best buys… Curated picks of third-party kit
monitor ViewSonic VP2772 £702 viewsonic.com
If you’re not fussed about 4K but still want exceptional image quality, this IPS display is truly superb. It offers 99% coverage of the Adobe RGB colour space, 10-bit colour and a 2560x1440-pixel resolution. It has HDMI 1.4, DVI and Mini DisplayPort connections, and four USB 3.0 ports for expansion. network storage Drobo 5D3 £601 drobo.co.uk
With two blazing fast Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 5Gbps USB-C port to boot, the Drobo 5D3 can provide you with rapid file transfers to and from your Mac. You can load it up with up to five HDDs or SSDs of differing capacities, giving you plenty of flexibility for storage options. It’s pricey, but a worthy investment. pri nter Epson Eco-Tank ET-2600 £179 epson.co.uk
The Eco-Tank ET-2600 has a fairly high cost, but its innovative cartridge-free design will save you a ton of money in the long run. It’s got a scanner and copier, plus Wi-Fi and USB connectivity. Replacement inks are cheap, working out at a mere 0.2p per page for mono text, and just 0.35p per page for colour. ultra hd mo nitor Philips 328P6VJEB £551 philips.co.uk
We love this display. At 32 inches diagonally, it’s big enough to make its 4K resolution worthwhile, and its colour rendering is excellent – 100% of sRGB, 93% of Adobe RGB and 97% of the P3 gamut that Apple’s new MacBook Pro uses. It’s big, bold, beautiful and superb for productivity and colour work alike. wireles router D-Link AC 3200 (DIR-890L) £210 dlink.com
Being a tri-band router, this blows every other router we’ve seen out of the water when it comes to speed. We saw speeds of 600Mbps between two Macs in the same room. Wi-Fi speeds hit up to 3.2Gbps, so its three channels mean it’s no slouch there either. It’s costly, but is a worthy investment if speed is your thing. ip camera Netatmo Presence £190 netatmo.com The Netatmo Presence is an impressive outdoor security camera. Set in a sturdy housing, it’s built to defy the elements. It has a built‑in floodlight to deter intruders, and a 100° field of view recorded in 1080p. There’s also an SD card included, making it easy to store and access your footage. Exter nal SSD Freecom mSS D MAXX 512GB £247 freecom.com
This drive is the fastest portable SSD we’ve ever tested. Freecom claims its write speeds can reach 700MB/sec, but in our tests it blazed past that to reach 713.8MB/ sec write speeds and 907.3MB/sec read speeds, thanks to its USB 3.1 Gen 2 capability. It’s costly, but worth it if you feel the need for speed. thu nderbolt dock CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 3 £269 caldigit.com/uk The winner of
MF317’ s head-to-head review introduces a whole new level of connectivity to your Mac. Equipped with two Thunderbolt 3 ports for blazingly fast file transfers, plus many more ports, you won’t be lacking options to hook up your devices. And it can even charge the latest 15-inch MacBook Pro. macbok bag STM Kings £98 stmgoods.com Your MacBook needs protection, and the STM Kings backpack is the best way to guarantee that. Winner of
MF316’ s group test, it cleverly suspends your MacBook away from the floor to prevent bumps. With loads of storage, comfortable straps and a snazzy design, it’s a great all-rounder.