Best printer: best inkjet printers

What's the best printer to buy? All-purpose printers are a booming market, and you're spoilt for choice, so here's our pick of the best printers on the market right now.

In choosing the best printer your first decision is whether to go for a standard printer, or a multi-function device which includes a scanner and which can also work as a standalone copier.

These aren't much larger than regular printers, but they're a whole lot more versatile, especially when you need to keep a copy of a letter, a bill or any other important document, so our first list includes the best inkjet printers and best multi-function devices.

You should also think carefully about whether to invest in an inkjet or a laser. Lasers are usually associated with office environments, where they produce sharp, smudge-free printouts quickly, quietly and economically, but this can be just as useful at home or in a home office.

And don't imagine that mono laser printers are the only option - colour laser printers are now very affordable, and you can even get get multi-function laser printers, too. So we've also come up with a list of the best laser printers, and not just for office users with budgets to burn, but home users looking for value, quality, compactness and ease of use.

So let's firstly look at the best inkjet printers around - hit the second page for the best laser printers. Please remember that the prices shown here are for guidance only.

1. HP DeskJet 1000 – £30

How do they do it for the money? It's not just that this printer is cheap, because with most budget printers you get stung later on with high-priced consumables, but the black and tri-colour ink cartridges for the DeskJet 1000 are pretty reasonably priced, and you can get XL high-capacity versions too.

And for a budget printer, it's pretty fast, with a quoted maximum of 16ppm mono, 12ppm colour. There are no fancy extras - you even have to supply your own USB cable - but it does exactly what it says on the box, providing low-cost, fuss-free printing for as little money as possible.

Buy from Amazon

2. Epson Stylus SX425W - £60

The SX425W gives you a a lot for your money, with built-in memory card slots, wi-fi printing and multi-function scanning and copying. It uses Epson's DURABrite inks, which means that the paper is dry as soon as it emerges from the printer, and you get exceptionally clean, bright and smudge-proof output on plain paper.

Photo output is slightly dull by comparison, though, and like a lot of low-cost printers, the SX425W does cost quite a bit to run. It's perfect though, if you want a versatile yet inexpensive document printer for light or occasional use.

Read our Epson Stylus SX425W review

3. HP Photosmart 7510 - £120

With print quality very high and prices ultra-low, what can multifunction printer manufacturers do to improve on previous models? This new HP Photosmart 7510 sets itself apart by offering a huge range of features, but it also leaves a few behind.

The HP Photosmart 7510 uses five ink tanks: CMYK, plus a pigmented black for clear, waterproof text. It connects to your Mac through USB or to your home network using Wi-Fi b/g/n, and has AirPrint for printing from iOS devices.

Read our HP Photosmart 7510 review

4. Lexmark Genesis S815 - £120

Lexmark's Genesis S815 is full of fresh ideas. Instead of a standard flatbed scanner, this multifunction device uses an image capture system based on a digital camera. It can capture an entire page in three seconds. It boasts a range of integrated mini-applications too. Downloadable apps include a calculator, clock, Facebook and Twitter integration, graph or music paper printing and there's even an app to display news and sports feeds from Apple, ESPN and the BBC. Overall print quality is good, too.

Read our Lexmark Genesis S815 review

5. Canon Pixma MX870 - £150

If you're looking for a stunning printer for your small office or home office, the Canon PIXMA MX870 is for you. Like most recent Canons, it uses a five-tank system with pigmented black for crystal-clear and waterproof text printing. It can't print directly onto optical discs, but its fax facilities and 35-sheet document feeder are probably more use for a small-office machine.

Connectivity is through USB, Ethernet and WiFi. It took almost five minutes to print our 20-page text document, which is a little slow for an office printer, but its print quality is fantastic.

Read our Canon PIXMA MX870 review

6. Kodak ESP 9250 - £160

Kodak's top multi-function printer has a much stronger business slant than its cheaper consumer models. Kodak's drive to reduce running costs means both documents and photos could cost you less in the long run, even though the 9250's initial asking price is quite high.

And because it uses just two separate ink cartridges, it's simple to maintain. Photo output is, actually, a tad disappointing, but if the built-in fax machine, 30-sheet automatic document feeder, wi-fi and Ethernet connectivity make up for that.

Read our Canon Kodak ESP 9250 review

7. Canon Pixma MG8150 - £193

You can sum up this amazing Canon printer in two words; 'no compromises'. It doesn't compromise on print quality. In fact, it has arguably the best print engine of any multiformat inkjet, with stellar photo printing and crystal-clear text. It makes no compromises on speed either. Our 20-page text document printed in just over four minutes, which is entirely acceptable for a home printer. And nor is its feature set compromised. It can do disc onbody printing, automatic Duplex and more. It's an excellent all-round printer.

Buy from Amazon

8. Canon Pixma iP100 - £200

It's fine using a laptop when visit friends, customers or colleagues, but that's a fat lot of good when your printer's back at the office. The portable Pixma iP100 is the answer, printing anything from photos and business cards to regular A4 documents, and at a decent speed, too.

The rechargeable battery's good for up to 300 prints, which is remarkable in itself, and the quality is fine, both for photos and regular documents, so you could even use it as your everyday desktop printer too.

Read our Canon Pixma iP100 review

9. HP Envy 110 All-in-One - £220

This is the ideal printer for those who like a little style with their technology. It's also great for printing from mobile devices. It's AirPrint-compatible, so you can print directly from an iOS device such as an iPhone or iPad that's connected to the same wireless network, and HP's useful new ePrint feature means you can print out documents and images from any device that can send an email simply by emailing it to the printer's unique address.

Buy from Amazon

10. Brother MFC-J6910DW - £284

If you need to print in A3, this Brother printer can be bought for under £400. It's as compact as it's possible to be for an A3 multifunction device, sturdily built and has two paper trays so you can load A3 and A4 paper simultaneously, and a rear sheet feeder for the occasional photo paper print or letterhead. Connectivity is through USB, Ethernet or WiFi, and it features an 8.3cm touchscreen.

Like many Brother printers, the MFC-J6910DW's print quality is merely workmanlike. Text is a little grey, and photos are a little over-red. But it's fine for day to day use.

Read our Brother MFC-J6910DW review

Best printer: best laser printers

1. Samsung ML-1665 - £70

Laser printers have a lot going for them. They're cheaper to run than inkjets, they produce sharp, dry, smudge-free printouts, they're civilized and they're quiet. They've also got a reputation for being too expensive for anything but office use, but the the ML-1665 changes all that.

You might expect a cheap laser to be crude and slow, but the Samsung is neither. It also has a really smart 'screen print' button that outputs whatever's on your computer screen at the time - perfect for grabbing a quick hard copy without all the fuss of print dialogs and page setup.

Buy from Amazon

2. Brother DCP7030 - £115

With the Brother CCP7030 you get the advantages of a laser printer combined with the flexibility of a multifunction device. The printer might be mono, but the scanner is full-colour, which means mono prints and copies but colour scans.

You get good-quality 600dpi output and the running costs are about average for a mono laser, so the low purchase price doesn't doesn't mean more expensive consumables. It won't be as quick as a more expensive office laser, but given the price, the print quality and the multi-function capability, it's a great buy.

Buy from Amazon

3. Xerox Phaser 6125 - £133

How much? For a colour laser? The Phaser 6125's low purchase price is by far its strongest selling point, though, and while the print quality and print speeds are acceptable for light and undemanding home/SOHO use, it could soon prove out of its depth in a busier environment.

And as with many other cheap printers, you face higher running costs, thanks to the cost of replacement cartridges. But if both your printing needs and your budget are modest, the Phaser 6125 is a steal.

4. HP LaserJet P2055d - £157

If you want colour printouts, networking and built-in scanning and copying, you're going to have to look elsewhere, because the HP P2055d is an old-school mono laser built solely for quality, speed and efficiency.

It can churn out pages at up to 33ppm, it has an 'instant on' feature which means you don't have to wait for it to warm up, and it offers automatic duplex printing too. The 1200dpi resolution generates super-sharp text, and the 250-sheet feeder means you're not constantly having to shovel in more paper.

Buy from Amazon

5. Samsung CLX-3185FW - £290

The CLX-3185W is a multi-function printer that combines a colour laser, scanning and copying and faxing, and includes networking capability via Ethernet or wireless network - it even comes with a 15-sheet document feeder.

For a machine which does so much, it's surprisingly compact. If it has a flaw, it's the single-drum design, which means that colour documents have to go through in four passes, and this has an impact on the colour print speeds, but you have to set this against the Samsung's features and sheer value for money.

Buy from Amazon

6. Brother HL-4150CDN - £380

Colour lasers were once very expensive, but the HL-4150CDN shows just how far prices have fallen, even for well-specced business models. You get a lot for your money, here, including very good print quality (though photos aren't quite so good), decent print speeds, duplex printing and Ethernet connectivity.

This is ideal for small offices or workgroups, and the Brother also has a neat PIN protection scheme that means sensitive documents won't be printed until you go over and enter a PIN on the printer itself.

Read our Brother HL-4150CDN review

Kodak has issued a statement to clarify its current position outside of the US, after announcing that it was filing for bankruptcy protection yesterday.

The company notes that its "non-U.S. subsidiaries are not included in the filings and will continue to operate as usual. Accordingly, these international operations continue to honour all obligations to customers and suppliers, whenever incurred.

"Our European business is not affected by the decision that has been taken by our US parent company to file for voluntary Chapter 11 business reorganisation for US businesses." Philip Cullimore, managing director for Europe, said.

Focus on printers

"In Europe we have seen a significant shift towards business-to-business imaging applications, and are weighted towards printing. These businesses in Europe are performing well and growing fast."

So, for the moment at least, it's business as usual in Kodak UK's headquarters at Hemel Hempstead.

Kodak has launched a new website - Kodaktransforms.com - where it intends to update information about the company's reorganisation. The company has once again confirmed its commitment to continue to provide staff with their wages and benefits throughout the reorganisation process, which should be completed in the US by 2013.

The Genius DX-Eco is a wireless mouse that doesn't use batteries and can recharge in just three minutes.

Removing the need for planet-killing disposable batteries or time-wasting rechargeables, the Genius DX-Eco uses a built-in gold capacitor instead.

Genius claims that this gold capacitor will hold enough charge for "a full day's use" and just takes three minutes for a complete recharge. So even if a heavy cursor-waggling session drains your electric rodent early, it'll be ready to go again before the kettle has boiled.

Future proof

That gold capacitor is supposedly also good for 100,000 charges. If you're charging it every day that means you'll get a very reasonable 273 years of use out of it.

It's Mac and PC compatible, connecting via a 2.4GHz USB pico receiver which can be slotted inside the mouse when not in use.

According to Genius, BlueEye sensor technology means it will keep on pointing when used on most surfaces including marble and thick carpet. Great news if you don't have a table.

It recharges via Micro USB cable, though, so you'll need to keep track of that wire.

The Genius DX-Eco is out in the US now for $39.99.

Belkin has detailed its new Thunderbolt Express Dock, which brings next-gen connectivity to the current generation of super-slim, port-shy Ultrabooks and MacBook Airs.

The new dock, which will be on show at CES 2012, features a plethora of ports to give easy access to loads of peripherals with one cable.

This means users can connect up USB devices, transfer high volumes of data and connect to online content at the same speeds offered by gigabit Ethernet.

Very, very frightening… Galileo

The Thunderbolt Express Dock includes three USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire 800 port, one HDMI port, one 3.5mm Audio port, one gigabit Ethernet port and two Thunderbolt ports (one upstream and one downstream) for connecting up multiple Thunderbolt devices too, with 10Gbps bi-directional data transfer rates.

"People purchase the MacBook Air and Ultrabook for ultimate portability, but constantly plugging-in and unplugging numerous cable-connected peripherals is an annoying and time consuming ordeal," said Martin Avilla, general manager of Belkin's Core Business Unit.

"The Thunderbolt Express Dock provides a much-needed solution that creates a cleaner, faster, more productive workspace and reliable connectivity to desktop devices and the Internet."

The Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock release date has been set for Autumn 2012 across Europe, with pricing to be decided in the second half of the year.

You know what else really needs reinventing aside from the wheel? The mouse. Good job Logitech's on hand then, with its curious quadrangular Logitech Cube.

Instead of easy, straightforward buttons, the Cube comes with touchscreen tech, which should prove handy for free-flowing scrolling, and you can magically transform the mouse into a presenter simply by picking it up.

Rather than keep it al desko, the Logitech Cube is intended to be taken with you wherever you go, hence why it comes with a tiny receiver which you can keep plugged into your laptop all the time. So all you need do is pop the Cube in your pocket and head for the hills or Starbucks or wherever.

It's not really a cube though, is it

You can pair the Cube to up to six devices and work up to 25 metres away from the computer if that's how you roll, plus the visual battery meter lets you know when the mouse is running low on juice.

Obviously we'll reserve final judgement until we can try the Cube out for ourselves, but we can't imagine wanting to use the brick-like mouse for extended periods of time. It doesn't look exactly ergonomic, if you see what we mean.

But if it tickles your fancy, the Logitech Cube will be showcased at CES 2012 with a UK release date set for January 2012 when you'll be able to pick it up for £59.99.

Also on show at CES 2012 will be the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920, a full HD video camera complete with Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus and H.264 compression.

Samsung has officially unveiled a second-generation 27-inch Series 9 monitor, with the S27A970 to be shown off at CES 2012 next week.

The stylish monitor is a flagship offering from Samsung taking on the mantle from the Samsung T27A950, and includes the company's proprietary Natural Colour Expert tech and boasts a resolution of 2560x1440.

"Interest in user-generated content and a premium computing experience is growing as consumers are demanding products that allow them to better view, edit and share their photos, videos and entertainment content," said Samsung UK's Neil Sawyer

Answers needs

"The new Series 9 monitor, with Samsung's exclusive Natural Colour Expert technology, answers the need for higher resolution and meticulous detail editing, regardless of the job," he added.

"Its unique minimalist design draws users in for truly immersive computing and delivers Samsung's signature best-in-class viewing experience."

The Natural Colour Expert promises to provide colours 'as they were intended to be seen' and each monitor is apparently hand tuned for colour balance by an engineer.

Also included is Samsung's Plane Line Switching panel tech, that quad high definition resolution, a USB hub in the base, DisplayPort, Dual Link-DVI and HDMI video connections, 7W stereo speakers and a Mobile High Definition Link (MHL) for MHL-enabled smartphones and tablets.

We've not been let in on a UK price yet, but this is a premium offering, so don't expect it to be cheap.

Best monitor for watching movies

Even with the most powerful processor, a cutting edge graphics card and a range of HD media to enjoy, if your PC's monitor isn't up to the job then you're going to miss out.

When it comes to buying a monitor, there are many more features to consider than just the number of pixels. Muddying the waters further, many manufacturers see fit to boast about relatively unimportant specifications that serve only to let the marketing department put a big number on the box.

The biggest culprit here is dynamic contrast ratio. While the normal contrast ratio of a monitor is very important when determining the potential image quality - especially when it comes to the dark blacks and bright whites - the contrast ratio of most monitors will be 1,000:1. Dynamic contrast ratios, on the other hand, are usually much higher and can range from around 5,000:1 to 10,000:1 and higher.

There's no industry standard way of testing dynamic contrast ratio and extremely high numbers can only result in tiny improvements in performance that won't be noticeable under normal viewing conditions.

We've cut through all the marketing to look at the performance of these monitors where it really matters. When it comes to watching media, the most important specifications here are colour reproduction, response time and overall image performance. There are many monitors on the market that excel in some areas but are disappointing in others, which makes it easy to end up with a display that's not the best choice for your needs.

We're looking for the best media-playing monitor on the market today, paying attention to the figures that really make a difference. Here are the monitors we tested.

Dell U2412M - £310
Eizo Foris FS2332 - £345
Asus ML249H - £200
AOC i2353FH - £155
Iiyama Prolite B2712HDS - £268
Hazro HZ27WC - £549
BenQ EW24300 - £186
ViewSonic VX2753mh-LED - £250

Dell U2412M

This might look like a P2411H Professional series monitor, but there's one important difference: it's an IPS screen, not a TN.

Screen type is the single biggest deciding factor in your screen's image quality. In IPS screens, crystals are kept parallel in a lateral electric field, whereas in TN panels they untwist as voltage is applied, and their alignment alters as they drift from the anchored electrode. This hinders the flow of bulb light, and the contrast and colour representation as you look at the screen from wider angles than head-on.

TN panels are cheaper to produce because they need half as many transistors per pixel. They also produce much quicker response times.

Read our full Dell U2412M review

Eizo Foris FS2332

With two HDMI inputs nestled among the more standard DVI and VGA sockets, plus built-in speakers and a remote control, this monitor is clearly designed to double as a television. As a result, it doesn't look quite as glamorous as dedicated LED monitors.

The infrared port for the remote control and built-in speakers makes it a rather bulky and ugly device - at least on the outside. Thankfully, the hardware powering this panel suffers none of the compromises that plagued earlier monitor/HDTV hybrids.

The Eizo Foris FS2332 uses an IPS panel rather than the more popular TN display found in most LCD monitors.

Read our full Eizo Foris FS2332 review

Asus ML249H

Are the glory days of monitors finally upon us? Looking at the displays in this group test, it seems so, but the problem with glory days is that standards are so high across the board, it's easy to miss out on the very best devices.

Asus' ML249H monitor might not be aiming quite that high, but it certainly wants to beat the competition. With a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 and a contrast ratio of 3,000:1, it goes toe-to-toe with other manufacturer's screens at the £200 price point.

It also boasts an impressive 178-degree viewing angle horizontally and vertically thanks to the VA panel, although this is offset by a slightly longer response time. The screen itself produces the excellent picture quality and accurate colour representation we've come to expect from mainstream monitors outside the designers' realm.

Read our full Asus ML249H review

AOC i2353FH

There's no denying that the AOC i2353FH is a fine looking monitor. Its easily one of the thinnest desktop displays we've ever reviewed at just 9.2mm deep, not including the base. The brushed aluminium design works well and the lower case 'i' in the name hints at AOC taking Apple's design ethics as inspiration.

There are no buttons - just touch keys on the base. This is a rare case of design working against functionality, because the touch keys aren't as quick or responsive as standard buttons. The base of the monitor looks good, but it doesn't let you swivel the display.

If you want a great looking monitor you might be happy to overlook this, but it does make positioning the screen more difficult.

Read our full AOC i2353FH review

Four more media monitors reviewed

Iiyama Prolite B2712HDS

The Iiyama Prolite has a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, and will handle HD content from a number of sources thanks to the DVI, HDMI and VGA connectors. At this price, it shouldn't come as much of a shock that this is a TN panel.

Response times are good, with no noticeable blurring in games or movies. Contrast is impressive, with the deep blacks, though whites can be a little washed out - not a problem for gamers, but if you spend a lot of time working or on the internet then a TN panel may not be for you.

The horizontal viewing angle is a bit of a downside, with a yellow tint creeping in on lighter areas of the screen if it's not viewed straight on. This is only really an issue if you're planning get the whole family round to watch a film.

Read our full Iiyama Prolite B2712HDS review

Hazro HZ27WC

Acres of screen real estate in a frill-free case - that's the idea behind the Hazro HZ27WC monitor. There's more to it than that though, because this simply styled 27-inch screen has strong specs where it really counts.

There's an IPS liquid crystal panel for great picture quality, with an LED backlight for cleaner, longer lasting and more efficient lighting. You don't get much else though. There's a single DVI video input and no controls, contrast or colour buttons.

The only image adjustment on offer is a five-stage backlight level control. If you want to fine-tune the image, you have to do it in software. But just how good is this display? The HZ27WC almost certainly packs the same LCD panel as Apple's expensive 27-inch Cinema Display, which will cost you somewhere north of £900.

Read our full Hazro HZ27WC review

BenQ EW2430

The BenQ EW2430 is impressive on paper and at first sight too. First, there's that VA panel, packing an LED backlight and 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. It also boasts a 3,000:1 contrast ratio, which is the best we've ever seen. It has 178-degree viewing angles in both planes, and a decent pixel response of 8ms.

The EW2430 is an imposing physical specimen. The stand only offers tilt adjustment, but the combination of a glossy black bezel and brushed and anodised surfaces communicates quality in a manner few, if any, competing sub-£200 monitor screens manage.

The feature set is solid too, and includes two HDMI ports, DVI and VGA, along with a four-port USB header. All of which makes it disappointing to report that the image quality is not what we were expecting it to be.

Read our full BenQ EW2430 review

ViewSonic VX2753mh-LED

Unsurprisingly for a 27-inch monitor, the VX2753 is a bit of a beast. Even though it takes advantage of LED technology, it isn't particularly slim; its dimensions are a rather imposing 25.91 x 18.9 x 8.35-inches.

However, while the LED doesn't result in a slimmer model, it has an impact on power consumption. ViewSonic boasts that the VX2753 is around 40 per cent more efficient than comparable 27-inch displays. The large screen and 1,920 x 1,080 resolution make it ideal for watching media.

As with other TN panel-based monitors the response time is excellent - just 1ms - which makes it excellent for fast-moving action movies and games. While the VX2753 comes with two HDMI ports and a VGA, it lacks a DVI port.

Read our full ViewSonic VX2753mh-LED review

The best monitor for movies is...

One of the conclusions we can take away from this test is that when it comes to monitors - especially ones designed for media playback - all is not what it seems.

As we said at the start, the specifications that manufacturers stamp on their boxes are only a small part of the story and sometimes hardly affect the monitor's overall image quality. Astronomical dynamic contrast ratios and boasts of full HD 1080p resolutions are all well and good, but nowadays what really sets monitors apart is the oft ignored panel type.

In our tests the IPS-based monitors blew away the TN, and to some extent the VA monitors when it came to image and colour quality - their Achilles' heel being a slightly sluggish response time. The Dell U2412M was a worthy winner, but our value award goes to the AOC i2353FH for proving that IPS panels don't have to break the bank.

Editor's choice

Dell U2412M
Price: £310
Info: www.dell.com

When all is said and done, the most important thing a monitor can do is provide the greatest possible image quality, and in that respect the Dell U2412M excels. Colour reproduction and contrast - two elements that are so important in ensuring image quality is at its peak - are handled wonderfully by the Dell.

The Dell U2412M excelled in all our benchmarks and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a media-playing monitor for your PC.

Verdict: 5/5

Value award

AOC i2353FH
Price: £155
Info: www.aoc-europe.com

The AOC i2353FH looks fantastic, offers brilliant image quality and, despite lacking DVI, offers plenty of connectivity for your media playback - all at a great price. What's not to like?

It might not be the largest screen on test, and lacks some advanced features, but for just over £150, the AOC i2353FH is excellent value for money and well worth considering.

Verdict: 4.5/5

The price and availability of hard-disk drives has shot up by as much as 150 per cent since the floods in Thailand caused many manufacturing plants to close.

Idealo.co.uk has analysed the price changes on its shopping comparison site, finding that average prices went up 151 per cent from 1 October to 14 November – that means that hard drives that were previously around £44 went selling for £110.

Supplies run low

As well as external hard drives going up in price, Digitimes reports that there is likely to be a shortfall of around 70 million HDD for laptops and desktop computers in the final quarter of 2011.

With demand apparently around the 180 million unit mark, there are only hard drives available for between 110 and 130 million devices.

What that means is that computer manufacturers like Acer, Asus and Dell may increase prices on its notebooks for launch in December to cover the cost of the inflated components.

When will the hard drive squeeze end? It's not clear – but some manufacturers are "relatively optimsitc" that the shortages will ease in the first three months of 2012.

But it seems that the industry as a whole will take between nine and 24 months to recover, which could mean increased notebook prices throughout the whole of next year.

Lest we forget, the flooding in Thailand caused hundreds of deaths, destroyed homes and devastated lives – facts which certainly put the hard drive shortage into context. If you'd like to donate to the recovery effort, you can do so here.

HP showed off its refreshed range of consumer printers this week, and told TechRadar that the previous Envy had proven to be such a hit in the Apple store that it has gone the extra mile and created an exclusive version.

The HP Envy 114 e-All-in-one black version has been reserved for Apple, and is expected to be a big seller.

"This will be one of big selling SKU's and it will be on a promotion so that it's cheaper when you buy it along with a Mac," an HP spokesperson told TechRadar.

Big market

"Apple now has an exclusive Envy on a European level, but obviously heavily focused on the big UK market," she added.

The printer – which is made to slot neatly out of the way and not look too ugly – also features AirPrint, allowing direct printing from iPad, iPhone or iPod touch and the widely admired ePrint system for printing from afar via an internet connection.

There will also be a white 114 version that will be sold through all HP's normal channels, as well as alongside the black exclusive in Apple stores.

Toshiba has announced a new travel monitor designed to be used as a second screen with your laptop when you are on the move.

The Toshiba USB LCD Monitor is a 14 inch 1366x768 panel, which runs from a USB and needs no extra power leads.

"At just one inch thick, the USB Mobile LCD Monitor has been engineered to be highly portable," explains Tosh.

Compact?

"Its compact design ensures it will fit comfortably into most laptop bags, while a weight of just 795g ensures it is light enough to carry around," the release continues.

One inch is obviously significantly thicker than most tablets, and quite a few laptops as well, but there is clearly a market for a second screen.

The UK price for the monitor is around £150, and that includes a bundled 'hybrid' case that doubles up as a stand.

Storage manufacturer Buffalo has brought out its ultra-tough MiniStation Extreme portable hard drive.

The drive is certified to US Military Standard MIL-STD-810F 516.5 Procedure IV, which means - if you don't know your US Military standards - it can survive free-fall drops of up to 2.3 metres.

It achieves this level of toughness thanks to a highly shock-resistant body and rubberised elements.

'Globetrotters'

The MiniStation Extreme also packs an integrated USB 3.0 cable, which snaps into the chassis, and Buffalo TurboPC EX technology to provide data speeds of up to 5Gbps.

"This latest addition to the MiniStation family is ideal for globetrotters who travel with their PCs and portable HDDs and demand a robust, fast and secure high performance portable storage device," said Paul Hudson, Buffalo's sales director for Northern Europe.

"The MiniStation Extreme can withstand free-fall drops of up to 2.3m making it the most robust MiniStation ever."

The drive is available in piano-black, silver and red - although we're not sure how scratch-resistant its glossy finish is.

It comes in 500GB and 1TB varieties, with the 500GB version currently retailing for £74, and the 1TB capacity priced at £134.

Beats by Dre, the expensive headphone company started by expensive rapper Dr Dre and expensive lead company Monster, is considering a UK store in London's trendy Shoreditch.

According to our friends at T3, Omar Johnson, Beats' US head of marketing, said that the company was looking to establish a UK presence.

"We've been looking at the Shoreditch area of London," said Johnson. "We're very excited about how much the UK has embraced Beats."

Christmas rapping

The company is set to launch its first store in Lower Manhattan, New York over the Christmas period - just in time to fill up little Jimmy's stockings with some overpriced earphones.

"It's going to be about experiencing Beats the way you should experience it," Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine told T3. "We're going to make sure there's the right demonstrations. We want people to feel it right."

Beats' distinctive red-cabled headphones are becoming more ubiquitous, while HTC has released a number of phones featuring Dre-approved audio processing.

But our hands (ears?) on with a set of Beats headphones left us a little cold, the worst problem being that they "get tangled up in your hair and make you look like an idiot".

PC gaming champ Nvidia has unveiled its latest 3D Vision system, which features redesigned glasses as well as Nvidia's own LightBoost technology.

The 3D Vision 2 glasses feature 20 per cent larger lenses than the first generation 3D Vision goggles, which results in both a larger viewing area and increased external light blocking.

They're also made of soft composite materials, so putting on gaming headphones no longer makes it feel like you've got your head in a vice.

Head in a vice

The glasses are backwards-compatible with existing 3D Vision systems, such as laptops and monitors.

Nvidia seems to have solved the 3D darkness problem with its LightBoost technology, which it reckons delivers two times brighter 3D images and improved colour quality.

"NVIDIA's engineering team has made incredible enhancements in 3D on PCs, creating a breathtaking gaming experience that's better than the best Hollywood 3D movie," said Phil Eisler, general manager of 3D Vision at Nvidia.

Whack-a-mouse

There'll be no more fumbling to find your mouse and keyboard, too - Nvidia says that it will make "gaming keyboards and mice more visible".

To compliment the glasses, Asus has released the first LightBoost-certified desktop display, the VG278H.

It's a 27-inch full HD monitor featuring 3D HDMI 1.4 input, as well as Asus' own Trace-Free II technology for smooth visuals.

Toshiba's jumped on the good ship LightBoost as well, with its Satellite P770/P775, Dynabook Satellite T572, Dynabook T572, and Qosmio X770/X775 notebooks being compatible with the technology.

Asus' VG278H monitor will cost $699 (£444) and is expected to be available at the end of October.

Nvidia's 3D Vision 2 kit - with two glasses and a wireless USB IR emitter - will retail at $149 (£85) with additional specs costing $99 (£63) each.

Ever wanted to print bigger, more impressive documents, create stunning posters or produce professional designs and plans?

We've teamed up with printer manufacturer Brother to give you the chance to win one of two feature-packed A3 printers, worth £299 each.

Brother launched the world's first compact A3 multifunction inkjet machine in 2008, bringing affordable A3 printing to ambitious small and medium sized businesses and people looking for that little bit more. One of the newest offerings from the award winning range is the MFC-J6510DW.

An all-round professional - its biggest feature is the affordable A3 printing, copying, scanning and faxing, alongside the handy A3 double-sided printing feature - ideal if you want to save paper. You can even use this feature to create your own A4 brochures in-house, making it perfect for creative individuals.

It's fast, producing 12 (mono) and 10 (colour) images per minute, plus with the XL high yield ink cartridge lasting up to an incredible 2400 pages, you'll save on running costs, making printing a lot cheaper. It's also great for sharing, thanks to the enhanced connectivity of wireless N technology.

With its bigger A3 flatbed scanner and 8.3cm colour LCD screen, you can view and scan photos and documents in seconds as well as edit and improve your photos without ever having to touch a computer. The double-sided printing function is not only better for the environment but it also makes handling large documents easy.

For more information on Brother's range of A3 printers, visit www.brother141.co.uk.

This competition is now closed. The winners are S. Southurst and R. White.

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Please note that this competition is only open to UK residents over 18 years of age.

Buffalo Technology's latest hard drives, the DriveStation Velocity range, claim to have the ability to transfer 1,000 digital photos in under than 7 seconds.

That's all thanks to the 7,200 RPM drive along with the TurboPC Ex utility for Windows PCs which add up to a data transfer rate of 5Gbps. So while it's not the fastest hard drive we've ever heard of, it's not bad for a desk buddy for your average joe.

Unsurprisingly, it's a USB 3.0 affair but it is backwardly compatible with USB 2.0 if you're yet to upgrade and don't mind the slower speeds.

Looker

It's not a bad looking device either, coming in shiny piano black and a fairly compact frame.

Spies and other secretive sorts will be pleased to hear that it comes with 256-bit AES Full Disk Encryption to keep all those secret files and photos safe from prying eyes.

The Buffalo DriveStation Velocity is available to buy now, and will set you back the fairly reasonable prices of £89.99 for 1TB, £112 for 2TB and £164 for 3TB.

How to play PC games with your Kinect

Microsoft likes to think it's changing the world every time Steve Ballmer sneezes. Windows Phone! AMAZING! It's single-handedly changing the way we look at phones forever. Except it isn't. It's actually a phone mixed with a Zune, and that's not necessarily a great thing.

Never mind: Windows 7! It's absolutely incredible, a true milestone in operating system technology! Except it isn't. It's Windows Vista with the terrible bits sliced off it, and that's all. Bah.

But wait! Kinect! It's an astonishing new way to interact with your PC. And in this case, Microsoft is at least half right. It's a magical black rectangle. It's about £100. It's Microsoft's strange answer to the Wii's motion-sensitive Wiimotes, or the Playstation Move, which tracks brightly coloured balls on the end of motion-sensitive controllers.

Basically, it's a bit of a copycat - apparently the button-based controller isn't good enough for console gaming any more. No, the new controller is meat-based: it's you.

Connect to PC

MS wasn't initially keen on Kinect being used with the PC, actually. It was meant to be Xbox-only - some comments were bandied about stating that Microsoft would resolutely not be supporting its use anywhere other than that which was originally intended. But the boys at Redmond have capitulated.

Kinect and the PC are now allowed to be friends, and that means good things for you. It means you can use its magical depth-sensing and skeleton-tracking to interact with your favourite games. Nice!

Please, though, bear this in mind: Microsoft has only just, at the time of writing, released the official SDK. No applications have yet been written that use it, so we're using the unofficial drivers released by enthusiasts wishing to crowbar the device into working. These are decent, but they miss out a few important bits, and they're far from refined.

We're looking at very early days for this device, and results at this stage can be somewhat disappointing. If you already have a Kinect, by all means have a go. But don't rush out and buy one just to try to use it to control your favourite games, unless you really feel like swaying about like a spanner and replacing pinpoint keyboard/ mouse control for frustrating, almost incoherent fist-waving.

Because that's what's going to happen. FAAST, which we look at shortly, can be pretty accurate, but only if you spend a lot of time working out the ideal settings for you.

Full functionality

With that warning out of the way, it's worth considering the future. Kinect will get better and better. As developers embrace the official tools, Kinect's full functionality - which includes a noise-cancelling mic array, a person-tracking motorised webcam, an infra-red camera, and a rather natty depth sensor - will become available.

Sensitivity will rise. Games will start officially supporting it. Us PC users already have a jump over the Xbox crowd, in that we can use the camera's full 640 x 480 resolution whereas they're stuck at 320 x 240; there's no telling what bonuses braniac devs will be able to pull out given a bit of time.

Cleverly, most of the Kinect calculations are done by drivers and middleware - not much on the device itself. This means developers only need to employ simple coding techniques to track skeletons, for example, or recognise basic gestures like a waving hand, rather than directly dealing with the raw data the Kinect is putting out.

It should also mean that Kinect-supporting games reach us quite quickly. There'll almost certainly be dance games, punch-em-ups, and other things which suit such physical monkeyshines.

But we wouldn't be surprised to see the tech used elsewhere too: Windows 8, for example, will almost certainly feature some kind of direct Kinect support, enabling you to use Minority Report-style hand gestures to flit through the interface with aplomb.

No Kinect? No problem. There are other ways to get yourself noticed. We took a look at Camspace, for example, which does very similar things to Kinect but uses a webcam in place of its fancy array of sensors. Admittedly Camspace is confusing - if you don't know where to look, you might end up paying money to play its rather rubbish range of webcam games.

But if you do know where to go, and you're prepared to put in a bit of effort to line up its tech with your favourite games, it's pretty cool. Check out this video of someone playing with Garry's Mod, for example, using nothing but a couple of bits of coloured tape on the end of his fingers. Ingenious!

Or how about this fellow who's using a natty sideways baseball cap to look around in Minecraft? Nifty.

Part 1: Getting it running

In which we awkwardly install a series of necessary drivers

01. The OpenNI framework

Kinect and your PC don't get along by default. Even after the release of the SDK, Microsoft doesn't offer proper drivers. And third-party ones need to be installed in a particular order.

Start by downloading the OpenNI framework, developed by the volunteer team dedicated to getting Kinect and other interaction devices running on the PC without Microsoft's help. It's powerful middleware that does lots of heavy lifting.

02. Avin2's driver

During your install of OpenNI you'll be asked if you want to install a driver from PrimeSense (the third party that actually made the Kinect). But PrimeSense's driver isn't Kinect-specific. You'll need a hacked version, known as 'sensorkinect', developed by a chap named Avin2.

Grab it from his github page at github.com/avin2/SensorKinect and install it. But don't plug your Kinect in to your PC yet.

03. Into the Nite

The final part to install is Nite, a gesture recognition toolkit from the OpenNI group that's used by a number of apps. Normally this is commercial software, but Kinect tinkerers can install it for free.

Grab the latest stable build from www.primesense.com/?p=515 and install it, using the code 0KOIk2JeIBYClPWVnMoRKn5cdY4= to unlock it. Now just restart your machine and plug in the Kinect.

Playing games with your Kinect

Part 2: Playing games

In which we lurch around like idiots even more than usual

01. FAAST fun

The Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit is the key tool used to translate your movements into PC inputs. It latches on to the drivers we installed in Part 1 to follow your skeleton and your position in the room and turn this into keyboard inputs.

First things first: grab the latest version of the software from projects.ict.usc.edu/mxr/faast/, extract it, and run the excecutable inside.

02. Hook it up

We'll presume you're sitting down. Under 'Skeleton Mode', select upper body to tell FAAST it only needs to track the highest part of you, and adjust the smoothing value to somewhere around 0.4.

When you click 'Connect', you'll join FAAST to the OpenNI drivers and, hopefully, see an outline of yourself in its main window. Keep this on screen if you can; it's useful to see what translates into what later on.

03. Do the pose

Put yourself in front of the Kinect and get your silhouette in frame. Stick your elbows out to the side, your fists up, and pose like you're Hulk Hogan.

Hold the pose for a couple of seconds and you should pass the Kinect calibration procedure, with the unit locking on to the length of your limbs and the quality of your posture. As Microsoft would say, you are now the controller.

04. Map your controls

Click over to the Actions page, and you'll see the built-in mapping, which relates your leaning from a central position to in-game movements suitable for walking around.

Dive into an appropriate game now - you'll just need to hit Start Emulator, fire up the game, and waggle yourself around to see how it works. Not perfect, we'll admit, but it's a start.

05. Point and shoot

Stop the emulator, go to the mouse tab, and switch mouse control to active. We went for absolute control, the shoulder joint as the centre, 8-inch bounds for each axis, and a movement threshold of 5.

Start the emulator and your flailing arm should translate into mouse movements, meaning you'll be able to make a gun shape with your fingers and relive playground war games to your heart's content.

06. Trigger happy

You can't shoot yet. You'll need to add a custom command to the Actions tab to turn a specific body movement into a trigger action. Stop FAAST's emulation (you might need to force-quit it using the Task Manager), go to the Actions tab, and insert something along the lines of right_arm_up 5 mouse_click left_button (tweak as you see fit) to map the movement of your other hand to a firing action.

Part 3: No Kinect needed

In which we realise that we already had a webcam and thus wasted our money

01. Grab the software

You'll find CamSpace at camspace.com. The idea is that it locks on to objects of a certain colour or size, then follows them around on your webcam, translating their movements into actions in game.

There are a bunch of pre-cooked profiles available for a load of games, but - most irritatingly - you have to save up 'Campoints' to get them. You're given one per day. Er, sorry.

02. Set it up

But you could always just roll one from scratch. Grab a bunch of brightly coloured objects; Camspace needs something that contrasts with the rest of the environment in order to work well.

A Coke can, for example, or a lurid marker pen. Run the software, then suffer through its horrible calibration game. Now right-click the webcam window, choose Developer Tools, and make your own.

03. The easy bit

Alright. We lied. This isn't the easy bit. But let's say it's relatively straightforward. You'll want to set up the number of objects you want Camspace to track, say what each of them needs to do, and perhaps tweak a few sensitivities to match the specifics of your movement. You should be able to get it working with just about any game - check developers.camspace.com/tutorials/gamecontroller for more.

Conclusion

If you've followed the steps in the tutorial, you'll probably agree with our assertion earlier on that Kinect - and its webcam compatriots - just aren't very good at controlling games. Sorry about that. We did our best.

But they are pretty good at some other things, which you should definitely check out. The Nocolas Burrus' RGBdemo, for instance, is a great example of the technology. Get it running by starting rgbd-viewer.exe (you'll need the drivers we described in Part 1 of the walkthrough on page 83) and check out the 3D view mode. Click and drag the mouse, and you'll see something very nifty - it's you (or whatever you've pointed your Kinect at) mapped in an actual 3D environment. Cool!

You can even export this mapping into a program, such as Meshlab or Blender for further tweaking.

There are plenty of other cool toys available, too. You can also try your hand at charging up and shooting a Dragon Ball Z-style fireball with Kamehameha. Alternatively, you can attempt to 'juggle' virtual balls made out of light with, er, Kinect Juggle.

Heck, you can play classic puzzle games, such as Tetris using utterly impractical kung fu gestures. Lanny Lin has created a configuration file for FAAST that will allow you to do just that. Check out the video of him doing just that at his Lannyland blog.

All of these toys are only the tip of the iceberg of what could potentially emerge from under the many, brilliant minds that make up the homebrew developer community, and it's definitely the community doing the majority of the development. So now it's up to you - will you be the one to make Kinect an essential PC device?

What webcam should you buy?

What's the best webcam for you? Despite laptops having built-in webcams these days, desktop PCs don't have this luxury.

So, if you want to buy the best webcam for video calling using Skype or Google Talk, look no further - we've rounded up five of the best HD webcams to find out which one has the best set of features including sound and image quality.

And, what's more, they're not as expensive as you'd think.

1. Genius eFace 1325R - £23

The Genius eFace 1325R doesn't feel like the most robustly built webcam, with a rather lightweight feel to it. It has been designed to fold flat to easily carry about and due to this design it makes setting up the camera slightly tricky: the webcam's base isn't heavy enough to hold the camera still, though clipping it to a monitor works fine.

The image quality is good, though on the default settings the colours are a little washed out. The eFace 1325R does come with a plethora of settings to improve the image quality, and we discovered that clearing the 'Auto' option next to 'White Balance' gave a much more natural colour to the image.

The eFace 1325R comes with CrazyTalk CamSuite Pro, which provides a few fun features for editing your webcam, including some very basic augmented reality effects. Most of them look pretty awful, and the Avatar Live function – that turns your face into a talking animal or ventriloquist's dummy - is just plain creepy. Oddly it makes the eFace 1325R video quality look awful, whereas when we tried it on an instant messaging program the quality was fine.

Verdict: 64%

2. Logitech HD Webcam C270 - £18

The Logitech HD Webcam C270 might have a budget price, but it certainly doesn't have budget performance. The video footage is bright and clear, with the 720p resolution picking up most details well.

The images aren't perfect, and fine lines in particular come out as jagged, but this isn't going to be too much of an issue when the image is confined to a small panel while instant messaging. The refresh of the camera is very good, with hardly any of the lag that can sometimes make video chats so disconcerting.

Even though the microphone is only small, the sound quality is very good, though it is a bit on the quiet side. Leaning in to speak results in a clear sound with no distortion, but it's not the most comfortable of positions.

The Logitech comes with some decent calibration software, including the ability to pan and zoom. As you'd expect from a camera of this price the zoom is digital rather than optical, so there is some obvious loss of image quality. This is a great value offering all the same.

Verdict: 75%

3. Microsoft Lifecam HD-3000 - £18

The Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 is a small yet powerful webcam that sits unobtrusively on top of your monitor or laptop screen. Not only does the 720p video feed look fantastic, the camera also captures widescreen footage. The wider viewing space is great if you're with a group of people who want to appear in shot.

The video quality, as a whole, is fantastic, with even minor details reproduced brilliantly. The colours are very natural, especially skin tones, and the quality is maintained even in low-light.

Microsoft's proprietary TrueColor technology only makes the slightest difference however; the lens in this webcam handles colours well without any software enhancements.

The microphone is excellent at picking up voices from a distance, though we found that sound quality wasn't as good as the Logitech HD.

The excellent video quality does make up for this, but if you want a webcam to double up as a microphone for voice calling and recording, then the LifeCam HD-3000 might not be enough.

Verdict: 83%

4. Microsoft Lifecam Studio - £53

Where the LifeCam HD-3000 is a rather sleek and nimble webcam (well, as sleek and nimble as Microsoft's designers are capable of) the Microsoft LifeCam Studio is a bit of a monstrosity. It looks more like CCTV camera perched in a crime-riddled alleyway than a webcam placed on your monitor.

But don't let the looks put you off – this is an excellent camera capable of some truly fantastic video footage. The Microsoft LifeCam Studio can capture 1080p widescreen footage and comes with autofocus for excellent video quality. Be warned though: if you are running the video at full 1080p HD with augmented reality effects turned on, the CPU usage of your PC spikes and the frame rate of the video drops.

For video chat, unless both you and your contacts have a fast internet connection and no data cap, broadcasting at full HD is out of the question. For video blogging and uploading to YouTube however, the LifeCam Studio is a must buy.

Verdict: 90%

5. Novo Minoru 3D - £24

This isn't a device that is going to deliver a life-like holographic avatar of a far-fl ung friend into your home, but it is a bit of throwaway fun. The Minoru 3D webcam's calibration is straight forward, with a tweaking guide for getting an adequate 3D image from both of the Minoru's two cameras.

The image is displayed via red and cyan anaglyph 3D, so you and the person you're talking to only need a pair of cheap cardboard glasses to view. Thankfully, the camera is also compatible with more advanced 3D technology, such as Nvidia 3D Vision.

The two cameras of the Minoru can also be used to produce picture-in-picture footage, so you can hold up objects to one camera while talking to the other.

In 2D mode, the video quality is passable, but not as sharp or detailed as the other webcams, with colours looking washed out. However, 3D is this webcam's gimmick and if 3D doesn't interest you then there's nothing to see here.

Verdict: 63%

Why you should buy a 3D PC monitor

What started out as a small whine - a barely audible fizzing whisper in the background - has now become an unmistakable rushing noise. Soon it will be a deafening roar.

I speak of the air rapidly escaping from the 3D bubble, and by that I'm referring to stereoscopic 3D, not 3D graphics rendering.

Of course, you wouldn't know it from the relentless onslaught of 3D-enabled products. Whether it's tablets with 3D cameras or smartphones with lenticular screens, the sheer momentum of 3D freight train will keep pushing new gadgets and devices down the product-release track for a while yet.

But never mind bursting bubbles and runaway rail vehicles, the point is that the 3D revolution is over before it's really begun.

On the whole, 3D movies have tanked. Even when they do score, reports suggest movie-goers prefer the 2D version of 3D movies at a rate of two to one.

Still, there's at least one unanticipated benefit for the PC platform in the form of improved LCD monitor image quality. All the 3D hype and hoopla might just have been worth it after all.

Lack of progress

The problem with PC monitors, you see, is a lack of technical progress and choice. Yes, really. The huge array of panels at your local PC store, all plastered with stickers proclaiming unimaginable feats of image rendering, is an illusion. Take a closer look and you'll soon discover that the LCD monitor market has largely concentrated around a very narrow set of specifications and technologies.

Put simply, almost every remotely affordable monitor has a TN panel with a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. TN panels are the cheapest, but also offer the poorest results by every image quality metric save pixel response. Meanwhile, that 1080p native resolution may be plenty for £100 worth of 22-inch screen, but it's a lot less satisfactory extended to 24-inch and beyond.

As it happens, the latest 3D-capable monitors don't address any of that. They too are almost exclusively 1080p TN screens in various sizes, but what they do deliver is 120Hz refresh rates - double that of a standard PC monitor. It makes an enormous difference.

Find that hard to believe? I'm right with you. Bigging up high-Hz refresh rates is one of the more odious marketing strategies used to flog HDTVs, and the benefits of 200Hz over 100Hz are pretty marginal.

Moreover, if you do the maths based on the pixel response of a modern PC monitor, increasing the refresh rate beyond the standard 60Hz seems futile. After all, if the full white-to-black response rate of most LCDs is roughly in the 15ms region, anything above 60Hz ought to be fairly redundant. The LCD panel simply won't be able to respond quickly enough.

Then there's the debate over how many frames per second the human eye can truly perceive. Modern cinema remains at just 24 frames per second. It's true that projectors with triple-shutter blades are commonly used, resulting in 72 images per second, but the number of different images displayed per second remains 24, which is enough for fluid motion.

A lovely thing

It's all fascinating stuff, but what I can tell you with absolute certainty is that a 120Hz monitor is a lovely, lovely thing. Suddenly, everything you touch or tweak with the mouse pointer moves more smoothly. Your whole PC feels more responsive. It's an absolutely unmistakable effect, and once you've experienced it for the first time you won't want to go back.

Let me be clear about this - I'm not talking about dancing around the virtual battlefield of a popular online game and appreciating the benefits in terms of improved hair-trigger responses. I'm talking about juggling windows on the desktop and scrolling web and document pages - routine stuff we all do every day.

That's all very well, you might be thinking, but slightly smoother computing is no big deal. To which my response would be: try it before you knock it.

I personally didn't expect the increase in desktop refresh from 60Hz to 120Hz to be perceptible, much less beneficial. In fact, if it wasn't necessary to run the desktop at 120Hz (rather than merely running certain applications at increased Hz) in order to test some of the latest 3D gubbins on the PC, I likely would not have noticed the difference.

But it is, and I duly did. Now I need a new monitor.

What keyboard? 10 best keyboards compared

The QWERTY keyboard was invented in 1867, and 144 years later it's still in use - albeit for many less worthy uses such as killing virtual terrorists and writing horrendously misspelt blog posts.

In the years since, its transmogrified into an all-singing, all-dancing essential part of a computer setup with backlights, USB ports and macro keys.

But what keyboards should prioritise is the mere act of pressing buttons in addition to their ease of use and comfort and extra features such as media keys.

We've rounded up 10 of the best keyboards so you'll be able to find what keyboard is right for you, whether you need it for gaming or typing.

1. Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 - £43

This wireless keyboard is solar powered, which brings back memories of 90s maths lessons for some of us. Thanks to its light-powered nature you needn't worry about batteries or recharging, and Logitech reckons it'll last a full three months in complete darkness. Its laptop-style keys aren't for all, but its a winner in terms of innovation and green credentials.

Read our Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 review

2. SteelSeries 6Gv2 - £87

Although it may look bland and functional, there's some fairly serious tech behind SteelSeries' letterbuttons. The keys are mechanical, which means they operate as proper switches and feel a lot "harder" than conventional keyboards. It's also capable of a whopping 104 simultaneous key presses - but only if you connect it via the PS/2 adapter.

Read our SteelSeries 6Gv2 review

3. Thermaltake eSPORTS Challenger - £43

Thermaltake's keyboard's unique selling point is a tiny fan designed to keep your sweaty hand sausages nice and cool. It's a nice idea in principle, but the constant whirring is slightly distracting. We're big fans of the build quality, macro keys and USB 2.0 port, though.

Read our Thermaltake eSPORTS Challenger review

4. Logitech Wireless Keyboard K360 - £25

The Logitech Wireless Keyboard K360 is a wireless PC keyboard, but it has a few nice features and design choices that make it worth considering if you're on the lookout for a new keyboard. The K360 is small – around three quarters of the size of a usual keyboard. This reduction frees up a lot of space on the desk, and makes it easier to carry around.It's ideal for use with a laptop, for example.

Read our Logitech Wireless Keyboard K360 review

5. Microsoft Sidewinder X4 - £43

Microsoft went back to the drawing board with its latest gaming keyboard, and completely simplified the matrix of connections that lies underneath the keys. This means there's less lag and "ghosting" on keypresses, and up to 26 keys can be pressed at the same time. It's also got all the macro functionality and backlighting any gamer could ever need for those extended Battlefield 3 sessions.

Read our Microsoft Sidewinder X4 review

6. Razer BlackWidow - £66

The BlackWidow is aimed at FPS gamers with a precise headshot, with five programmable hotkeys and USB hub functionality built in. It's the sheer speed of the keyboard that impressed us most, and the lack of resistance and fast response times mean you'll be achieving 10-kill streaks in no time.

Read our Razer BlackWidow review

7. Logitech Tablet Keyboard for iPad - £37

Logitech's clever keyboard is an all-in-one alternative to the iPad's onscreen keys. The case doubles up to form an iPad stand, and the keyboard itself features iOS control keys. It's all you need to turn your iPad into something you can actually write on, and Bluetooth connectivity means it'll work with iPhones and iPods, too.

Read our Logitech Tablet Keyboard for iPad review

8. Keysonic KSK 8001 UEL - £27

The cheapest keyboard in our round-up, but it certainly doesn't feel it. It has three different finishes, including brushed aluminium, and it feels nice and solid. Unlike some other keyboards we've tested it works right out of the box, including the media-centric keys. The backlight's not its brightest point, but it's ideal for gamers on a budget.

Read our Keysonic KSK 8001 UEL review

9. Saitek Cyborg V7 - £49

Designed by the same people who brought us the R.A.T. gaming mice, the V7 has similarly technophilic aesthetics. It's a great gaming keyboard, too, and has the best cushioned and heavily weighted keys we've ever graced with our greasy fingertips. It's a comfortable keyboard as suited to typing as it is to fragging.

Read our Saitek Cyborg V7 review

10. SteelSeries Shift - £76

Keyboards are notorious crumb traps, and there's nothing worse than having your WoW session halted by a big bit of bourbon biscuit. The Shift lets you remove the entire keyset to dislodge stubborn bits of food, and you can buy customised sets for particular games. One for design-conscious slobs, then.

Read our SteelSeries Shift review

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What mouse? Find the best mouse for you

In the fifty-odd years since its invention we've seen the humble mouse improve considerably, with the addition of weight systems, laser sensors and masses of buttons and flashing lights.

The best mice combine all these elements in sleek, ergonomic shells or have a unique selling point that justifies their consideration.

Choosing which is the best mouse for you comes down to a number of factors, and all the mice in our round-up come with various features, from rechargeable wireless functionality to Wii-like gesture controls.

Read on to find out what mouse will suit your click-happy digits.

1. Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX - £44

Logitech's Anywhere mouse is aimed at laptop and netbook users who want a little more comfort and control over their machines. It's tiny, fast, smooth and responsive, and its Darkfield technology means it can be used on any surface.

Read our Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX review

2. CM Storm Sentinel Z3RO-G - £46

128kb might not sound like a lot of memory, but on Cooler Master's mouse it plays host to your profiles, as well as a tiny low-res bitmap file you can stick on the OLED screen. On top of that it's a smooth mouse, and the provided software will please those who love to tweak.

Read our CM Storm Sentinel Z3RO-G review

3. Logitech G700 Wireless Gaming Mouse - £62

Logitech's latest venture into gaming mice packs a lot of tech into its unassuming housing, such as a gaming grade 5,700DPI sensor, polytetrafluoroethylene feet and wireless connectivity. In fact, the only niggle we had with the mouse was with its battery indicator. Other than that, it's a fantastic deal, and a must-have for furious fraggers.

Read our Logitech G700 Wireless Gaming Mouse review

4. Genius Wireless Pen Mouse - £19

Genius' pen-shaped mouse didn't exactly wow us, and it's certainly not going to usurp Wacom-style tablets any time soon. But it's still a fully-featured rodent in a familiar form factor, and it's ideally suited to multi-monitor displays where the cursor can be swiped from one end to the other quickly.

Read our Genius Wireless Pen Mouse review

5. Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 5 - £50

Mad Catz's exoskeletal stylings certainly make its mice stand out, but they're as functional as they are funky. Infinitesimal adjustments mean they suit any gaming hand, and they're smooth and responsive, too. At £50, the R.A.T. 5 is the cheapest in the range, but it's still a cracking little rodent.

Read our Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 5 review

6. Roccat Kone [+] - £58

That [+] in Roccat Kone [+] refers to the EasyShift [+] button, which acts like the shift key on a keyboard, and allows access to secondary functions such as volume control and muting. It's easy to program, and a 6,000dpi maximum resolution and surface calibration make it a pleasure to use. Our biggest bugbear is its price, which isn't much less than Mad Catz's R.A.T. 7.

Read our Roccat Kone [+] review

7. Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 - £95

Mad Catz' Cyborg R.A.T. 9 is the most expensive mouse in our round up, and it packs all the adjustments and features of the R.A.T. 7, as well as wireless connectivity. It's incredibly responsive, and the obligatory precision button makes those crucial headshots nice and easy. It is expensive, but we reckon the sheer number of features justify the price tag.

Read our Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 review

8. Gyration Air Mouse Elite - £91

Gyration's Air Mice function like normal rodents on desktops, and they can also be lifted up and used in mid-air, Wii-mote style. They're designed primarily for presentations and media centre PCs, but you can also just about use them for gaming. The Air Mouse Elite is the best we've seen so far, but we'd still recommend that you try one before buying.

Read our Gyration Air Mouse Elite review

9. Kensington Orbit Trackball - £15

A mouse round-up wouldn't be complete without a trackball device, which will take up far less room than a conventional mouse and mousemat combo. At under £20 Kensington's Orbit is rather cheap, and does the job adequately - we even managed a five kill streak in Modern Warfare 2 with it.

Read our Kensington Orbit Trackball review

10. Microsoft Sidewinder X8 - £47

Microsoft's original Sidewinder divided audiences, but there's no denying that it's well-made and utterly functional. The X8 adds wireless capabilities, but a unique magnetic system means it can be plugged in to charge as well. At the time of our review we complained that it was a tad too expensive, but the price has dropped considerably since.

Read our Microsoft Sidewinder X8 review

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