Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Product review: Logitech Wireless Keyboard K360 Compact Portable Laptop

When I was shopping for a compact keyboard I could not find the exact measurements of this keyboard, so I will start with measurements:
Logitech K360 keyboard is 15 inches long, 6 inches wide, 1/2 inches tall. It weights 1 pound and 4.2 oz.

I am attaching a collage of two pictures. Photo #2 shows this keyboard next to a regular sized keyboard for relative size. It is placed on 1 inch gridded mat for additional size reference.
Picture #1 shows how USB transmitter is packaged. It is tiny and attached to the box. I put a red square around it to highlight it.

The keyboard has a nice heavy feel and pretty good feedback when you touch the keys. This keyboard uses the tiny USB receiver that has unifying capabilities. This means you can use one USB slot to control up to 6 USB devices that have unifying technology. In my current set up I am not using the unifying capabilities as my mouse is older and does not have has unifying feature.

This keyboard runs on two AA batteries. The keyboard has an on/off switch which is handy for a keyboard which is not used all the time.

The description of this keyboard says it is Windows compatible, but I am using it with Linux without any problems. This keyboard is used to control a small netbook computer running Linux that is used as a DVR and computer to stream internet content to the TV.
When not in use the keyboard fits into a cabinet draw (that's why the exact size was important to me, I was looking for a keyboard that would fit into a draw which was too small to fit a full sized keyboard)

The keyboard comes with Windows software that maps function keys to special functions. This software is a convenience for enabling functionality that is part of any operating system. Since the included software is for Windows, I am including instructions on how to do it for Linux. I use this keyboard on a computer that streams internet content so I decided it would be useful to map the function keys to commonly used URLs - for example links to several specific shows I like watching on Hulu. All I had to do is select System - Preferences - Keyboard Shortcuts through Linux desktop UI. When Keyboard Shortcuts dialog comes up, I clicked "Add". The next dialog asks to give a short cut a name (e.g. "Hulu") and a command (this is where I entered the direct URL link to whatever I wanted the key board short cut to do). This adds a new row to a list of existing shortcuts. Then I selected the new row and click the function key that you want to associate with the new command. Done!
One nice thing about the function keys on this keyboard that it has icons (musical notes, envelope, etc.) in addition to the standard F1, F2. These icons work as a reminder of what keys I mapped to what show URLs.

Overall, I am very pleased with this keyboard, no complaints at all.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.
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Ali Julia review ★★★★★

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