Logitech Easy‑Switch K811 Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard for Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV

We 15-yr+ Mac users have been screaming for a dang backlit keyboard for years. Word on the street is Steve was about to fire the one Engineering VP that saw that ANY backlit keyboard was kept out of production. This same lady also prevented a backlit keyboard on the first MacBook Airs, most of which were returned for this reason. In fact, the time between the Air-1 and the Air-2 beat all records at Apple of only 3 months because of the non-backlit keyboard issue. Time between full design changes is usually 15 months at Apple.In any event, Steve didn't last long enough to toss this nepotistic (wife of a board member) idiot before he passed, so she's still there - and jokes around the office indicate she leads the Apple "Sales Prevention Team". She fights hi-res screens, backlit keyboards, thin bezels, and connectivity standards to this day.Seeing a huge opportunistic hole in Apple's marketing arrogance, Logitech quietly built this and had it on the market before anyone at Apple had a clue what they were doing. And as many others have done in the past, they beat Apple at their own game. This keyboard is the latest blockbuster to kick Apple in the but(t).First off it's designed by Americans, and as usual assembled in China. But Logitech rides herd on the Chinese to force quality assurance - a rare thing indeed. In order to be successful with Asian products nowadays, you've got to succeed at both good design and Chinese discipline. Logitech supposedly keeps an American QA engineer on-site, much to the aggravation of the Communist Chinese. The Chinese have an insatiable perversion for plastics, and a financial one for child labor. So to force them to keep to original design specs of aluminum was a real chore, believe me. The Chinese insisted this unit be made of the usual cheap injected plastics, but that was halted early on during initial tooling - and it remained a very high quality CNC'd aluminum. Again to the chagrin of the Chinese. There was even a design for Carbon Fiber, but that was dropped as the prototypes were just too light (and slightly more expensive). In any event that REALLY freaked out the plastics crowd so they settled on aluminum.The designers also put level 10 LEDs in the unit (the best quality diodes available), and put enough light channels and bulbs inside to light it well and uniformly. There's no dark areas, no gaps. And it'll go surprisingly bright if you want it to. They also put excellent proximity sensors in various spots on the top of the keyboard to turn on the lights even before you hand touches it. They also have a movement/inertia sensor that turns it on when picked up. The keys are solid, and feel like an Apple keyboard (which of course are mostly un-lit except for the MacBook Pro's).And to top it all off, they made it rechargeable with a *STANDARD* USB port. They used NiMH instead of NiCads. They brag the battery lasts 10 days of normal use (2-3 hrs/day), but I've found it lasts more like 3 weeks - 1 month and I'm a heavy user. It charges in about an hour unless it's really blinking red, then it'll take 2-3 hours.If I had a gripe about this unit is it's size. If you use it in your lap it's nearly impossible to keep it still while typing. It's the size of a standard MacBook Pro's keyboard, but the laptops have enough support around the sides to keep those keyboards still. So I use a laptop board while this unit connects to my iMac. If Logitech would have included a arrow/directional keypad with a numeric keypad, it would lengthen/widen the unit to where you could use it anywhere with stability. And, of course, you'd have a full keyboard as well. They could at least have put a mousepad out there or SOMEthing - anything to lengthen it.But watch - since this thing is selling faster than they can make them, I'll bet they'll build extended units with a touchpad and/or a numeric keypad within a few months. And if they can get enough power out of the new wave of solar panels, it may not even need charging once/month. So we'll watch to see - unlike Apple, one thing Logitech DOES do well is listen to the customer, especially when they comment by the tens of thousands about the same issue. In the meantime, find a desk or a laptop board to accommodate it's dinky size. But at least it's BACKLIT, Apple. I'm sitting in a dark room right now and I couldn't type this without the backlight on this keyboard. The only place you can use a non-backlit keyboard is in a well lit office. I know this infuriates you guys at Apple who are fuming that the customer won, but they're used to that.Thanks for a superior unit, Logitech. I'm waiting for a longer one, but in the meantime you beat Apple at their own game. I'd give this unit a 6 if Amazon would let me - every now and then a tech gadget comes out that just trumps everything - and this is it

Three year update: I'm still using this keyboard interchangeably with two MacBook Pros (2011 and 2017) and occasionally with my iPhone. Still works great. Holds a charge even when I don't turn if off and forget where I've left it for a month. I velcro'd it to 1/8" luan plywood, with a gel wrist rest. On the right side I have a 7"x7" area (same plywood, epoxy or urethane coating, buffed with steel wool so it's slick for using a wireless mouse. My attached mousing pad pivots closed so the whole thing fits in my day-bag. Just a terrific keyboard. Reliable. I can kick back and type with the keyboard in my lap or switch and use the new keyboard on the MacBook Pro. The distance between the keys is the same so there's no confusion.I've been having some shoulder issues lately and noticed that arm rests on my office chair, and typing on desk tops are uncomfortable or hurt. I noticed years ago that the arm rest in my car were uncomfortable.I wanted to get an ergonomic keyboard that I could use in my lap. For the Mac I didn't find any that I liked.This one has high customer reviews and it looks like the keyboard on my MacBook Pro..... The ergonomic keyboards I found had much longer movement of the keys. It was like going back in time.So I taped this one to a thin piece of plywood (9" x 18" mouse area to the right), found a tattered old wrist rest, and tried it out. Works Great! Absolutely no learning curve. I think I type at least as well using this in my lap starting this weekend as I've typed on various MacBook Pros for the past 8 years.Now when I type on the MacBook keyboard I notice it's just not comfortable. It's OK, but this is better. I really like this keyboard. They're about the same, so the difference is where the keyboard is sitting.It's also small enough, (5" x 11.5" 13 x 29 cm) that it's going in my computer bag. I'll figure out my board later.Another big plus is how easily it switches between my MacBook and my iPad. I've never before considered the iPad to be anything more than a toy. It's still a toy, but this keyboard makes it more useful. I've got other blue tooth devices that try to connect to everything at the same time and usually nothing most of the time. This absolutely works.Now Logitech, make one that splits in two so it can be more ergonomic. (Is there anyone who could cut one of these in two and solder wires to reconnect the circuit board shorts?)Update: How to turn off Caps Lock keyGo to top bar, Bluetooth symbolSelect Logitech K811 >> Open Key Board Preferences (this can aslo be reached by opening System Preferences, selecting Keyboard)In the Keyboard window, select the Modifier Keys button (bottom right)When this pops up at the top there's a button: Select Keyboard (the default is the computer's) click on this button and select Logitech K811Then item Caps Lock Key, click on the button and choose menu item Do Nothing. Then OK, and close. That's it.Now the Caps Lock key does nothing, it won't even light up.Hope this helps. I personally loathe the caps lock key, I'd rather have an inverted thumbtack glued in its place. I've pried them off, hot glued them.Some manufacturers do not have this feature or knowledge. I added this because I sent another keyboard back because either it lacked this feature or I couldn't find it.