Today I bought a Logitech K380 keyboard and I loved it so much it made me puke.
Today I bought a portable, wireless keyboard in a shop that wasn’t really the shop I thought it was and it made me In a previous post I told the story of how I thought I was going to need old people glasses — oops, sorry — bifocals when all I needed were these expensive as fuck lenses that’s essentially F.lux, but in real life. And in my glasses.
Well after that, I went to Planet X and checked out their discount bin. All of their graphic novels and trades were on sale at P700 each so I thought it was worth browsing through. It was the usual suspects: Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man… but what caught my eye was this TPB of Electric Ant.
I was like, Electric Ant? Like Philip K. Dick’s Electric Ant? And what do you know, it was! I never knew Marvel released a five-issue Electric Ant miniseries. And it was illustrated by David Mack, to boot.
Holding it in my hands, I was so tempted to buy it already but I thought, no.
This is going to be an impulse buy and that’s the last thing you need right now.
So I left Planet X Dick-less (heh) and was headed to the foodcourt to try to find someplace cheap to eat so I could at least make up for spending more than I expected, when I walked past this video game shop at the third level I’ve always thought was Data Blitz but, as I would later learn, wasn’t. Not that it’s a big deal. I just thought I should mention it because I found it… curious… that I only just realized it wasn’t actually the shop I thought it was. More about that later. But really, it doesn’t matter. Trust me.
So I was looking at their glass front when I noticed a couple of boxes of wireless keyboards nicely stacked right by my eye level. They were all by Logitech and one particular box caught my eye because of its (relatively) diminutive size, catchy seafoam green box, and tagline “Take and Type on Any Device.”
Hey, I wanna take and type.
So I went in and the clerk took it out for me along with a different model, which costs a little bit more, but not too much that I didn’t consider it.
The one I initially saw, the small one, was called the K380. The other one, my other option, was the K480. This told me they were in the same family line of products so there might not be much difference between their functions, at least nothing major.
So I checked the specs on the boxes and, true enough, they’re almost exactly the same. Only difference was the K480 was slightly bigger and had a slot on top of the F-keys where you can insert your devices if you don’t have a case with a stand. Handy, but not really something I need since all my devices have cases. And I figured having a big(ger) keyboard on me while out wouldn’t be that convenient.
At this point, I’ve already made up my mind, but just to be sure, I went to Amazon.
After a quick check at what the good ol’ reliable Amazon reviewers have to say about it (and seeing mostly 5 star ratings), I was sold.
Excited to use my new keyboard, I thought I needed someplace where A. I can park myself for hours without anyone bothering me, and B. have something filling that’s not too pricey.
Because yeah, I just spent even more money I wasn’t planning on spending.
In my defense, it didn’t really cost that much. Plus I’ve always wanted a wireless keyboard for my iPad; I just haven’t gotten around to buying one. So it’s not exactly an impulse buy, I would say. Maybe more of a delayed-gratification-thing-that’s-now-finally-been-gratified.
So anyway, I went to Quiznos, ordered a sandwich and a Pepsi, and set myself up in the corner table. I was surprised at how easy and fast the K380 was to pair. The whole process took like, five seconds. It also already came with two AAA batteries that are rated to last for, wait for it… two years. According to Logitech, that’s the equivalent of “…two million keystrokes per year in an office environment.”
Now just how much is two million keystrokes? Time for a little math!
The average English word is 5.1 characters long. Assuming that each keystroke is a character, that would make for 392,156 words. To put that in perspective, A Game Of Thrones clocks in at an approximate 284,000 words. So if you were George R.R. Martin and you used this keyboard, you would’ve been done writing AGOT and still have enough battery left to write about a third of A Clash Of Kings.
That’s a lot of fucking typing.
The keyboard’s very responsive. There’s no lag at all when typing. The keys don’t feel cramped and has a satisfying enough travel. Function keys are programmable, too.
It weighs just right — not too light as to feel flimsy, and not too heavy as to feel tiring to carry around with you. Size is perfect, as well. It’s the same size as the keyboard of an 11-inch Macbook Air. Very portable.
Another thing I really liked was how you can connect up to three different devices all at the same time, and switch among them with a simple touch of a button. Cool beans!
So yeah, I’m very happy with my new Logitech K380 wireless keyboard. Now I can be that guy who walks around lugging an iPad and a portable keyboard, squatting in restaurants and cafes (uh, is there even such a trope?). For someone like me who, not only writes a lot but actually enjoys the act of writing, this is a very handy piece of equipment to have around and is well worth the money.
Okay, so you might be thinking, “I was promised a case of mistaken identity and puking! Where is it?”
Remember when I told you I thought the shop where I bought my keyboard was Data Blitz but wasn’t? I really thought it was because the store layout and display was practically identical, even the ambiance; except when I was at Quiznos about to take my keyboard out of the bag, I noticed it wasn’t in Data Blitz’s familiar yellow plastic but was instead in a blue plastic bag labelled “i.Tech.” See, I told you it doesn’t matter.
The puking part? Well uh, I loved my keyboard so much it inspired me to write — in the span of a couple of hours — more words than I’ve written in the past week. So… there. I meant it figuratively. Like, vomit words? Made me puke? Get it?
*meep* Please don’t kill me.
