If you have a Mac and want a low-profile premium keyboard for a working-from-home desk, two keyboards keep coming up: the Logitech MX Keys S and the Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad. They cost about the same in the UK (£130 vs £135), they look superficially similar, and they target the same desk. They are not, however, the same keyboard.
Short version: buy the MX Keys S if you cross between two computers, want a longer battery, or care about per-application key remapping. Buy the Apple Magic Keyboard if you live entirely in macOS and value a slightly snappier click, perfect Mac integration, and a more compact footprint. The decision is mostly about how many computers you use, not which is the better keyboard.
What you are choosing between
The Logitech MX Keys S is a full-size low-profile keyboard with a number pad, scissor switches, USB-C charging, smart proximity backlight, and triple-device pairing over Bluetooth or Logi Bolt. £130 in Graphite or Pale Grey.
The Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (the model with the Touch ID strip on Apple Silicon Macs) is a full-size low-profile keyboard with a number pad, scissor switches, USB-C charging, no backlight, and Bluetooth pairing to one Mac at a time. £135 in Silver/White or Black, with the Touch ID variant only working on Apple Silicon.
Both are full-size with number pads. Both are low-profile. Both pair to a Mac. The differences are in the feel, the multi-device behaviour, and the small features that matter once you live with the keyboard.
Typing feel
This is the most divisive part of any keyboard comparison. Honest verdict, with the caveat that subjective feel varies.
The Apple Magic Keyboard has a snappier click. Travel is slightly shorter (around 1mm versus the MX Keys S at 1.8mm) and the dome under each cap returns faster. The keys feel firmer under your fingers. Some people love this — it feels precise — and some find it tiring after a few hours.
The MX Keys S has a softer, deeper feel. The keys are dished, which makes the centres easier to find by feel, and the bottom-out is cushioned. Some people find this mushy compared to the Magic Keyboard; most adapt within a day or two and prefer it for long sessions.
If you currently use a MacBook keyboard and like the feel, the Magic Keyboard is closer to that experience. If you currently use a generic office keyboard or you have come from a deeper-travel board in the past, the MX Keys S will feel more familiar.
Sound. The Magic Keyboard is the louder of the two — clicky-bright. The MX Keys S is duller, lower-pitched, quieter into a video-call microphone. For shared workspaces or open-plan rooms, the MX Keys S is the more considerate choice.
Multi-device pairing
This is the biggest functional difference between the two.
The MX Keys S pairs to three devices simultaneously over Bluetooth or via the Logi Bolt USB receiver. The 1/2/3 keys at the top right switch between them in about half a second. We use one channel for a work laptop, one for a personal desktop, and one for an iPad. The switching is instant and reliable.
The Apple Magic Keyboard pairs to one device at a time. To use it with a second device, you have to forget the first pairing in macOS Bluetooth settings, then re-pair. Apple have not built multi-device switching into the Magic Keyboard, presumably because Apple expects you to use Universal Control or Continuity to switch between Apple devices, and to leave the keyboard with one host.
If you have one Mac and only one Mac, this difference is irrelevant. If you have any kind of cross-device workflow — work laptop in the day, personal desktop in the evening, iPad on the weekend — the MX Keys S wins this category by a wide margin.
Backlight
The MX Keys S has a smart proximity-sensor backlight that lights the keys when your hands approach and dims them when you move away. Three brightness levels in manual mode, a sensible auto mode for the room. The backlight runs about 10 days on a charge if left on full all the time, five months on auto.
The Apple Magic Keyboard has no backlight at all. Apple’s stated reason is that you should not need to look at your keys; the practical reason is probably that omitting the backlight contributes to the months of standby battery life Apple advertises. Whatever the reason, if you sometimes work in low light or take evening calls without the room lights on, the Magic Keyboard becomes harder to use without you noticing.
For most home offices this is the second-biggest functional difference, after multi-device pairing. The smart backlight on the MX Keys S is the small luxury you stop noticing only because it is always there.
Battery and charging
Both charge over USB-C. Apple wins on standby battery: the Magic Keyboard goes about a month on a charge with no backlight to power. The MX Keys S goes five months in smart-backlight auto mode but needs more frequent topping up if you turn the backlight to manual full-brightness.
In real-world use the MX Keys S’s better backlight wins on the actual experience and the comparable battery life is fine. Both keyboards charge in about 90 minutes from empty.
Touch ID — the Magic Keyboard’s secret weapon
The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID has a fingerprint sensor in the top-right corner that handles macOS authentication, App Store purchases, and Apple Pay. If you have an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later), this turns out to be a meaningful workflow improvement — no typing your password to unlock, no fishing for an iPhone to authorise a purchase. It is a genuine reason to consider the Magic Keyboard if your home office is Mac-only.
The MX Keys S has no biometric option of any kind. Logitech sells the MX Keys Mini for Mac with no Touch ID either. If you want fingerprint authentication on a Mac, the Magic Keyboard is the only option in this price band.
Software and customisation
The MX Keys S works with Logi Options+, which lets you remap the F-row, set up per-application key behaviour, configure Logi Flow, and update firmware. Per-application remapping is the genuinely useful feature: F4 mutes Slack, F4 sends a layer to back in Photoshop, F4 refreshes Chrome. You set it once, you forget about it, it works.
The Magic Keyboard has no companion app. You get whatever macOS gives you in System Settings → Keyboard. You can change basic modifier keys and keyboard shortcuts; you cannot do per-application remapping or anything resembling Logi Flow. For a power user, this is a meaningful gap.
Build quality and look
Both feel premium. The Magic Keyboard is aluminium top and bottom; the MX Keys S is plastic top with a metal-finish deck. Hold them next to each other and the Magic Keyboard feels denser; mounted on the desk and used daily, the difference disappears.
Look. The Magic Keyboard in Silver/White is the cleaner desk aesthetic, and on a setup with a MacBook Pro and a white display it is the obvious match. The MX Keys S in Pale Grey is close but not identical. The Graphite MX Keys S looks at home with a Black Magic Keyboard alternative.
Footprint. The Magic Keyboard is slightly more compact (418mm wide vs 433mm for the MX Keys S) and slightly thinner. Neither is bulky.
Price and value
MX Keys S: £130 list, occasionally £105–110 on offer. Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad: £135 list, rarely discounted. Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad (Apple Silicon only): £179, very rarely discounted.
If you are buying the Magic Keyboard for Touch ID, the £49 premium over the MX Keys S is reasonable. If you are buying it for any other reason, the MX Keys S is comparable money for more functionality.
Quick decision matrix
Buy the MX Keys S if you tick any of these:
- You use more than one computer
- You sometimes work in low light
- You want per-application key remapping
- You take a lot of video calls and want a quieter keyboard
- You also use a Logitech MX Master mouse and want Logi Flow
Buy the Apple Magic Keyboard if you tick any of these:
- You have a single Apple Silicon Mac and want Touch ID
- You strongly prefer the snappier Magic Keyboard click
- You want the most compact footprint and the cleanest aluminium look
- You use only macOS and never want to think about a companion app
- You buy from Apple, return to Apple, and replace from Apple
What about the Magic Keyboard without Touch ID
The non-Touch-ID Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad is £105. At that price it competes more directly with the MX Keys S on cost. The MX Keys S still wins on multi-device, backlight, and software, but the gap closes. If you are Mac-only and on a budget, the non-Touch-ID Magic Keyboard is a sensible choice. If your budget reaches £130 and you do not specifically need Touch ID, we would still take the MX Keys S.
What about the Magic Keyboard for iPad
Different product entirely. The Magic Keyboard for iPad attaches to an iPad with a magnetic case and trackpad. It is not a desktop keyboard. If you want one keyboard that works with both your Mac and your iPad, the MX Keys S Bluetooth pairing handles this — leave the iPad on channel 3, switch when you need it.
Final verdict
For a working-from-home setup that involves any cross-device work, any low-light use, or any desire for per-application customisation, the Logitech MX Keys S is the more flexible and arguably better-featured keyboard. It is the one we would buy for ourselves and the one we recommend to most readers.
For a Mac-only setup where Touch ID matters, where the snappier Magic Keyboard click feels right under your fingers, and where you want the simplest possible Apple-on-Apple workflow, the Apple Magic Keyboard is a defensible and very pleasant alternative — particularly the Touch ID variant.
Both are good. The right answer depends on the shape of your home office, not on which keyboard is technically superior.
