best buys… Curated picks of third-party kit
monitor Philips 328P6AU BREB £400 philips.co.uk
Getting a colour-accurate display used to cost a pretty penny, but this monitor is both impressive and affordable. It hits 99% of the Adobe RGB gamut – great for colour-critical work – and supports 10-bit colour. Throw in a host of ports (including USB-C), an IPS display and a great price, and you have a seriously good screen.
network storage Drobo 5D3 £749 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 EcoTank ET-2600 £230 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 £530 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 Asus DSL-AC 88U AC 3100 £258 asus.com/uk
This router has an awful lot going for it. The winner of issue 321’s group test, the Asus scored an impressive five stars in three out of four categories. It performed brilliantly in our tests, has excellent connectivity (with both Ethernet and ADSL options), and it looks great too. It’ll keep your network powered for years.
ip camera Netatmo Presence £250 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 £269 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 TS3 Plus £349 caldigit.com/uk
The original TS3 gave Macs a new level of connectivity. Now the TS3 Plus offers an incredible 14 ports. The TS3 Plus is quite pricey, but its 10Gbps USB-C port and four USB-A ports (among others), make it our Thunderbolt dock of choice. The Thunderbolt 3 port supplies up to 85W, so it can even charge a 15in MacBook Pro.
macbook bag STM Kings £100 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.