Logitech’s Casa Pop-Up Desk: a real option for a wireless Chromebook trackpad?

I have a love/hate relationship with Chromebooks and trackpads. On one hand, I love a smooth, glass trackpad with a satisfying click mechanism. On the other, I don’t love the ergonomic position I’m in all day if the built-in trackpad on my Chromebook is my only way to navigate on-screen. I love navigating with gestures, but I feel that standard mouse movements are always easier and more-precise with a wireless mouse. And while most of my grumbles are addressed with a well-made wireless trackpad I can set to the side of my keyboard, there simply aren’t any real options out there for Chromebooks right now.

Wireless trackpads and Chromebooks: a brief history

Now, before you ask about the Apple Magic Trackpad 2, I will say that I have one, that it technically works, but it also drops connection a lot. Additionally, multi-finger gestures work, but resting my thumb on the edge while I navigate sometimes causes the whole operation to stall out completely. For short periods, the Magic Trackpad 2 does work fine with Chromebooks, but using it all day at the desk, the little agitations always drive me back to my trusty Logitech MX Anywhere 3 mouse.

The trackpad I used to rely on – the excellent Logitech T650 – is no longer made and I sold mine off years ago to someone who needed it far worse than I did. It was a big part of their move from MacOS to ChromeOS, so I happily parted with it for a small fee. Fast forward to today, and the greedy side of me really wishes I’d not done that. It was a fantastic trackpad that worked flawlessly with Chromebooks until Logitech abandoned it.

Then, in early 2020, Brydge (who now mainly only makes Apple stuff) ventured into the ChromeOS space with a better wireless keyboard for the Pixel Slate and a purpose-built ChromeOS wireless trackpad that basically failed to launch. There were issues behind the scenes with Brydge and Google getting on the same page with things, and ultimately that device never really arrived.

And now, in 2024, there’s not a single wireless trackpad for Chromebooks that you can go buy right now. At least not one that is made and marketed to work with ChromeOS. Part of this comes down to the fact that for some odd reason, this isn’t a big market for Windows devices, either, so other than Apple making a trackpad for their hardware, everyone seems to have exited the space.

Enter Logitech

If you asked me at any point to name a company I thought should resurrect the wireless trackpad for both Chromebooks and Windows laptops, Logitech has always been my first choice. With their laser focus on accessories for all sorts of hardware and their history with the T650 trackpad, I’ve wanted them to make a follow-up wireless trackpad for years at this point.

And with the Logitech Casa, it looks like they’ve gone and done just that. This “desk in a box” setup is pretty nifty all around, but the part of it I’m most interested in is the trackpad. Though listed with compatibility with Chromebooks, I can’t find any videos or posts specifically about it just yet that showcase how well it does or doesn’t work at this point. Will gestures work? Will it behave just like a built in Chromebook trackpad? Is it even any good?

Those questions and more will soon be answered as Logitech has now released the Casa Pop-Up Desk in the US, and we’ll soon have hands on it. The idea is wildly simple: pack a wireless keyboard and trackpad in a small case that converts to a laptop stand for a better on-the-go work solution. We did our own workspace in a backpack video back during the pandemic, and this setup from Logitech takes that idea and hones it into something more cohesive and very interesting.

Right now it is listed as ‘coming soon’ at Best Buy, but you can buy one for yourself at Logitech.com. We have a review unit on the way, so we’ll be taking the setup for a spin very soon and will let you know if the $179.99 asking price is too high or just right. If the keyboard is good, the trackpad is responsive, and the case gives you both a solid stand and a storage spot for these accessories, I think it could be a viable, interesting solution for many of you out there that find yourself out and about most days for work. We’ll let you know soon enough!