while others may be a little weird, but I always make a point to buy products that will be extremely useful for multiple situations.

The Setup

As you can see, today’s product is a keyboard.  Specifically, it is the Logitech K400 Multimedia Keyboard.  This was purchased as a replacement for my old Logitech Multimedia Keyboard + Mouse combo that was originally purchased back in 2008.  So, over the past 4.5 years, I have essentially broken every key and button on either device as I’ve probably thrown them across rooms.

Well, that’s neither here nor there (even though the old keyboard is sitting just a few feet from me).  I’m here to give my impressions on what is to be the most awesome keyboard alive! (or so I thought)

The Good

Oh my goodness! This thing is super light and super small!  Its a keyboard that I can comfortably sit on my lap and not have to clumsily situate it.  As I unboxed it, I was surprised to find out how light it was.  For a while, I was searching for the batteries in the box and ultimately decided I was going to have to buy new ones before discovering that the batteries had already been installed.

Another positive point for me is what else it replaced.  If it isn’t evident in the top picture, there is a trackpad built into the device.  Now this isn’t an entirely new idea as other keyboards have had trackpads built in.  What’s great about this one is the position of the trackpad. Unlike the keyboards of the past and laptop keyboards of today, the trackpad is off to the right.  This is to help with navigating things on a screen very far away.  It helps while I type out this post while leaning back in my desk chair and could help out those who have PCs connected to TVs (hear that, Steam Big Picture Mode).  The trackpad does have multitouch support so you can do the standard two finger gestures like scrolling and zooming. It also helps out with the next plus…

This keyboard supports Windows 8 officially.  Now, normally when you buy either a keyboard or mouse, you may see a little picture on the side stating that you can use it on Windows/Mac (no Linux picture, unfortunately, but it does work).  This box explicitly states that it works with Windows 8 and Windows RT.  For those who haven’t used or know anything about the next version(s) of Windows, this version is very gesture heavy as it is more geared towards mobile computing with a major emphasis on tablet computers.  There are certain gestures that this trackpad will recognize that will on work on Windows 8 (for obvious reasons).

The Bad

Pretty much what I mentioned is good with this thing also is what’s kinda bad about it.  The keyboard is really small.  After using my last keyboard, I found this keyboard to be a little awkward to use.  Due to its small size, it lacks a keypad which was something that I used regularly.  Come to think of it, its more or less like Logitech took a laptop keyboard and moved the trackpad to the right.  It has been an annoyance for the past..eh…9 hours of use.

I have no clue why they decided to put the shift key to the right of the up arrow on the keyboard.  This makes it fairly difficult while typing as, while I’m writing this, keep going up into the line above to type a sentence if I when I want to uppercase anything on the left side of my keyboard.  In terminal, if I’m not paying attention, I tend to start editing a previous command with information for the command I think I’m typing because I hit the up key instead of shift  It will take some getting used to, but it wasn’t something that I was looking forward to.  I’m pretty sure if I looked at the keyboard closer, I would have been better prepared.

Also, because of the trackpad being built in, I keep reaching for a mouse that isn’t there.  If I’m using the keyboard at my desk, it turns into an inevitability.  The best thing that I can do to alleviate the issue is to type in my lap, as Logitech intended.

Conclusion

This keyboard has obviously has its good and its bad.  This has to be the first thing I bought and can’t give it a glowing review or tell you to flood Amazon and buy millions of them.  This keyboard is really for certain people doing certain things.  This isn’t meant as a replacement for a desktop keyboard unless you have a 42″ TV on your desk and you are sitting on the other side of the room.  This keyboard has actually made me want to redesign my room around it.  You know, buy a larger TV, hook up my server or different computer to it, kick back, relax and wonder why I keep hitting the damn up button!