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 WIRLESS EARPHONES Beats Fit Pro
£199.99 beatsbydre.com/uk
The Beats Fit Pro are compact and sporty in design with integrated silicone ear hooks. The earbuds match Apple AirPods Pro almost feature for feature, and cost nearly £40 less. You get Apple’s H1 chip, Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), Find My, Siri support and Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking. What’s more, these Beats boast longer battery life than the AirPods Pro.
KEYBOARD (MAC/iOS) Logitech MX Keys Mini £99.99 logitech.com
Beautifully and solidly made from aluminium with 79 largely concave, backlit plastic keys, this angled keyboard looks great on your desk and feels even better under your fingers, making it easy to type accurately and at speed. The keyboard can be paired with up to three separate devices, and you get a dedicated Emoji button and mic mute/unmute buttons too.
QHD DISPLAY
ViewSonic VP2768a ColorPro £379 viewsonic.com
If you’re looking for a screen for creative colour work, the 100% sRGB VP2768a ColorPro should be a definite contender. The frameless 27in 2K QHD display offers a 2560x1440 resolution, and a 14-bit 3D lookup table that generates 4.39 trillion colours. In terms of connectivity, there’s an integrated Gigabit Ethernet port, USBC, USB3.2 Gen 1, HDMI, and a DisplayPort.
PRINTER
Epson Workforce WF-110W £199.99 epson.co.uk
Epson’s Workforce WF-110W is supremely portable with an integrated rechargeable battery that has good longevity, plus there are flexible connectivity options and a nicely designed iOS app. The onboard screen and controls make setup and operation easy, and black-and-white print quality is excellent, with colour certainly acceptable.
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.
STREAMING SOUNDBAR Sonos Beam
£449 sonos.com
The second-generation of this streaming soundbar features a five-speaker array for a deep, rich soundstage. You get Wi-Fi, Ethernet and HDMI eARC connectivity options, and Alexa and Google Assistant built in. Dolby Atmos is supported, and the digital signal processor simulates surround sound. The Sonos app is easy to use and you can also stream audio over AirPlay 2.
EXTERNAL SSD
OWC Envoy Pro SX SSD £345.99 (1TB) owcdigital.com
Our SSD top spot used to belong to OWC’s FX version of this drive, but this cheaper model is a tough cookie that offers excellent read and write speeds. It’s IP67 rated so it’s crush-proof, dust-proof and waterproof and is plenty zippy in the file transfer department. The SX SSD is limited to Thunderbolt/USB 4 but you can always use it with an adaptor.
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.