Is Logitech’s MX Keys Mini Worth It Without Home and End Keys?

Each of the F1, F2 and F3 keys holds one paired computer, tablet or phone. Hold one for three seconds and its light blinks fast while it waits to pair. After that, a short press jumps straight back to that device. Logitech lists Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux, iPadOS, iOS and Android, though the full Logi Options+ app runs only on Windows and macOS.

Since Options+ 2.3 arrived in April 2026, an Easy-Switch key can also move a linked Logitech mouse to the same computer. Logitech calls this Enhanced Easy-Switch. It needs a mouse on Bolt or Bluetooth and Options+ running on every computer. So it works only after you pair the mouse and the keyboard with each computer, and only between Windows PCs and Macs. Logitech's feature guide doesn't list the Pebble Keys 2 K380s, and the one-key switch is the best reason to pay more for the Mini.

The full-size MX Keys S comes with a Logi Bolt receiver, and the standard Mini works with one bought on its own. A desktop tower without Bluetooth can't use the Mini until a receiver arrives. Logitech also warns that FileVault, the disk encryption on some Macs, can stop a Bluetooth keyboard from connecting before you log in. That's the moment you need it for the password.

The MX Keys Mini for Business ships with a Bolt receiver paired at the factory, according to Logitech's data sheet, and its warranty runs two years to the standard board's one. Beside a tower or a FileVault Mac, we'd buy that version.

Logitech rates the 1,500 mAh battery at up to 10 days with the backlight on and up to five months with it off. The two figures aren't modes you pick. Its setup guide says an ambient light sensor turns the backlight off whenever the room is brighter than 100 lux, and you can't turn it back on until the room gets darker.

In dimmer light the backlight comes on at level 4 of 8 as your hands approach. It stays on for five minutes after your last keystroke. By that rule, the shorter rating describes typing in a dim room. At a desk bright enough to trip the cutoff, the light stays off, so the longer rating is the better guide by day.

Logitech's shorter rating works out to a charge every week and a half. You can keep typing while it charges over USB-C. Low battery turns the status light by the power switch red and shuts the backlight off, though Logitech says the keys keep working for more than 500 hours after that.

A December 2024 firmware update, version 73.4.16, added backlight settings to Logi Options+: how long the light stays on, automatic brightness and a battery-saving mode. We'd keep automatic brightness on. Logitech's support note for the Pale Gray and Rose boards says the light shows no contrast in a bright room and would only drain the battery there.

The battery isn't user-replaceable, according to Logitech's specification sheet.

The Mini has 79 keys. It drops the number pad and the dedicated navigation block of the MX Keys S: there are no separate Home, End, Page Up or Page Down keys. Insert shares a key with volume up, and Delete is at the top right. That does not prevent document navigation through operating-system or app shortcuts, but it changes how often you need shortcuts.

The board is 11.65 inches wide, against 16.94 inches for the MX Keys S: about 5.3 inches less desk width. That can leave more room for the mouse beside it; the actual position depends on your setup.

Media keys are the top row’s default. Fn and Esc together swap the row to F1 through F12 and back. Some functions, including microphone mute, need Options+.

Choose the smaller board if mouse space matters more than a number pad and dedicated navigation keys. If you enter figures or use Home and End throughout the day, the full-size layout may save more effort than the smaller footprint.

Logitech compares the Mini's scissor switches to the ones in laptops and gives them 1.8 mm of total travel. It calls the caps spherically dished, meaning each has a shallow bowl in the middle. The letter keys are rated for 10 million presses and the function keys for 5 million. Anyone who wants deeper keys in the same footprint should look at the MX Mechanical Mini, which Logitech gives 3.2 mm of travel.

Logitech's data sheet lists no tilt legs, and its side render shows the rounded bar along the back edge that sets one fixed angle. The board weighs 506.4 g, and the plate under the keys is aluminum.