Keyboard: Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750
www.logitech.com
$79.99
By: Sam Finch
What were you expecting, a gaming keyboard with more macros than actual keys? A glorified $200 QWERTY remote? Nah. This year, go with the keyboard that will satisfy the idealists and pragmatists alike—one that will save the planet and save you a little spare change. What is this miracle peripheral? Why, it’s none other than a sleek, thin, unassuming, solar-powered wireless keyboard from Logitech.
The Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750’s name itself betrays its marquee feature, an array of photovoltaic cells that draw power from the sun or, realistically, whatever bulb is currently lighting the room. This renewable source of energy is sure to please the Prius demographic; we’re just jazzed that the K750 will save us from pouring countless Duracells down the black hole that was our old wireless keyboard. Fully charged, the keyboard should last for three months before needing to go sunbathing again. We received one of the very first units off the line, though, so we weren't able to validate this claim by publishing time.
Included with the K750 is Logitech’s Solar App. The novel little program measures the current charge of your K750, as well as the intensity of any light source that’s charging the keyboard. It’s valuable, we suppose, if you’re stuck in a basement during an Alaska winter with nothing more than a lantern to recharge the batteries. Otherwise, it’s good for a rough idea of how long you can use the K750 in an unlit environment…
…like an HTPC-driven home theater, where we think this keyboard makes great sense. At 1/3-inch thin, the K750 is actually more slender than Logitech’s diNovo Edge, yet the keys don’t at all feel crowded together or uncomfortable. Of course, the K750 lacks the diNovo’s aesthetic and navigational prowess, and, truthfully, we’d be willing to cough up another $10 for backlit keys. Still, the media keys are there, and maintenance begins and ends with plugging in the wireless mini USB receiver. No wires, no batteries, no charging base—just pick it up and use it. A media keyboard shouldn’t feel like a 104-key anchor on your desktop, and the low-profile K750 doesn’t.
In today’s age of Chevrolet Volts and enormous wind farms, it almost feels dishonest calling the Logitech K750 a forward-thinking peripheral, but that’s exactly what it is. The keyboard will hopefully be the first of many generations of future solar-powered keyboards.
You’ll want to stow the K750 in favor of last year’s pick, Logitech’s G19, for any type of serious gaming. But for all other uses, pick up the K750 and never look back.
