The Logitech MX Keys has been the default home-office keyboard for productivity-minded users since 2019. The MX Keys S, released in 2023 and now the version you will find in UK shops, is a refresh rather than a redesign — the keyboard you remember, but with a smarter backlight and a slightly tweaked feel. After enough hands-on time to write this review and a thorough sweep of long-term owner reviews, here is the honest read.
Short version: yes, the MX Keys S is the best general-purpose home office keyboard you can buy under £130. It will not replace a properly ergonomic keyboard if you have wrist issues, and the typing feel is divisive — some hate the chiclet shallowness, most adapt within a day. But if you want one keyboard that pairs to your work laptop, your personal desktop, and your tablet, charges over USB-C, and looks like it was made for an adult desk, this is still the answer in 2026.
What the MX Keys S is
The MX Keys S is a full-size, low-profile wireless keyboard with a number pad. It uses scissor-switch keys with a faint dish carved into each cap (Logitech calls these Perfect Stroke keys), a smart backlight that adjusts to room light and lights up only when your hands approach, USB-C charging, and triple-device pairing over Bluetooth or Logi Bolt.
It is not a mechanical keyboard. It is not split. It is not ergonomic in the wrist-saving sense. It is, however, possibly the most considered low-profile productivity keyboard on the market, and the small upgrades from the original MX Keys are real.
What is in the box
The keyboard, a 1m USB-C charging cable, a Logi Bolt USB-A receiver, and a small instruction leaflet. No wrist rest is included — Logitech sells one separately for around £25 and it is genuinely worth adding if you do long hours. Packaging is fully recycled cardboard.
Build and design
The MX Keys S is heavier than it looks — about 810 grams — because the deck is a single piece of stiff aluminium-coloured plastic that gives the keyboard a properly anchored feel on the desk. It does not slide when you type. The two rear feet flip up about 8mm of height; that is the only adjustment. There is no negative tilt option, and there is no tenting.
Two colourways are sold in the UK: Graphite (matte black-grey) and Pale Grey (off-white with light keys). Both look good. The Pale Grey is the one to buy if you have a Mac and want everything to match; the Graphite is the safer pick for an office and shows fingerprints less.
Typing feel
This is the part of any keyboard review where opinions divide. Here is ours, with the caveat that subjective feel always varies by hand size and preference.
The keys travel about 1.8mm — properly low profile, more than a MacBook keyboard but well short of a normal mechanical board. Each cap has a slight dish, which is the small thing that makes the MX Keys feel different from a generic Logitech laptop-style keyboard. Your fingers find the centre of each key without you noticing.
Sound is on the quieter side — nowhere near silent, but quiet enough that nobody on the other end of a Teams call will hear you typing. The MX Keys S is slightly quieter than the original MX Keys; Logitech changed the dampening underneath the keys. It is still louder than an Apple Magic Keyboard.
If you have come from a mechanical board, the typing feel will feel insubstantial for the first day. By the third day you will probably stop noticing. If you have come from an Apple Magic Keyboard, you will find the MX Keys S has a touch more travel and a touch more feedback — usually a positive change.
Typing accuracy goes up after the adjustment period. The dished keys reduce the rate at which your fingers slip onto the wrong key versus a flat-top low-profile board. We would not buy this for the typing feel alone, but it is genuinely good.
Backlight and the smart sensor
The original MX Keys had a smart backlight; the S refines it. There is a proximity sensor that lights the keys up when your hands approach and dims them when you move away, which sounds gimmicky and turns out to be the small feature you miss most when going back to a board without it. Battery life on the S is rated at five months with the backlight on full auto, which we believe — our review unit went six weeks with no detectable drop.
The backlight itself is uniform across the deck (no obvious bright spots), three brightness settings if you want manual control, and the auto mode picks a sensible level for the room about 90% of the time. There is no per-key RGB and no lighting effects. This is a productivity keyboard, not a gaming one, and that suits us.
Multi-device pairing
The MX Keys S pairs to three devices — Bluetooth or Logi Bolt receiver — and switches between them with the labelled 1/2/3 keys at the top right. The switch is fast (about half a second) and reliable. We pair to a work laptop on Bluetooth channel 1, a personal desktop on channel 2 via the Logi Bolt receiver, and an iPad on channel 3 via Bluetooth. Switching between them works exactly as advertised.
If you use Logitech Flow with an MX Master mouse, the keyboard follows the mouse between machines automatically when you push the cursor off the edge of one screen onto the next. This is the closest thing to office magic in the consumer keyboard market and is worth pairing the keyboard with the matching mouse for if you work across two computers.
Battery and charging
USB-C charging, finally — the original MX Keys used Micro USB. Logitech rates the battery at five months with the smart backlight in auto mode, ten days with the backlight on full all the time, and theoretically several months with the backlight switched off. Our experience matches the five-month figure for typical use. A 30-minute charge gives you about a week of use.
There is no Qi wireless charging. Logitech sells a charging mat that the keyboard sits on for the office MX Keys variant; the standalone MX Keys S does not include this.
What is genuinely better than the original MX Keys
The visible upgrades from the 2019 MX Keys to the 2023 MX Keys S are: USB-C in place of Micro USB, slightly quieter typing, a redesigned smart backlight that responds faster, the addition of three programmable shortcut keys (mute mic, take screenshot, dictation by default but remappable in Logi Options+), and slightly improved Bluetooth range.
Are they worth upgrading from a working MX Keys for? Probably not, unless the Micro USB irritates you daily. Are they worth choosing the S over the older model if you are buying new? Yes — the price difference in the UK is now under £15, and USB-C alone justifies it.
Logi Options+ software
The MX Keys S works fine with no software installed. The companion app — Logi Options+ — is where you customise the three shortcut keys, set up Logitech Flow, configure per-application key behaviour, and update the firmware. The app is a meaningful step up from the older Logitech Options; the per-app feature is genuinely useful (we have F4 set to Mute on Slack, Send-to-back in Photoshop, and Refresh in Chrome). Optional but recommended.
What we do not love
Three grumbles, all minor.
First, the function-key row is the modern reduced layout — function keys default to media and system controls, and you hold Fn to get F1–F12. You can flip this in the software. It is a small thing if you live in shortcuts.
Second, the Mac layout sticker situation. Logitech sells UK-layout MX Keys S in a single keycap design and includes Mac and Windows labels printed on each cap. The result is keys with both legends, which most people will not mind but some find visually noisy.
Third, the price holds steady. The original MX Keys is now five-plus years old; the S has not dropped much in price since launch. £130 is fair, but the keyboard rarely goes on heavy discount, so do not wait for a 50% sale that probably will not come.
How it compares to the alternatives
Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (~£135): the obvious Mac alternative. The Magic Keyboard is more compact and slightly more clicky, but the MX Keys S has the multi-device switching, the smart backlight, the better battery life, and the Logitech Flow integration. We use the MX Keys S even on Mac.
Keychron K3 Max (~£90): mechanical low-profile alternative. Better typing feel for fans of mechanical, but louder, no smart backlight, and the multi-device switch is slower. Buy the K3 Max if mechanical feel matters most.
Logitech ERGO K860 (~£105): the more ergonomic Logitech option. Better for wrist comfort, worse for sleek desktop aesthetics, and lacks USB-C charging. Buy the K860 if your wrists need help; otherwise the MX Keys S is the more flexible everyday choice.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Best-in-class multi-device switching for cross-platform home offices
- Smart backlight that genuinely makes the keyboard nicer to use at all times of day
- USB-C charging at last, with five-month battery life on a charge
- Stable weighty deck does not slide on the desk
- Quiet enough for video calls without going tap-tap-tap into the microphone
- Logi Options+ per-app key remapping is a real productivity gain
Cons
- Low-profile feel is divisive — mechanical fans will not love it
- No tenting, no negative tilt, no real ergonomic adjustability
- Function-key row defaults to media controls (flippable in software)
- No wireless charging
- Rarely on real discount in the UK
Should you buy the Logitech MX Keys S?
If you want one keyboard that pairs cleanly to two or three machines, looks at home on an adult desk, has the best smart backlight on the market, and disappears once you have learned the typing feel — yes. The MX Keys S is the most considered productivity keyboard in this price band, and it has been for half a decade.
Pair it with a Logitech MX Master 3S mouse and Logi Flow if you cross between two computers daily; that combination is the closest thing to a productivity superpower in the consumer category.
If your priority is wrist health, buy the ERGO K860 instead. If your priority is mechanical typing feel, buy the Keychron K3 Max. If you want a single keyboard for a single Mac and never to think about it again, the Apple Magic Keyboard is fine. For everyone else, the MX Keys S remains the best home office keyboard you can buy in 2026.
