If you want a number pad with full-size arrow keys and a navigation cluster, get the Satechi Bluetooth Extended Keypad. The Microsoft Number Pad is sturdy and enjoyable to type on, and it’s the only model we tested that can pair with up to three Bluetooth devices and switch between them. If you don’t use a number pad frequently but do need one sometimes, we recommend using the K380 or MX Keys Mini with a standalone number pad. But the K780 lacks backlighting, and there’s no Mac-layout version. The K780 also adds a built-in stand for smartphones and tablets, and it comes with a Unifying USB wireless dongle. Overall, the K780 is very similar to the K380-it has round keys, it can pair with and switch between up to three devices via Bluetooth, and it has the same long battery life, software, and warranty. The Logitech K780 Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard is the best choice if you want a keyboard with a number pad that’s more compact than a traditional full-size model like the MX Keys. (On the Magic Keyboard, I can replicate that by holding Fn while pressing the up and down arrows, but that’s a two-handed job.15 by 12.3 inches from 0.3 to 0.9 inch tall I don’t miss the dedicated number pad on the Wired Keyboard, but I did like having the Page Up and Down buttons.
Like Jason Snell, I find the full-size right and left arrows a bit harder to find with my fingers than the half-size arrow keys on my MacBook Air and Wired Keyboard. The Logitech Bluetooth Easy-Switch Keyboard costs about the same as the Magic Keyboard, while including extra features like easy pairing of multiple devices, and backlit keys.īesides its smaller size and lack of a wire, the Magic Keyboard doesn’t improve on the Wired Keyboard in any significant way. I have to retrain my fingers to find them without looking.īefore getting the Magic Keyboard, I primarily used Apple’s wired keyboard, and occasionally dabbled with Logitech’s excellent Bluetooth Easy-Switch Keyboard ($99.99), which we reviewed very favorably in 2013. The biggest change to the keys is the new full-height left and right arrows on the Magic Keyboard (left). The keys on the Magic Keyboard are large and flat and stark white they don’t wobble at all and they’re generally pleasing to type on. But the difference didn’t seem striking to me (if you’ll excuse the terrible pun). Going back and forth, I started to feel like I was hitting the laptop keys harder, while typing on the Magic Keyboard felt like it took slightly less effort. The keyboard is a little bit shorter top to bottom, and the travel of the keys is shortened as a result, but I didn’t feel much of a difference between it and my laptop, a late 2013 MacBook Air.
The Magic Keyboard uses scissor-switch keys, like its predecessors the wired Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad ($49) and Apple Wireless Keyboard, which Apple has discontinued but is still available for $49 from Other World Computing. I already tend to keep a Lightning cable in every workspace and laptop bag for topping off my iPhone and iPad anyway, so it’s nice to not have to worry about toting spare AA batteries or a micro-USB cable. But I love having the extra Lightning cable that came with the Magic Keyboard. I didn’t have to go to the Bluetooth preferences to set the keyboard up, and when I disconnected the Lightning cable, the keyboard stayed paired.Ĭharging with a Lightning cable instead of using AA batteries seems like a small thing-pretty much every Bluetooth keyboard has a built-in battery these days, mostly charging with a micro-USB cable.
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I connected the keyboard to my MacBook Air with the Lightning cable, just to make sure it was charged all the way, and that had the bonus effect of auto-pairing the keyboard with the Mac over Bluetooth. At 11 by 4.5 by 0.4 inches and 0.5 pounds, the Magic Keyboard is highly portable. A switch on the back turns the keyboard on or off-any good Bluetooth keyboard should have this, so you can easily power it down before you shove it in your laptop bag. My Magic Keyboard arrived fully charged, and it comes with a Lightning cable, which you’ll use to charge it from a USB port on your Mac. Whether that’s worth Apple’s somewhat steep $99 asking price is up to you (keep in mind Apple’s older, now-defunct Wireless Keyboard was only $69), but the Magic Keyboard is slim, compact, and pleasant to type on. What the Magic Keyboard is, is a pretty nice Bluetooth keyboard that charges with a Lightning cable. It’s not writing this review for me while I sip a margarita and play Two Dots, and I feel like that would be magic.
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