Logitech Wireless K750 Solar Powered Keyboard

[mrk]

Hey guys, I have posted this on Neowin too but I feel it's relevant to post on some other tech forums I frequent as not everyone browses the same sites as me

I am writing this review mainly because I have not yet found a half decent user review of this keyboard. All the reviews I found were either previews on Youtube or review site reviews but even they don't go into that much detail. I'm not a reviewer, I'm a PC Gamer by night, IT Sysadmin by day and Photographer on the weekends so I want to read about how good it is in my area of working! Stuff that matters like software bugs and how it compares to other similar keyboards as well as gaming (as in, can you get full WASD+SHIFT+SPACE etc functionality).

Having kept kept my eye on this board since November when I first saw some previews and read about it I finally finally have it
Bought it from Logiitech via their website as no other places here stocked it online or offline (UK).
I got it for £55 with a 20% discount by trading in my K340 wireless keyboard via the Logitech trade in scheme thing.


Let's begin!



Info & Main Review

The packaging is pretty minimal and neat, neat as in it makes use of all the space and is all recyclable materials too, pretty good way to sell a solar powered product no doubt:


I am going to compare my little review of the K750 with my K340 keyboard which I have had for a while now. the K750 is quite a bit longer, one thing I did not like about the K340 was the keys which were close together and the whole keyboard itself was very light and keypresses were quite audible. I still liked it though as it was cheap enough and was what I was after since my diNovo for Notebooks died and I fancied a change.

Here's the K750 side by side with the K340:


And with/without the height adjustment:

(The K340 has no height adjustment)

Immediate impressions were that I found myself typing faster and more accurately with the K750 compared to the K340, I was even finding it more comfortable than the diNovo as the keys are bigger and spaced out better, less chance of typos via hitting a stray key while typing but because I have had the K340 for so long I was accidentally hitting ";" instead of "l" as my fingers were too used to the compact spacing of the K340 and more especially the DELETE key etc are non standard location wise on the K340 - Some adjustment time is needed!

The K750 is very slim, about the same weight as the diNovo for Notebooks which I had before, it's slimmer though, slimmer than my HTC Desire!


The solar panels can charge off ambient room lighting, the lux meter in the solar app shows you what the current charging level is based on the ambient lighting present. The smiley face begins at 150 lux so I assume that the most efficient charging begins at that level, so daylight+ But I have a feeling that it will charge the battery at below that lux, just slower. No issue though. Never have to worry about losing charge again

Installation was the easiest of all, my mouse and old KB use the unifying receiver anyway so I just paired the new board and off it went. Installed the Wireless Solar App which shows you the power reserve (3 months of use in the dark are available) as well as the current lux value of ambient lighting as well as some graph for historical info and so on. The app loads when you click the smiley face button on the keyboard. It does not close when you re-press the button though, it must be closed manually. This I do not like as it would have been nice to have auto close when gaming if I just wanted to see the battery reserve in the dark (I game in the dark!).

The whole front is shiny, it comes with a microfibre cloth to wipe with and looks like it's going to be very easy to clean thanks to the chic keys, it looks so nice too, definitely a head turner compared to other keyboards and dare I say it, better looking than Apple's wireless slim board too!

But this is a keyboard! Why should you care how it looks? A keyboard should allow you to type with speed and comfort and not focus on being stylish, amirite?

Thankfully the K750 does both but while purists might disagree (mechanical switch keyboard fans, for example) I have to say this does indeed do both, it's not full on ergonomic like an MS Natural or Logitech Wave but it's as comfortable to type on as a Laptop keyboard but without the space constraints of one.



Gaming

This is one area where wireless keyboards have pleased (where Logitech boards are concerned anyway) and annoyed (almost all brands) me at the same time.
Pleased because the performance has always been great with no lag (on the Logitech ones I have had) but annoying because the W+A/D for strafe + SHIFT/CTRL combinations were never really usable at the same time (depending on board, some were D only, others W only etc). FPS gamers may well know what I am talking about but here's an example for everyone else:

Pressing SHIFT to slow walk and then moving with W and then strafing with d won't work as you're pressing too many keys but strafing left with a is fine. It's a known quirk with many wireless keyboards so I checked this out on the K750 and all combinations work perfectly fine so this has turned out to be great for gamers too. That and the fact that the bottom row of keys are slightly more raised than the other keys means hitting CTRL and ALT with your pinky/thumb is pretty easy too.

I played a vs campaign on Left4Dead 2 while writing the first half of this post



Final thoughts and dislikes

Nothing is ever perfect, that's just the way it is! There are some things I dislike and while some of these will be personal preference, others will apply to everyone I think.

1: The keyboard has no LED indicator for CAPS lock. My K340 and the diNovo as well as other wireless boards have had this in the past. There is an OSD but it only shows in Windows and not in games.
2: The Solar Panel App loads in the foreground so if I want to see battery reserve in game the game will minimise.
3: Already mentioned but the Solar Panel App won't auto close on a 2nd press of the info button on the keyboard, this should go in hand with point 2 really.
4: The Setpoint software out of the box still doesn't allow remapping of other non media/F keys such as ALT GR, I never use this key so it would have been nice to remap it to a quick shortcut or keystroke. You still have to use uBerOptions to unlock other stuff but I don't know if the latest Setpoint works with it.

Overall I really like this keyboard. It's comfortable to type on and whisper silent while doing it. The incurve keys are nice but on day 1 I am not immediately feeling the difference while typing but resting my fingers on the keys they do feel nice.


For £55 (if you use the trade in program) it's a bargain since the diNovo for Notebooks I had in the past cost £50 and this K750 is better in every aspect. It's slimmer too but strangely feels like it weighs the same. not a bad thing as the weight keeps it pretty robust and feel like you're typing on something solid instead of filled with plastic.

I'll be happy to do any tests people want or other pics and answer any questions (well, that's a given ).

And lastly, here are some other pics: