The Remote Work Wunderkind: Reviewing The Logitech Casa Pop-Up Desk
Words by Francesca Pietkiewicz (they/she)
I have been blessed by the manifestation gods.
Mid last year I bought a refurbished iPad. And I by no means regret it, it’s been a wonder. I originally bought it to inspire me to do more digital art, while that hasn’t happened I have used it for reading, yoga videos, watching YouTube in bed without the clunkiness of a laptop keyboard and finally, casual work or study in the library or a cafe.
The thing is though, without a keyboard or a mouse, working on an iPad is pretty shit honestly. It’s possible but it makes even the easiest editing, writing or note taking tedious. So my iPad, where it could be taking kilos off my bag while I become a remote-work god, instead has stayed home for the most part.
Until now.
Burdened with back aches from bringing my laptop into the office, I had been contemplating buying a keyboard and mouse for it for months. I was set on a, most likely crappy, clunky $20 Bluetooth I saw in a stationary shop. I decided to ignore it, waiting for a financially better off future me, perhaps employed at my post-Salient workplace.
This is where the legends at Undertow Media and Logitech come in with an email about an opportunity to review a gifted Logitech Casa Pop-Up Desk.
So onto the review:
The Casa Desk is a foldable compact portable desk setup, containing a Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad (fancier than a stinky old mouse). Once you’ve removed the keyboard and trackpad the remaining contraption folds into the perfect stand for your iPad, tablet or laptop. In the keyboard and mouse compartment there is also a little storage space, where you’ll find the charger. It’s a cute little cubby for your pens, coins, tiny snacks or little treats, whatever your heart desires, babes.
The Casa (casa, meaning home) Desk’s whole gimmick is that it’s meant to fit into your life, your work and your home with ease, and it most definitely achieves this. Once you’ve finished using it and folded it up, it transforms into a cute little diary, sitting pretty on your desk or coffee table. It comes in black, a grey/lilac combo and pink, which I chose to match my rose gold iPad and MacBook Air.
I have thoroughly enjoyed The Casa Desk, it’s been a game changer. I feel like I’m finally able to use my iPad for work, both at home and away. I’ve brought it to a cafe, the library, to my dads place instead of bringing my laptop. I’ve used The Casa Desk with my laptop too and the stand is the perfect height. You can have up to three main Bluetooth connections and switch between them with a simple button click. I have a little bay window next to my bed and using The Casa Desk with my laptop with the window as a desk in bed on a lazy day was revolutionary!
My critiques of The Casa Desk are few but here they are:
The stand isn’t great for an iPad. The stand is better for a laptop as the height for working is perfect, whereas for an iPad like mine (6th Gen, 2018) I’ve preferred using my built in iPad case stand stacked on top of some books to meet my eyeline. But when used this way, or used with a laptop, it’s extremely comfortable and perfectly level - no more hunchback and neck aches!!
Getting the keyboard and trackpad out is a bit annoying. I’ve found the best way to get the trackpad and keyboard out is tipping the Casa Desk over and letting them fall out into my hands. This is fine, but I always worry that if they come out awkwardly I’m in danger of damaging them, especially when I’m out in public at a tiny cafe table.
I’ve had a couple tiny issues with the trackpad where the cursor likes to randomly jump around the page by itself. This is extremely annoying and has interrupted my typing twice now. I fix it easily by turning off the trackpad and just using the keyboard. For the most part this hasn’t been a problem, I mean right now I have both on while I write this and it’s working excellently.
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Retailing at roughly $329 depending on where you shop, The Casa Desk is a big investment for a student or low-income yo-pro. I don’t know if I would have purchased it first without trying it out, I probably would have settled for a cheapskate knock-off.
But that’s the thing, Logitech is a solid, good quality brand and this is a tool that is for sure going to make your uni experience, albeit a smidgen, easier. That $20 version with a clunky mouse, probably wouldn’t last. It probably wouldn’t have a keyboard so satisfying. It most definitely wouldn’t have a stand, a little treat cubby, nor would it fold away into an aesthetically pleasing coffee table book.
It enables you to work flexibly from wherever, including your bed, which I know I needed to do on hard days throughout my degree. All though, the point of The Casa Desk is to get you out of bed and into a working environment best for your back and neck - so maybe try to not do that lol.
Christmas is coming up, go buy yourself (or ask your rich friend or family member for) a Casa desk! Or wait until those handy-dandy course related costs come through in Feb…