'For Mac' with Logitech usually just means that it comes in white and they have removed the wireless dongle from the box.
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Logitech Expands 'Designed for Mac' Range With New Accessories
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'For Mac' with Logitech usually just means that it comes in white and they have removed the wireless dongle from the box.
I keep wishing someone would make these Ergo keyboards with no number pad at all
They're out there. https://www.zsa.io/
While Logitech stuff is usually nice enough, their made for Mac versions are mostly just the same products with a different color or Mac keycaps. Some of them even come without stuff like the USB receiver for the MX mouse. It’s usually better to just buy the regular and functionally identical regular versions since they are on sale more often.
Unicomp makes the best typing keyboards money can buy in my opinion.
Speaking as someone who used and liked Logi for years and still has a portable keyboard and the MX in use - compared to the original Apple HID all of these keyboards & mice look 90s-ish old-fashioned and lack technical innovation like Touch ID or the Magic Mouse touch surface. While other stuff is neat (programmable keys, multi-device keyboards), Logitech once was a groundbreaking company and maybe it would be fun to see them come up with ideas that make seem Apple outdated instead of vice versa.
(NB - Logitech are a million miles from perfect and I wouldn't want to defend them as "Best Devices Ever" - or even claim that they invented everything noted above they're just one of the more widely available alternatives to Apple stuff - other brands are available. That said, I'm currently using a MX Master 2S mouse which is pretty darned good.)
However Let's see - things not necessarily invented by Logitech, but that Apple doesn't offer:
- Mice that you can charge while still using them
- Mice/keyboards that you can switch between 3 different devices
- Wireless dongles that are more reliable than Bluetooth and can be shared between Logitech peripherals (+1)
- Mechanical keyboard option for people who prefer full-travel keys
- Mouse gestures that you activate by moving the mouse while holding down a button (+1)
- Designs based on ergonomics rather than form-over-function
However, the #1, top, end-of-argument feature of a mouse or keyboard is that it must be comfortable for you to type/point/click/drag with. Other features are, basically, gimmicks. We could have lots of subjective arguments about whether the MX Master or the Magic Mouse is best, or chiclet vs. full-travel keys are better, but the point is people have different preferences and we need a choice of different sizes and shapes. Apple offers one-size-fits-all.
Subjectively, even looking at a Magic Mouse makes my hand cramp (and, yes, I've done more than look) simply due to the low profile, let alone trying to do a Vulcan salute to make use of the touch gestures. The MX Master, OTOH, has proper buttons, a proper vertical click/scroll wheel, a horizontal scroll wheel right under my thumb (great for Logic) and a couple of other buttons (which I rarely use and could live without) - I've never used the mouse gestures feature. The touch sensitive Magic Mouse is very clever but - at least for me - just isn't as good.
I'll give Apple the Magic Trackpad as a genuine bit of genius (esp. the spooky haptics) and it's certainly made carrying a mouse around with a laptop optional rather than essential. I have the desktop version and its great... for must things. But then, there are a few things - like drawing apps, and games - where a mouse is still better, which means I push the trackpad aside and grab a mouse, keep using the mouse... and the trackpad gathers dust. It's great, but it's not all-round-better than a mouse.
Apple's 2007 Aluminium keyboard - and the first 'island' keyboards on MacBooks - were terrific - if you were at all open to the idea of short-travel keys. Probably the best laptop keyboards ever, and I'm still using the desktop version. Then butterfly keyboards happened to laptops - 'nuff said - but what is less talked about is that the desktop Tragic Keyboards may have avoided butterflication but got new, (unnecessarily) even lower-travel scissor mechanism, new, larger, plasticky key caps and were made so thin and light (lighter than the old Al keyboard even though they now include a battery!) that the bow in the middle after a few months use. Just to be clear - I actually got one in 2017 and have used it for sustained periods, but it is simple worse - and more error prone - to type on and I keep going back to the old Al keyboard. Sorry, but the Tragic Keyboard may look nice (if you like the 'I printed out a picture of a keyboard and left it on the desk' look) but alongside the old Al keyboards it feels like a bit of plastic tat (I'd admit that was subjective except the boomerang shape and the fact that the key labels are starting to wear off - after 6 years of sitting in a cupboard with maybe 6-12 months of actual use looks pretty objective to me).
When I used a Magic Mouse, I really enjoyed it, but ergonomically it's a nightmare and did negatively affect me physically.
I use Logitech MX mouse but there are comprises: I really liked the horizontal scrolling of the Magic Mouse, however, the comfort level over the Magic Mouse was worth the switch for me.
I'm surprised that touch never did become mainstream in a mouse. Given the right mouse form factor + touch, I'd switch.
None of this is due to a lack of innovation on Logitechs part, it because Apple doesn't provide the necessary API's for third parties to build touch ID hardware or hardware that supports gestures in macOS.
I'm sure Logi would love to build Touch ID into one of their keyboards.
Regarding gestures in macOS - BetterTouchTool can support new gestures, so if Logitech had Touch support, in theory, Logitech could use existing or new gestures?
Maybe not too sure on that, i have the MX Master 3 mouse and you can set the scroll wheel to free scroll but it still doesn't give that smooth scrolling effect that you get swiping on the Magic Mouse.
Touch ID is definitely not happening though imo as it requires access to the secure enclave on the device SOC, don't see Apple ever opening that up to third parties.
Got MX keys for Mac and MX Master 3, and I'm mainly content. I still have less typos with the Thinkpad keyboard than Macbook Pro and MX Keys for some reason.
My beef with MX Keys is that the B/T connection drops every now and then forcing me to pair it up again. never happen to the mouse or my headset. Old Mac though, would assume less trouble with a new one.
The second beef I have is that I believe it drains the battery a tad fast, and faster as it ages. Not abnormal, but I expected it to hold up better for longer.
Both hooks up with USB C, and that + lights was the reason for ditching Apple to the benefit of Logitech.
My beef with MX Keys is that the B/T connection drops every now and then forcing me to pair it up again. never happen to the mouse or my headset. Old Mac though, would assume less trouble with a new one.
The second beef I have is that I believe it drains the battery a tad fast, and faster as it ages. Not abnormal, but I expected it to hold up better for longer.
Both hooks up with USB C, and that + lights was the reason for ditching Apple to the benefit of Logitech.
I have the original MX Master and the scroll wheel is the best part of it. It runs in "ratchet" mode when I'm scrolling slowly, and then switches to "free" scroll when I give it a flick (very useful when I'm scrolling through a very long list of tables in SQL Management Studio, for example). For a long scroll, the inertia in the wheel is perfect - give it a flick and let the scrolling run until you get close to where you want to be and stop it.
They used to. There was the K811 some 10 years ago, which was one of the first wireless keyboards for Mac with backlight. I still use it to this day, replaced the battery once and battery life is pretty decent, I get 2-3 weeks out of it.
I don't even understand why they still stick with silver and white at all. I don't even know why Apple still does for their keyboard and mouse. They got matching colors for the iMac, but using a keyboard with a MacBook pro, the white just stands out like a sore thumb.
Fun fact - I had a wireless Apple keyboard (the one with the barrel and 2 AA batteries) and had a top shell from a broken MacBook pro (don't ever set a drink down next to it and reach for the trackpad in the dark to wake it from sleep). I thought "fine, I'll do it myself" and wanted to switch all the keys since they were exactly the same shape. Those mfers thought of that and prevented it. The mechanism on the MBP keys was rotated 90° from the ones on the bluetooth keyboard.
The lengths they went through to keep people from creating their own silver and black keyboard is really something else.
I tend to be a Cherry switch man myself (though I’m finding that I really don’t mind Topre and that I really love my Happy Hacking Keyboard, and I loved my old Apple Extended Keyboard II with the Alps switches), but I’ve always wanted to try Unicomp or buckling spring switches in general. I usually prefer 60% keyboards, and I don’t think Unicomp even offers a tenkeyless keyboard, and I just can’t justify the expense for a keyboard that doesn’t really fit into my workspace. But I certainly would love to try one!
As for mice, I use a large finger trackball. Logitech’s thumb trackballs sound painful with my smartphone thumb, and regular mice sound painful for my wrists. Does Logitech actually make any good accessories?
Unicomp does make a TKL.
Other than Unicomp keyboards all my accessories are Logitech. For a scissor switch keyboard, I like the K380 - and the MX Ergo trackball a lot.
Ah, I’m sure I looked, so I must have forgotten about it. Still, there’s a pretty big difference between a 60% keyboard and a tenkeyless (at least by 12 keys!), and I can’t really justify the expense of a Unicomp keyboard if it can’t be my one keyboard (as much as I’d love to try buckling springs).
Have you looked into Matias Tactile Pro? I believe the company purchased the tooling or the switches stock from ALPS. The Tactile Pro imitates the 2000’s era Apple Pro KB look but uses AEK2 era ALPS switches, with full macOS legends including the alt and shift-alt symbols.
Maybe you'll get lucky one day and find an old Model M in a dumpster or thrift store.
If you have an Apple watch, that can be used instead of touch ID for many operations - and the keyboard in general is better than the Apple ones.
Of course, the difference isn't as big with the keyboard as with the mice - Apple is so good at making TouchPads on their laptops, why do their mice always suck so much?