Logitech Illuminated Living Room Keyboard K830 Review

Finding a “great” keyboard for an HTPC is tough. It seems that most models do a lot of things right, but then miss the boat on the others. With its Illuminated Living Room K830, Logitech is hoping to deliver an option that hits all of the marks, and on paper, the chances look good. Let’s see if it manages to pull it off.

I have long been fascinated with media consumption. When I had access to my first computer with an optical drive, I spent hours ripping my CD collection to MP3 and spent even more time organizing it with the detail of a casualty of OCD. As technology and my personal tastes have evolved over the years, so have my approaches to organization. Now, many years later, I utilize NAS for a centralized repository of media. This NAS serves quite a few different devices around my home, but the most important, and most frequently used, is my living room’s HTPC running XBMC.

Interfacing with the HTPC has been an evolution of approach itself. From a mobile app to conventional keyboards and mice, they have all been functionally sound, but clunky nonetheless. For day-to-day use, it’s been difficult to find something both functional and less cumbersome. I’ve been hesitant to employ a remote, as the box still requires a keyboard for many of its features. Up until recently, a Logitech diNovo Edge has filled this necessary role. Its design is still, years after release, fashionable, but the built-in track pad is almost completely useless. It’s approximately the size of a US half-dollar coin, and while functional, it’s just barely.

Wireless keyboards have been the subject of many late night discussions with my old roommate and good friend Matt. We both agreed, years ago, that a keyboard with a built-in trackpad would be the ideal wireless keyboard for interfacing with a PC that’s connected to a television. Because of these many discussions, my interest was piqued when Logitech released its K830 keyboard. With many features that make it appealing, such as backlit keys, multimedia keys, and a built-in trackpad, the K830 seems like it could be an ideal solution for those of us looking for just such a device.

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