The best MacBook Pro accessories could increase productivity and make your workflow all the more seamless.
The best MacBook Pro accessories aren't just for frills. Apple is moving towards thinner and lighter MacBooks. While it's producing laptops that are more powerful than ever in a slimmer and more compact form factor, they're also now lacking in ports or a reliable, comfortable keyboard.
It's wise, therefore, to invest in a few peripherals that help to improve your everyday computing experience with the MacBook Pro. We're not just discussing aesthetically pleasing cases and fancy sound systems here. We're talking about the best MacBook Pro accessories that should help increase productivity, make your workflow all the more seamless, and offer a more comfortable experience.
We haven't had a chance to test all of these products ourselves, but don't worry – we here at TechRadar are both MacBook and accessory experts, and we've used our tech expertise to find the best MacBook Pro accessories on the market right now. We've selected these products to cater to the diverse productivity requirements that users are likely to have. This list covers connectivity, workflow, storage, display, and charging.
Additionally, if you're looking for the best display, check our best monitor for MacBook Pros guide.
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Best MacBook Pro Accessories of 2023
The best MacBook Pro accessories in full
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The Logitech MX Master 3S Mouse is one of the most famous mice around both creative circles and professional circles for good reason. This mouse keeps getting better and better with every version upgrade. Not only is this mouse incredibly comfortable even during all day use, but it has a vertical and horizontal scroll wheel, a multitude of programmable buttons that can be customized to do different things even between different applications, and it has a gesture button allowing a simple press to turn into even more customized control.
This mouse also has the ability to be connected to three devices at once, and, with the simple press of a button, switch seamlessly between the three devices. To make things even easier, through the companion software, this mouse can enable Logitech Flow which will allow copying and pasting between devices, even Mac and PC as well as scrolling across multiple devices at once. This feature will allow you to have up to three devices sitting on a desk and without any extra work or devices, that mouse and keyboard that follows cna move through all screens.
To say that this mouse is incredibly powerful would be an understatement, which is why we knew this mouse had to be on the MacBook Accessory page. This upgrade model includes USB-C Charging and quieter tactile clicking, making the beloved experience even better than before.
Admittedly, there’s still a few kinks to be worked out. However, considering that the light and thin SideTrak Monitor is Stand Steady’s first attempt at a secondary monitor, it’s actually very impressive. If you’ve got anything like this writer’s daily workload, this monitor will save you a lot of time and make your work flow more efficient. If not, then you’ve got a screen to put Netflix on so you won’t have to compromise on your work area, which will help with productivity.
Granted, Apple is just about ready to release macOS Catalina, which should allow iPad users to utilize their tablets as a secondary screen to their MacBooks. Still, SideTrak’s got that feature beat when it comes to a few things. To start, this 1080p resolution IPS display is designed to be mounted on the back of your laptop screen, which means it’s actually naturally situated right next to your main display, making your experience all the more seamless. It also rotates 270-degrees so that it may be utilized for intimate group presentations and collaborations.
If you’re looking for the best MacBook Pro accessories to increase productivity and cut down the amount of time you work on tasks, the SideTrak Monitor is one of them.
The Baseus Blade power bank is a 20000mAh power supply with 100W power delivery built in. This slim-built portable charger has a built in display that shows the current battery percentage, voltage, and current display.
Not only is this battery pack a good size battery, it also charges pretty quickly thanks to its 100W output. Furthermore, the Baseus Blade can fully recharge itself in 1.5H assuming you use a 65w or higher brick to charge the portable power bank.
We wish there was wireless charging built into the top for ease of use, however we have defaulted to utilizing the two USB-C or two USB-A ports to charge our devices on the go.
The Kensington SD5780T Thunderbolt dock is a great way to expand the ports available on your MacBook Pro. One of the reasons we love this Kensington dock is its balance between modern and legacy ports. While it has an HDMI out and some USB-A's, it also has two Thunderbolt ports allowing for connections to modern devices at the highest speeds.
This dock can also clean up your desk by reducing cable clutter. With this dock, you only need one cable to plug into your MacBook Pro, and then all your peripherals and accessories plug into this dock.
The Kensington SD5780T is a quality-built dock with a great casing and a clean design. This dock will fit right in with most desk setups and can add quite a bit to your MacBook Pro with the ease of a single cable.
The Moft Sit-Stand Laptop desk is a truly impressive feat of origami craftsmanship. This is the perfect companion to bring with you and your laptop to the coffee shop, work, a meeting, or just about anywhere. The Laptop Desk folds to almost nothing, making it fit perfectly in a laptop bag.
What makes this laptop stand the most impressive is the ability to hold your MacBook at standing height without any additional pieces. This allows the camera to be raised to a perfect meeting height, a great standing desk height, or even just a slightly elevated angle for an ideal typing experience.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are MacBook Pro accessories?
MacBook Pro accessories are additional hardware that can be paired with the laptop to supercharge productivity and utilize the device better. These accessories can help enhance connectivity, storage, battery, and display too.
How to choose the best MacBook Pro accessories for you?
When it comes to choosing the best MacBook Pro accessories, you’ll want to consider your needs to pick a relevant tool.
If you often connect multiple devices or use external storage, then you’ll need a connectivity dock for your laptop that has USB 3.0, Ethernet, HDMI, and Thunderbolt 3 ports. But if you need only basic USB 3.0 connectivity, then a smaller connectivity port will suffice.
If you game on your laptop or do creative work like video editing and music production, then you’ll need a mouse to work efficiently and swiftly. If you’re a power user, then a mouse with customizable buttons will be quite useful.
Expanding the internal storage on a MacBook Pro is pretty expensive, but you can enjoy plenty of storage with an external hard drive. You’ll want to pick the storage depending on the kind of work you do and the space you need.
If you’re on the road often, a portable power bank for your MacBook Pro will be a lifesaver. For added convenience, check whether the power bank offers wireless charging.
Lastly, if your workflow is complex and needs multiple apps open, an extra monitor will be perfect. For easy carrying, you’ll want to consider how large it is and whether it can be attached to the back of your laptop.
The best MacBook Pro accessories: how we test
To find the best MacBook Pro accessories, we looked at some of the standard requirements a user would have: connectivity, workflow, storage, charging, and display.
In terms of connectivity, we looked at how large the dock was and how many types of connections it offered, like USB 3.0, Ethernet, HDMI, etc. For enhanced workflow with a mouse, we considered how smoothly the mouse operated, its battery life, and whether it had customizable buttons.
For storage, we evaluated how rugged and durable the hard drive was and how much storage space it offered. For charging needs, we looked at the size of the power bank, how much it could charge the laptop, and whether it offered wireless charging for greater convenience.
Lastly, we looked at external monitors for enhanced productivity. We looked at their size, quality, portability, and whether they latched on to the back of the laptop for easier viewing.
