4 New Keyboards, Tested

6. Keyboard Specs Chart: Which One Is Best For You?

We bang on fresh keyboards from Microsoft, Logitech, Matias, and Eclipse, and determine whether they deserve to sit in front of your monitor.

If you haven’t been paying attention to keyboard releases this summer, you’re missing out. There are some hits and some flops, and there’s definitely a new model out there for every type of user. Office dwellers or students heading back to school will want to get their hands on the Logitech K250 if they want something simple, or the Eclipse LiteTouch Wired Keyboard if they’re looking for flashiness.

Home theater PC builders looking for an attractive new keyboard for their living rooms need look no further than the Microsoft Arc Special Edition. HTPC owners who want more features in the keyboard that controls their home theater and can do without a mouse should definitely pick up the Eclipse LiteTouch Wireless Keyboard, as long as their home theater computer is running Windows.

Sadly, it’s difficult to recommend the Matias USB Keyboard + Smartphone Stand to anyone at this point, although we hold out hope that the new version with Bluetooth capabilities is an improvement over the current model.

Features-wise, the new keyboards this summer are across the map. All of them offer different feature sets depending on what you’re looking for in a keyboard, but the one thing that unites them is that they’re all exceptional keyboards and perform their core functions well. All of them are built well for regular use, even if they all don’t go above and beyond when it comes to adding features like media keys or volume controls.

Perhaps the best thing about this summer’s batch of new keyboards is that most of them have the staying power to see price drops around the holidays that will encourage even more people to pick them up. Since they all come in at different price points, depending on what you’re looking for and your budget, there’s a keyboard in the roundup for you.