We've been dying to get our hands on a decent docking system for Mac notebooks, so we were like children at Christmas when we unboxed the Henge Dock.

Henge Docks turn your notebook into a desktop system without you having to faff around reconnecting your keyboard, mouse and screen when you bring it into your office. Instead, you lower it into the dock onto the row of connectors. And because the Mac stands vertically, the whole thing takes up very little space.

The docks are model-specific and come with a load of port extender leads, which you leave clamped into the dock. To ensure each is attached in the correct place, you're recommended to attach them one at a time, which can take a little while, but you only do this once.

Getting the Mac in and out of the 13-inch MacBook Pro dock we tested is easy enough, even with a full complement of connectors – though you need two hands, one to hold the base and the other to lift out the Mac.

It doesn't come with a Mini DisplayPort adapter or MagSafe power connector, and with the latter lies a problem. Because you have to clamp each connector in, you ideally need a second power adapter to take on your travels or you'll constantly be unclamping and reclamping it if you need longer use than the battery will give you.

We also worried about scratching the Mac's casing when sliding it in and out – a soft lining on the dock would have reassured us.

Though the iPad's on-screen keyboard is actually remarkably usable, lots of people pine for a 'proper' physical keyboard for entering large amounts of text. You could opt for Apple's Bluetooth keyboard paired with a stand of some kind, or choose a keyboard-and-case combo.

This offering from ZAGG is basically a Bluetooth keyboard recessed inside a metal tray lined with high-density foam to provide a modicum of drop protection.

You can use it as a case by pushing your iPad in face-down, and then when you want to type, a worrying flimsy plastic stand flips up to support the iPad in portrait or landscape orientations.

The Bluetooth connection works great. We couldn't exhaust the battery, and, if it all feels a bit cheap compared to Apple kit, the build quality is serviceable. And yet while there are some nice touches (dedicated Home, brightness, playback, volume and other keys, plus the fact that Mac-standard keyboard modifiers work to navigate around your text) the overall experience is no more than competent.

The lips of the case tray interfere with hitting characters at the edges, with a bar at the front often blocking your thumb hitting the space bar altogether. Plus, it's pricey.

Still, it does work, and reasonably well, so it gets a three-star rating – a guarded recommendation to buy.

I've long been a fan of notebook coolers like this CoolerMaster NotePal U2 ever since my first modern notebook came harbouring an Athlon 2200+, which turned out to have the thermal dynamics of a very, very fat man.

Use of the machine for any length of time and, no matter what material it was made out of, the area which used to be directly underneath the CPU would be only so much molten slag. More disturbing still if you actually happened to use it literally as a laptop…

With a cooler though it was possible to use the machine without melting holes in things and without the processor throttling back to such an extent that it was hardly worth switching the damned thing on in the first place.

The NotePal U2 is such a cooler, with the now-traditional mesh-finish and exterior fans to blow soothing air of your hot bits. The difference here though is that it has some innovations.

The main one being the fact that the twin underslung fans are able to be completely re-positioned to cope with different laptop cooling designs. Not all machines have their intake fans in the same position but now you can match that location with the external fans of the cooling tray, giving far more efficient cooling.

The whole thing acts as a neat little suit of armour for your laptop. Remove the two fans and you slot your notebook into the wireframe giving extra protection for your screen and making the NotePal U2 easy to store and travel with.

The NotePal U2 is a simple little thing, but only if your laptop is generating enough heat to keep your house warm in the winter time.

Were it so that I had a favourite laptop power brick, this would most certainly be it. I know that you generally stick with the default adapter that came with your laptop, but there are plus points to dropping £50 on a brand new one like the CoolerMaster SNA 95.

Obviously the most likely of usage scenarios remains grabbing a third-party adapter when your original one craps out, but this one from Coolermaster offers more than most.

For a start it is literally half the thickness of the adapter that came with the MSI GT740 I've been playing with - being only a few millimetres thicker than my svelte li'l mobile phone.

USB charging

It also comes with a handy cable-tie attachment that allows for easier storage on the go, but the standout option for the man-on-the-move has to be the addition of a USB charge-point based in the brick itself.

This means you can charge anything with a USB connector by the adapter alone so you don't have to either have your machine on while you charge or get in the way of topping up your lappy's battery.

It's impressively connected too; coming as it does with eight different plug variants to cater for all the big boys, while Coolermaster also states that it can still provide operating power for other laptops with non-standard connectors though it might not charge the battery.

For fifty quid it's still a hard sell when your current adapter is still working; £30 and it would have been a must-have for the travelling notebook owner. As it is it's still a mighty tempting little thing.

If you want to keep your 13-inch aluminium MacBook safe from damage, but don't want to spoil its aesthetics, you could do worse than an IceShell.

This two-piece clear plastic case is designed to take the knocks and scratches, so your Mac stays in pristine condition.

There are openings that enable you to use the sensors, in/out ports and optical drive, plus there's ventilation space to stop your MacBook getting too hot. It's easy to fit and doesn't bulk up your notebook too much.

If your screen is marred by greasy fingermarks or your keyboard is covered in crumbs and grime, you'll need a cleaning kit.

For a tenner, Kay-Pad's Officebox offers a 50ml bottle of spray-on cleaning fluid and a handy sponge to wipe it off, replete with a screen-friendly 'micro-fibre cloth' on one side and soft spongy ridges to get in between the keys on the other.

It isn't the cheapest solution, but the quality is high. It does a great job of cleaning your kit without smearing.

HyperMac is an external battery pack for all Apple laptops. It's available in four capacities, ranging from 60Wh to the most powerful 222Wh, which we tested here.

For comparison, the MacBook Air's battery is 37Wh. The device comes supplied with MagSafe cables for connecting to a MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, and offers a USB port so you can also use it to run your iPod, iPhone or other USB powered device.

HyperMac charges your internal battery as well as powering your notebook, and is expected to last around 1,000 charges before wearing out. We tested the 222Wh model with a regular 13-inch MacBook.

According to the Battery Life Chart, it should last four times as long as this MacBook's internal battery, or 25 hours of web-surfing and document-editing with the screen brightness set to 50% and the power setting on Better Battery Life.

In our slightly more demanding tests, with a much brighter screen, the power setting on Normal and performing activities that make the hard drive spin, we got nine hours 50 minutes, which is far from shabby. And, we could have squeezed out a more hours using 'Better Battery Life'.

Our only criticism is the version we tested is the size of a large paperback and almost as heavy as the MacBook we tested it on. Do invest in a HyperMac, but when choosing which model to buy, bear in mind the trade-off between capacity and bulk.

Each booq Taipan Pack is smartly tagged with a unique identification number. Once you've purchased your bag, register the number with booq's Terralinq service, then if you lose it, you've a better chance of getting your bag – and, more importantly, the valuable laptop it contains – returned to you.

This product is designed for those on the move. It's sturdy, waterproof and packed with pockets. It offers waist support, shoulder straps, and accessible pouches. A great product.

The Cooling Bar takes a different approach to ergonomic typing. Instead of a full-on stand, it's a barrel styled to match Apple's aluminium laptop range.

At 38cm long it's ideal for the MacBook; the 15.4-inch MacBook Pro fits fine but it covers the slot designed to secure the power cord.

Resting on its rubber-footed underside, it feels stable when supporting your laptop and allows a decent airflow underneath, and is handy enough to carry around in your laptop bag.

If you use your MacBook at your desk as well as on the move, this stand could be for you. It offers a more comfortable typing position, has two USB-powered cooling fans and gives you four extra USB ports.

The USB port connecting the stand to your laptop is on the right – ideal for the MacBook Air, but awkward for MacBooks.

In our tests the fans didn't do much to cool the CPU over short periods, but they could be useful if you leave your machine on overnight to process video, for instance.