Buying your own keyboard and mouse for work or home? Logitech MX Master 3 and MX Keys are excellent

Straight up, these products are not new; they’ve been on the market for around 18 months now, and while they might’ve attracted some attention on release in October 2019, they almost certainly attracted an awful lot more in 2020 when so many of us were working from home and needing better gear than we’d had before.

Logitech’s MX Master 3 mouse and MX Keys keyboard retail for $139 and $199 respectively, putting them firmly in the realm of “not especially cheap”, but in my mind they demonstrate the very best of input technology.

I know, it’s not a sexy topic, but if you interact with a PC, there’s almost a 100% chance that you use a keyboard and mouse, and if you’re going to use your PC a lot, then you owe it to yourself to get a good setup that supports your hands and performs well.

Perform well they do; Logitech has a lot of smarts in their keyboard and mouse offerings, and it might sound strange, but I don’t care about smarts. I want a super comfortable keyboard, a great, responsive mouse, battery life that lasts forever and key travel / buttons / etc that don’t leave my hands sore after a day of work.

With clever features like smart backlighting that only comes on when your hands approach the keyboard, to built-in batteries that charge by USB-C (and last for days if not weeks), you also get options for connectivity – you can use your device’s built in Bluetooth if available, or Logitech’s USB receiver if not.

Both keyboard and mouse can connect to up to 3 separate devices, and there’s an easy to use button on each to swap between devices. Work across a desktop and a laptop? No problem.

If you’re after a more fancy experience, you can use Logitech Flow, which allows you to automatically switch between devices just by scrolling off the side of a display, and your keyboard and mouse will seamlessly jump across to the next machine.

I tried this, but ultimately didn’t end up using it long term – having a laptop with three displays (one built in and two external) I don’t really need to switch to another machine. Three displays is enough.

Beyond this, the MX Keys is largely just a keyboard, but it’s just a very comfortable one to use, with just the right balance between smart features and not being gimmicky. I love the dedicated buttons for volume control and screen brightness, and how comfortable it is to type on for hours on end if that’s what the job requires.

The MX Master 3 mouse does a little more, as people tend to expect a bit more from the humble mouse these days; there’s two buttons and a thumb rest, as well as a “MagSpeed” scroll wheel that can scroll freely or in a notched fashion for precise control depending on how hard / fast you scroll.

There’s also a horizontal wheel which – frankly – I don’t use all that much, but can be used to quickly switch between apps, or configured to do plenty of other things too.

The MX Master 3 is an odd shape for a mouse I guess, but it’s a perfect match for your hand … provided you’re right handed. It wouldn’t be much good in your left hand.

You can use it just about everywhere, it tracks on shiny surfaces and dull, fabric and wood, even metal. There’s nothing much too hard for the MX Master 3, and that’s good news, as my desk has a tendency to trip up a lesser rodent.

With 70 days battery life with average use, charging isn’t a major concern, but like the MX Keys, the MX Master 3 charges via USB-C, so if you leave one of these on your desk you can easily top off your peripherals overnight without having to think too much about it.

The bottom line? Logitech has been kicking goals in the user input space for a long time and for all the right reasons – they make gear that works, looks good, performs well and is comfortable to use for extended periods.

Having used a variety of keyboards and mice, laptops and desktops and more, I wouldn’t have any hesitation in recommending Logitech’s MX Keys and MX Master 3 as the best keyboard and mouse combo you can buy … and in fact, probably the only one you should buy.

You can pick them up for $318 from Scorptec – which is an amazing price for the bundle – or if you’re only after one or the other, the MX Keys can usually be found for around $189 – $199, and the MX Master 3 mouse can be found for between $109 to $149 depending on where you shop.