Computer Keyboard Reviews

Whether you use a desktop or a notebook computer, replacing your keyboard is often a great move—and a very cost-effective upgrade. 

You could opt to go wireless, for instance, clearing up some trailing wires from your desk.  In a lot of cases, you'll be upgrading your mouse at the same time (in theory at least).  A new keyboard is almost certain to have some useful (and possibly some not so useful) hotkeys to activate your favourite programs or control the music that you're listening to.

With or without a mouse?

As a general rule, we think it's reasonable to expect to find a keyboard and a mouse of similar quality in the same box.  Unfortunately, though, the mice supplied are often tacky add-ons, and it seems that many manufacturers realize that users are often more sensitive to the quality of keyboards than they are mice.  The upshot of all this is that it's very often worth opting for a separate keyboard and mouse, even if we tested the keyboard as part of a kit, and then choose a better mouse from our selection of separate tests.

Although we weren't initially fans of Bluetooth, we have to admit that things have improved a lot since its first implementations.  You can now take your keyboard up to 20 metres from your computer, and battery life is also much improved.  Two batteries should now be able to last several months.  In practice, though, most of the team here has gone back to using wired keyboards after too many nasty scrapes with the batteries running out at exactly the wrong moment: it's all very well having batteries that last for months, but if those months come to an end five minutes before a deadline then you're still in trouble.

Microsoft vs Logitech

That leaves one question: which brand?  For a long time, the market has been dominated by just two manufacturers, Logitech and Microsoft.  Microsoft usually makes the quietest keyboards, but is often the biggest sinner for bundling them with inferior mice.  Logitech, on the other hand, usually has more well-rounded kits, but the sting is in the heavier price tag.  Both are also guilty of overpricing their products, so we've recently seen some decent attempts at tempting customers away from the big two, either with cheaper keyboards or extra features.

Noise

Most manufacturers make a lot of noise about how quiet their keyboards are, so we've included videos with some of our reviews so you can see and hear what they're actually like to type on.