The ultimate media centre keyboard is £20 today at Amazon
Logitech's wireless K400 Plus includes a keyboard and trackpad in a compact package.
Got a media PC? Or something else plugged into your TV that lacks a keyboard of its own? You might just need a little wireless keyboard-and-mouse combo, and Logitech's K400 Plus is one of the best in the business. It normally retails for about £45, making it something of an investment, but today it's down to £20 at Amazon - a great price for a versatile piece of kit that you can use with a wide range of PCs, TVs, consoles and more.
I can't necessarily overstate the amount of times I've been tempted to buy the K400 Plus myself for the exact reason I layed out in the introduction, just given the convenience of a plug and play wireless keyboard with trackpad that works over 2.4GHz wireless up to 10 metres. At heart, I'm someone who loves mechanical keyboards - I'm typing this article up on a Wombat Pine Pro for Mac with MX Browns inside (review in the works!) and it feels excellent. Sometimes though, simpler is better, and the K400 Plus' scissor keys feel pretty good to type on, with a comfortable typing experience and solid travel. The layout here is largely okay, although you may want to watch out for that smaller Enter key, which might take some getting used to.
On that note, you are getting a bit of a smaller layout. On inspection, it's more akin to a 65 percent size layout, giving you the basic alphanumeric set of keys plus the addition of some arrow keys in the bottom right corner for quick navigation. There's also a row of function keys and some media playback controls off in the top right above the trackpad. For what it's designed for, the layout is ideal, especially if you're already used to typing on the condensed layouts of smaller-size laptop keyboards.
The other major benefit of the K400 Plus is simply the fact you also get a trackpad to use as well as the keyboard itself, which means you've got every form of control you could need right in front of you, helping along this 'board's functional and convenient design. There have been a few attempts from manufacturers to make keyboards you can use on your lap, with some designed as tea-trays with keyboards and trackpads embedded into them. By contrast, the K400 Plus gives you everything you need in a light and portable shell, and is a keyboard you could chuck in your bag if you wanted to bring it to work or use it to type up a paper on the go. Its grey and yellow styling is also pretty nice, too.
It's sometimes hard to complain about a £20 keyboard from the perspective of value for money, and that's especially the case for the Logitech K400 Plus. While it may not have the bells and whistles associated with more expensive options, what's here is functional - a decent looking keyboard with a solid typing feel, the convenience of a trackpad, 10m of wireless range of a USB receiver, and a functional design. To get all of that for such a low price just underscores how good of a deal this really is.