CES 2024: Hybrid Work Hardware Meets Sustainability with Targus EcoSmart
A big theme at CES was taking sustainability from a marketing checkbox to meaningful product design decisions. Making consumer products with recycled materials is relatively easy -- provided you pick aluminum. Aluminum is endlessly reusable, it’s just as durable after having been recycled, and can be cheaper to obtain from recycled stock than mining and refining virgin aluminum. None of that is true when it comes to plastic, and that is why I'm so impressed with the eco/smart line of PC accessories from Targus. The Energy Harvesting EcoSmart Keyboard (launched at CES 2023) and EcoSmart ErgoFlip Mouse (CES 2024) each use 85% post-recycled plastic in the housing and somehow don't feel flimsy or gritty. The flecks of discoloration that are a byproduct of the process look like a deliberate design choice (though arguably not as premium-looking as HP's use of coffee grinds in some of its recycled plastics on monitors and desktop PCs also launched at CES). The EcoSmart packaging is also nearly entirely recycled/recyclable, with just one single-use plastic bag each.
The Targus EcoSmart peripherals are not just sustainable, they also have some clever design tricks. The wireless keyboard can convert room light into power for the rechargeable battery; you should never need to charge it as long as you use the room regularly. The wireless mouse is not rechargeable (it uses a single AA battery), but the housing pops apart magnetically and can be flipped around to switch between ergonomic right or left -handed use. Both products connect via Bluetooth and can switch between three different devices, making them easy to integrate with hybrid work styles that bounce back and forth from phones to tablets to laptops or desktops.
The keyboard uses quiet laptop-style scissor mechanisms and has a bit more travel than a typical laptop. There are plenty of useful dedicated media and computing keys, though the product was launched before Microsoft added a CoPilot button to the keyboard.
The mouse has adjustable DPI, forward/back buttons, and a scroll wheel. It worked well in my tests from a functional standpoint, but the shape doesn’t fit my big hand as well as Logitech’s MX Master 3. Your hand may vary. Of course, as a righty, I have the luxury of having lots of ergonomic mice to choose from; for lefties who want to mouse with their dominant hand, this is one of the only ergonomic options.
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