At a lookKnowledgeable’s Score
Execs
- Cracking worth for cash
- Refined construct
- Straightforward to change between gadgets
- Quiet keys
Cons
- Just one color obtainable
- No adjustable ft
- App is missing some particulars
Our Verdict
Whereas totally different colors and a extra complete app would have been welcome, the Epic Wi-fi Keyboard will get you a variety of performance for comparatively little cash. It’s straightforward to advocate.
Worth When Reviewed
$69.00
Finest Costs At present: JLab Epic Wi-fi Keyboard
$69.00
When you’re not after something mechanical or fancy equivalent to a gaming keyboard, the JLab Epic Wi-fi might meet your wants.
This system can seamlessly swap between as much as three connections at a time (together with smartphones), has a number of remappable buttons and consists of devoted quantity wheel for guide audio management.
Design & construct
- Gray and black colourway
- 783g
- No adjustable ft
The Epic Wi-fi keyboard is accessible in a single color, that includes a metallic gray base and black plastic keys. One other color choice would have been welcome for various set-ups, however ,to be honest, this can be a basic and complicated aesthetic that may go along with most PCs.
The keyboard weighs 783g, and measures 42.88 x 14.33 x 1.57 cm. It’s good for an workplace, however could also be a contact too huge for some folks travelling – it nearly suits in my backpack with my laptop computer, charger and different necessities packed in.
The underside of the keyboard has a hard and fast raised half, so it would solely keep within the one place. When you’re a fan of adjustable ft, this isn’t the system for you. Regardless, the Epic Wi-fi is comfy to make use of, even for lengthy durations of time.
There’s what JLab calls a media knob (make of that title what you’ll), which you should use to manually management the amount by turning up and down, and even management playback by urgent it in to pause a monitor on the likes of Spotify and YouTube.
There additionally a spread of shortcut buttons, together with a print display screen button, a house button and a search bar key. The keyboard has 108 keys in whole. Tucked beneath the raised half is a USB-A port for any extra gadgets.
Connection & efficiency
- Helps three gadgets at one time
- 2.4 GHz dongle and Bluetooth connections
- Quiet contact keys
There are two methods to attach the keyboard. You’ll be able to both use Bluetooth 5.2 (the one methodology if you wish to use it with a pill or smartphone), or the wi-fi 2.4 GHz dongle.
If you need entry to the companion app (JLab Work), you’ll want to make use of the latter and a Home windows or Mac system. However the keyboard itself can also be suitable with iOS, Android and ChromeOS.
When you’ve turned it on and plugged within the dongle, connection is instantaneous. Your PC or Mac might immediate you to do some configuring, although. To pair through Bluetooth, merely maintain one of many devoted keys till they begin flashing blue. The keyboard ought to then come up in your obtainable gadgets.
Switching between gadgets can also be tremendous straightforward. I used to be capable of bounce between my iMac, Asus Zenbook 14X (operating Home windows 11) and Xiaomi 13 (operating Android) with no points in any way. You’ll discover a slight lag when utilizing a Bluetooth connection, however that’s simply nature of the beast.
The keyboard makes use of quiet contact keys, which don’t rattle about an excessive amount of when typing. They aren’t fairly the near-silent iMac keyboard, however every keypress has extra depth, making for an pleasing typing expertise. Backlighting on the keys can also be obtainable – enabling it provides them a delicate white glow.
You’ll be able to remap the F and shortcut keys within the JLab Work app, with three totally different profiles obtainable. Not all of the keys are customisable (as you’ll discover on extra superior keyboards), however you’ll be able to tweak another keys immediately inside your pc’s settinhgs.
I additionally bumped into some points with the keyboard shortcuts for copying and pasting on my iMac – trawling by on-line boards point out that this can be a frequent difficulty with many third-party keyboards designed for each Home windows and Mac gadgets.
I used to be capable of finding a workaround by going into the common macOS System Settings, then creating new app shortcuts for the same old Command and C or V functionals. JLab might do higher with its data relating to frequent points like this.
Hannah Cowton / Foundry
Battery life
- 2000mAh battery
- USB-C charging
The keyboard features a 2000mAh battery. Based on JLab, this could offer you months of utilization. While I didn’t take a look at this out over an extended interval time, it didn’t run out of juice throughout use.
Not like the Logitech Casa, the accompanying app doesn’t provide you with a battery life proportion, so you’ll be able to’t monitor precisely how lengthy you might have left, which is a disgrace. There’s an LED on the highest which is able to flash crimson when you might have lower than 20% left.
Charging is through the USB-C port on the rear. The mandatory cable is included within the field, however you would use one in all your personal when you’d choose.
Worth & availability
The JLab Epic Wi-fi Keyboard retails at $69/£69.99. You should purchase it from JLab or Amazon when you’re within the US, or Amazon or Argos when you’re within the UK.
On the time of writing, JLab’s UK product web page reveals the keyboard as ‘coming quickly’.
Wherever you purchase it from, there’s a two-year guarantee obtainable, and JLab is throwing in three months free entry to music streaming service Tidal.
For the quantity of options included right here, this can be a first rate value. It’s not obtained a flashy design, nevertheless it’s straightforward to make use of and has a fantastic design. You could find additional choices in our chart of one of the best keyboards – we even have the same one for one of the best mice.
Hannah Cowton / Foundry
Verdict
The JLab Epic Wi-fi keyboard has loads going for it. It seems to be refined, is usually straightforward to arrange and gives a quiet, comfy typing expertise. It’s additionally easy to make use of with a number of gadgets.
The app may very well be a bit extra complete, particularly with regards to a battery life estimate. Some may additionally choose a keyboard with adjustable ft to offer extra flexibility.
Nevertheless, these are minor niggles for what’s in any other case a well-priced and feature-rich keyboard.
Specs
- Gray/black colourway
- 42.88 x 14.33 x 1.57 cm
- 783g
- 108 keys
- 2.4 GHz wi-fi dongle and Bluetooth 5.2 connection
- Helps as much as three gadgets
- USB-C charging
- 2,000mAh battery
