What do you need from a keyboard? Well, obviously keys are a must, with comfortable ergonomics and responsive switches being equally handy. Multi-coloured backlights? Silver-painted WSAD keys? Cursor keys? Touch-sensitive control panel?

Although the Epson Stylus DX9400F has a SRP of £130, you’ll find it on sale for £100, which seems very reasonable for a printer and scanner that includes a fax.

On the face of it, the Brother MFC-7440N is a surprisingly well-specified MFD. It’s a monochrome laser design with a fax and 10/100 BASE TX networking, with the added bonus that the scanner works in colour.

Lexmark includes the X4875 in its Professional range of All-In-One Inkjets and uses Lexmark’s regular pair of inkjet cartridges – one for black, one for the three colours – and sports a list of features that don’t seem especially professional.

Microsoft has clearly thought about the needs of the media PC user when designing this set. It’s made sure that good quality and ease of use are placed alongside great build quality and a host of features.

When choosing a media centre keyboard and mouse, then size is one of the key choices that needs to be addressed. If you don’t want to blot your living room with a full-size keyboard and mouse then the DiNovo Mini is ideal.

At only £30, the KeySonic ACK-G12 is one of the cheapest and smallest keyboards on the market and has a host of great features that’ll help you master your media PC.

MicPort is a USB-powered mini-amp that enables the signal from a three-pin XLR microphone to work with your Mac. It’s useful because a Mac won’t take an XLR signal without amplification, and because it outputs the signal over USB for an easy connection with the computer.

The Razer Mako 2.1 speaker set is absolutely phenomenal. Without a shadow of a doubt, it's the best looking and best sounding 2.1 desktop system we've ever come across. And that's high praise indeed, because there are some pretty damn good PC speaker systems out there.

At first appearance, the Samsung UM10 looks a little odd and awkward to use. It’s a small flat mouse with a retractable lead that has a scroll wheel instead of conventional buttons.

It's sometimes very hard to review a pair of low-end speakers. Weighing functionality against audio fidelity is an almost impossible task. And yet that's what we're having to do with the Parrot DS1120s.

Golly, two Razer products in two months that I actually like. Maybe this Cult of Razer thing is more insidious than I previously gave it credit for, or maybe it’s just because first the Destructor mouse pad and now the Lycosa keyboard are actually well designed, extremely useable PC peripherals.

Creating a mouse that stands out from the crowd has got to be a nightmare, especially when lurking in that crowd are the smugly popular G9 from Logitech and Microsoft’s latest Sidewinder.

First the good news; if you’re one of them lefties then this is one of the few new mice you’ll actually be able to use without any of that fascistic right-handed ergonomics. Now the bad news, the Traveller 525 is a bit rubbish.

It’s fitting that it’s a German company bringing the spirit of Faszination (YouTube it) to PC racing enthusiasts. Fanatec’s new wheel is an impressive replica of the cockpit of a modern Porsche 911.

This is a biometric security finger swiper that adds protection to your Mac beyond your standard user ID and password. It’s new to Macs, but has been available for PCs for a short while. In fact, it’s so new to Macs that no installer comes in the box.

We've had a lot of issues with gaming headsets recently, mainly down to the fact that so many of them use a USB connector and boast instant surround sound. All well and good if you're running onboard sound, but if you've spent out a little on a decent sound card, like the wondrous X-Fi, then no matter how good the cans, you're going to go for a set with analogue connectors.

Logitech has firmly ensconced itself in the world of AV through its Harmony universal remote series.

Microsoft cops probably more criticism than any other company in the world. People just seem to like moaning about Windows and Office, and let's face it, it's easy to see why. But one thing Microsoft cannot be criticised for is making rubbish peripherals. Because it makes great ones.

We can’t imagine any Wotsat reader needs a universal remote for more than 12 devices but we’ve all got stacks of gear (probably) but only tolerate using only a couple of remotes at the most to control them.

Under the bonnet of the Canon MP520 lies a neat row of four individually replaceable ink cartridges, from Canon's latest ChromaLife 100 range. This marries a pigment-based black ink with dye-based cyan, magenta and yellow inks, theoretically enabling fast, high-quality document printing and passable photo output.

While many modern laptops carry built-in webcams as standard, the Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Pro (£80 inc. VAT) is a great option for older laptops that don't.

While the last decade has seen the rest of the digicam world undergo a frenetic patch of technical evolution, it seems webcam developers have been taking it easier

Bristling with heavy-duty features that belie its relatively inexpensive asking price, the HP J5780 not only includes a 35-sheet auto document feeder, but also full standalone fax functions, so you can send and receive faxes even when your PC is switched off