Microsoftall- in-one Media Keeyboardbd

Sofa, so good

If you have a PC or other computer-like box connected to your telly, it doesn’t make much sense to have it set up in a corner of your living room with a keyboard and mouse. This combined keyboard and trackpad lets you operate everything from the sofa.

It connects using a widely compatible USB radio dongle, but officially it’s only fully supported in Windows. Features are limited with macos or Android, and it’s not designed to work with iphones or ipads. There’s no Bluetooth, so you need a USB port.

This isn’t a rechargeable device, but comes with two regular AAA batteries installed under the bottom panel beside a handy receptacle for the USB dongle. To avoid running them down, it’s not backlit, which can be frustrating when you’ve turned off the lights for a cinema-style experience. But the full-size tile-style keys feel decent for a budget unit, and the gesture- sensing touchpad is big and responsive, although it’s more square than screen-shaped.

As well as a rather skinny row of function keys, there are volume buttons and customisable media-control keys, and the whole thing is spill-resistant for those horror-film coffee accidents.

Only an American layout is available, with some unfamiliar character positions and a wide rather than tall Enter key. In Windows, you can either choose a US keyboard layout to match the keys or stick with UK and remember that, for example, the # on the 3 key is really £.