BEST BUYS… Curated picks of third-party kit
DESKTOP SPEAKER Ruark MR1
£329.99 ruarkaudio.com
Winner of MF357’s head to head, the MR1 speaker set looks and sounds the business. The dome tweeter and longthrow woofer can handle a variety of audio styles with aplomb. You get a good variety of connectivity options, and we love the chunky function/volume dial too.
IN-EAR EARPHONES M&D MW07 Plus
£279 masterdynamic.com
Master & Dynamic’s MW07 Plus offer 10 hours of listening time, and the charging case holds an additional three charges (so you get 40 hours in total). These greatsounding earbuds are IPX5 rated, so they’re excellent for workouts and commuting. The marble-effect finish gives them a premium aesthetic, as does the stainless steel charging case.
USB FLASH DRIVE
SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe 1TB £243.99 shop.westerndigital.com
Yes, this flash drive is expensive. But it’s also a great little gizmo! You get a USB-C connector on one end, and USB-A on the other so it offers a neat way to transfer data or add storage. The read and write speeds are not spectacular, but just look at the size of this thing for 1TB of storage! The all-metal body also sports a keyring/lanyard hole.
THUNDERBOLT 3 HUB Brydge Stone Pro Hub £229.99 brydge.co.uk
If you’re looking for a hub that offers multiple connectivity and impressive power delivery, this could be the one for you. You can power up your MacBook, thanks to over 87W of power from the wall power supply, and you can also charge up to four extra USB devices at once (three USB-A and one USB-C). You also get a dual-purpose audio and mic mini jack port.
HEADPHONES
Beats Solo Pro £269.95 beatsbydre.com
The latest Beats headphones pack an impressive 40-hour battery life and Active Noise Cancellation. We love the unfold to power design and sound reproduction is excellent. Powered by Apple’s H1 processor, the Solo Pro also offer simple pairing, Hey Siri detection and audio sharing with iOS 13 or later.
WI-FI ROUTER
Zyxel Multy U WSR30 £199 zyxel.com/uk
Zyxel’s Multy U mesh router hits the sweet spot, offering great performance at a competitive price, making it ideal for homes and small offices. The AC2100 router offers up to 280Mbps with a range of 6,000sq ft, and the nodes are easy on the eye, too. The companion app comes with helpful speed tests and diagnostic tools, as well as parental controls.
MULTIROOM SPEAKER Libratone Zipp 2 £279 libratone.com/uk
The Zipp 2 is louder, smarter and better in every way than its predecessor. With a great 12-hour battery life, you can enjoy your music on the go for longer. The speaker also comes with Amazon Alexa built in, making it handy for dictating your shopping lists or notes, or controlling your smart home.
EXTERNAL SSD
OWC Envoy Pro FX SSD £365.99 (1TB) owcdigital.com
Don’t let the size of this neat little SSD fool you – it’s both tough and efficient. Not only is it dustand waterproof (IP67), and drop tested to military standards, it boasts blisteringly fast read and write speeds, and the supplied cable is capable of transferring data at 5,000MB/sec over Thunderbolt. Storage capacities range from 240GB to 2TB.
MACBOOK BAG
Hex Technical backpack $149.95 (about £110) hexbrand.com
Looking for a bag that hits the sweet spot for generous storage and stylish looks? Look no further. The Hex Technical’s 17.5-litre capacity is made up of device-hugging padded pockets for a MacBook (up to 16in), iPad, power bank and more. The bag is waterproof and has a 1680D Cordura ballistic bottom so it’s also reassuringly rugged.