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Dec 05, 2023

Logitech MX Anywhere 3S review: A small mouse that's big on productivity

The Logitech MX Anywhere 3S is a minor upgrade compared to its predecessor, but

The Logitech MX Anywhere 3S is a minor upgrade compared to its predecessor, but it's now quieter than ever and has a better sensor.

Every year, Logitech likes to refresh its existing product lineup, building on its heritage of making excellent computer accessories. The MX line of mice, for example, has always been perfect for those on the go with a great laptop or Macbook. With the MX Anywhere 3, you already get a perfect compact mouse with an excellent magnetic scroll wheel, long battery life, and an ergonomic shape that fits all kinds of hands. Now, the follow-up, the MX Anywhere 3S is here, and it... doesn't bring much new to the table.

Sure, the Logitech MX Anywhere 3S isn't a big upgrade, but it does come packing with a new tracking sensor and a quiet click mechanism. These two meaningful changes, and returning ones like USB-C charging, Logitech Flow, and multi-device connectivity, help make the Logitech MX Anywhere 3S my new favorite, quiet, compact mouse. You just might not like the lack of the Logi Bolt dongle, which is no longer included in the box, or the fact that switching DPIs isn't as easy as it should be.

About this review: Logitech sent me the MX Anywhere 3S for the purposes of this review and did not see its contents before publishing.

The Logitech MX Anywhere 3S is the follow-up to the popular Anywhere 3. It doesn't bring many upgrades, but it's still a mouse that enables maximum productivity with returning features like the magnetic scroll wheel and Logitech Flow support.

The Logitech MX Anywhere 3S is now available for purchase through Logitech.com and other retailers. You can buy it for $80 in either Graphite, Pale Gray, or Rose colors.

As soon as you unbox the Logitech MX Anywhere 3S, you'll see there's little that separates it from its predecessor. It's still a travel-size productivity mouse that takes features from the larger MX Master 3S but in a more compact package.

The mouse is pocket-sized fun, measuring just 1.35 inches in length, around 2.5 inches wide, and 3.9 inches deep, and it weighs around 0.20 pounds. It's extremely easy to carry around in a bag or even slot in your pocket. There are similarly compact mice, like Lenovo Go's mouse, which is $20 cheaper, but the MX Anywhere 3S has more features that put it above the rest.

The Logitech MX Master is pocket-sized-fun and is easy to carry around in a bag

To keep the mouse light, it's made of plastic, but Logitech is using more sustainable materials compared to its predecessor. It's made of 78% post-consumer recycled plastic on the Graphite model we received for review, and 61% on the other two. The sides of the mouse have a rubberized grip that makes it easy to hold in your hands.

There are two side buttons that can be configured in the Logi Options + app for various functions. (I used it as forward and back buttons in Microsoft Edge.) You also get the magnetic scroll wheel on the top, and a button to toggle its electronic resistance on or off. That's in addition to your usual right-click and left-click buttons. None of this has changed between generations, and it should be familiar to anybody who's used a Logitech mouse before.

This is an ambidextrous mouse. Its low-profile design, slight hump, and curves mean you can use it with either your left or right hands. It also fits hands of most sizes. I'm a small-handed person, and this mouse perfectly fit in my hands for easing long periods of work.

Another thing that hasn't changed between generations is the mouse's connectivity. You no longer get the wireless dongle (now called Logi Bolt) included in the box with the mouse, but it still works with up to three devices (either via the separate dongle or Bluetooth). I paired it up with my Surface Pro 8 while traveling, my Surface Laptop Studio when at home, and my iPad Pro. Switching between them is easy with a simple tap of the button under the mouse near the power slider.

This is one area that this mouse stands out from the other compact mice on the market. It plays nicely with all the devices you might own, whether they're macOS, Windows, iPadOS, or any other operating system.

The lack of an included dongle might bother some people who prefer it for its encrypted security compared to Bluetooth, but neither the original model nor this one has a spot to store it when not in use. It's almost like Logitech wants you to use this mouse with Bluetooth, so that's what I did.

This is a mouse that plays nicely with all the devices you might own.

This mouse does indeed have a USB-C port onboard, but that's only for charging. This isn't too surprising, as other mice (like the more expensive Dell Premier Rechargeable Mouse) also have this same problem. You can charge and use the mouse at the same time, though. Battery life is rated at 70 days on a full charge. That means I only charged this mouse once during my two-week test run. Even if it's time to juice things back up, you get a three-hour use from just one minute of charge.

The highlight feature of this mouse though is Logitech Flow. Similar to Microsoft Power Toys' new mouse without borders feature, this lets you use a single mouse to control multiple PCs. The computers have to be on the same network, and you need to download the Logitech Flow App on both systems, but once you do, you can simply slide your mouse to the edge of one device's screen to transfer it to another. You even can copy text, images, and files between devices, which is really cool.

The Logitech MX Anywhere 3S is a mouse that'll let you be productive anywhere thanks to its new 8K sensor, a magnetic scroll wheel, and a quiet click mechanism. I already mentioned the ambidextrous design in an earlier section, but let's dive deeper into day-to-day performance.

One of my favorite features is that new quiet-click mechanism. A lot of cheaper multi-device mice are annoying to use in places like libraries because they make a subtle clicking sound when you press down on the top buttons. But the MX Anywhere 3S is a lot quieter than its predecessor. My colleagues couldn't hear the clicking when I was cleaning my inbox or removing things from my RSS feed during a video meeting, which would've otherwise been distracting with another mouse.

The Logitech MX Anywhere 3S is a mouse that'll let you be productive anywhere.

The 8K DPI sensor — double the DPI from the previous generation — also means that I can more accurately scroll across the big 32-inch 4K display on my desk. Such a high DPI means that dragging the mouse across a large screen is less of a pain. For example, I was able to quickly drag my mouse to the other end of the screen to control layers in Photoshop. The magnetic scrolling wheel is also a huge help since I'm able to scroll down through pages of photos in the File Explorer more quickly than before, saving me a few seconds of work. The wheel can scroll through 1,000 lines per second. And, the mouse can work on any surface. I tested it on fabric, glass, and paper, and it worked fine.

Similar to Flow and the option to configure what the side buttons can do, the Logi Options + software gives you full control of the scroll wheel. You can change the scroll direction and the scrolling force, and turn on smooth scrolling for better webpage navigation. The mouse even has a SmartShift feature, where you can automatically switch the scroll wheel from line-by-line scrolling to hyper-fast scrolling when you scroll faster.

If there's one thing I don't like about the software, is that it's a bit mandatory. You can use the mouse without it just fine, but you can't switch the DPI values on the mouse without it. Of course, this isn't a gaming mouse, so it makes sense that there's no DPI button, but having a switch to configure DPI would have made this a perfect product.

You should buy the Logitech MX Anywhere 3S if:

You should not buy the Logitech MX Anywhere 3S if:

Over the three-week period that I had it, the Logitech MX Anywhere 3S became my favorite mouse. I already own its bigger sibling, the MX Master 3S, but I ended up putting it away in favor of the Anywhere 3S. This is a really compact mouse, with a great design, and great features. The only reason I can't give it a perfect score is because it doesn't come with a dongle and because it's a bit tricky to switch the DPI.

The Logitech MX Anywhere 3S is the follow-up to the popular Anywhere 3. It doesn't bring many upgrades, but it's still a mouse that enables maximum productivity with returning features like the magnetic scroll wheel and Logitech Flow support.

I have over six years of experience covering Microsoft, Surface, Windows, macOS and ChromeOS news and rumors for sites like Digital Trends and OnMSFT. I also write laptop reviews and how-to guides. I am a Microsoft fan and I have a drawer full of PCs and other devices. You can follow and interact with me on Twitter if you want to chat! I'm always there making new friends!