Keyboard/Trackpad combo for media

[canhaz]

The living room sofa is a great place to chill using the TV connected to the gaming pc or Mac Mini, or remote desktop into the Macbook Pro.

One potential concern is how to interact with a desktop device in a pleasant way from the sofa. The current solution I'm using is a Logitech K830:

Purchased this largely due to backlit keyboard feature and slightly more premium feel over the super cheap bluetooth media keyboards.

The Logitech is OK I suppose. The keys are a still a bit mushy and the trackpad is out of place. Definitely prefer the trackpad in the front to keep the muscle memory / experience as close to the Macbook Pro, as opposed to on the side like 99% of the "media center" focused bluetooth keyboards.

In fact, a Macbook Pro bottom half without the screen would simply be heaven. Yet astonishingly accessory makers have yet to discover some customers might want this in a sofa keyboard.

So after some research I'm considering pulling the trigger on a Bridge Pro+ keyboard for the iPad Pro.

It looks attractive and premium.. Does anyone know if this is possible to use with other Bluetooth hosts, eg macmini or pc?

It say it uses Bluetooth but designed for iPad, so who knows?

Another idea was using a Surface Pro keyboard/trackpad, though not sure if that works either.

 

[canhaz]

No-one responded to my post 😂. oh well I guess that's a wall of text above.. who has time to read all that.

Anyway in case anyone makes it this far. Quick update, emailed Brydge and they confirmed it does indeed support Mac Mini. So seems like we have a winner. Gonna order now.

 

[canhaz]

Quick update for y'all.

Went ahead an ordered the Brydge Pro+ /w trackpad to use with my Windows and Mac mini living room setup. It arrived yesterday, and gotta say, it looks and feels awesome. It's just so premium and great.

Man was I excited to try this out.

It's like having the bottom half of a Macbook Pro, which is exactly what I wanted.

That said, there is one flaw with it. And unfortunately it seems to be a deal breaker :/

Basically the trackpad is pure garbage. Cursor movement is kinda jerky and skips. Not great. The bigger issue however, might be the lag.

It kinda feels like you shoulder surfing grandma and she's trying to browse teh interwebs using IE6. After 5min I'm sweating, triggered and need to lie down.

Did a bit of googling and looks like it's a known problem. sigh

Brydge releases firmware update, but its trackpad still lags

Last month I was sad to report that the new iPad Pro keyboard/trackpad combination from Brydge, the makers of my longstanding favorite iPad Pro keyboard, was just not good enough. The keyboard and …

sixcolors.com

anyways, hope that's helpful if anyone was thinking of going this route.

might try return it and switch to an Microsoft based Brydge key/track combo. They're making a lot of noise about a Precision Trackpad etc in an upcoming product.

Brydge 12.3 Pro+

Wireless keyboard with precision touchpad for Surface Pro 4, 5, 6, 7, and 7+. Featuring Bluetooth wireless technology and 0-180 viewing angles.

www.brydge.com

 

[ejin222]

Thanks for the update! I know you put a lot of effort in the post so thanks for sharing your review~

 

[zea mays]

Thank you so much! I'm looking for similar options and looks like the Logitech might be it until someone realizes what users might actually want.

 

[limebook]

Thanks for your post. I’m surprised that there are very limited options for couch surfing.
I too have a K830 and it seems to be the only one that supports backlight and touchpad.

Out of interest did you connect by Bluetooth or the dongle with your MacMini?

I have an mini 14 and can’t connect is Bluetooth.

My biggest bugbear is not having any control of the responsiveness of the trackpad or being able to use the function keys.

I think there would be a reasonable case for this or as you describe a middle front mounted trackpad with Mac support.