There’s a veritable shedload of Apple and third party accessories out there for the MacBooks, but which are any good? Best MacBook accessories including MacBook mice, MacBook keyboards, MacBook adapters, MacBook displays, MacBook hard drives and MacBook cases.
So you’ve just bought a shiny new MacBook – we are jealous. It may have bankrupted you, but good grief it’s amazing. Depending on which MacBook you’ve plumped for, you may be weighing up the purchase of a few accessories to get the most out of it.
We review and use tons of MacBook accessories every day, so here are the categories you should consider, with links to all our in depth articles with the best buying advice possible. Just make sure that you have the right adapters if they are necessary – this is particularly important when considering a display, or if you own the 12-inch MacBook, with its one USB-C port!
Go forth and accessorise.
MacBook accessories: Mice
MacBooks have the best trackpads on the market; responsive, agile, smooth, etc. However, if you use your laptop everyday as a desktop replacement, you may well want and prefer a mouse to stop your hand cramping up like a raven’s claw.
MacBook accessories: Keyboards
The MacBook’s keyboards are excellent – you can type for hours. However, if you prefer to raise your screen to desktop height, there are plenty of great ones to choose from.
MacBook accessories: Adapters
The latest MacBook (not Air or Pro, just MacBook) only has one USB-C port. This means you;ll probably have to invest in some adapters, particularly for using certain accessories like displays, mice and keyboards if they aren’t wireless. You;ll certainly need one for most external hard drives.
Here are the best USB-C adapters and cables for the 12-inch MacBook
MacBook accessories: Displays & monitors
If you’ve got a keyboard and mouse on board, then you could go the full hog and get a display. The MacBook is great for portable use, but if you want a desktop set up, there are tons of monitors out there you can hook up to your MacBook to instantly increase screen size.
Here’s a guide to and round up of the best budget displays from our colleagues at PC Advisor (don’t worry, the advice applies to MacBooks here!)
MacBook accessories: External hard drives
Depending on which MacBook you have and the on-board storage, you may want to save larger files to an external hard drive. You can also wisely backup your files on one too. There are hard drives with moving parts, usually because they are such high capacity. However, solid state drives (SSDs) are becoming more affordable and have no moving parts – many will have all the space you need.
MacBook accessories: Cases and bags
You’ll probably want to keep your MacBook safe from harm and also carry it around – welcome to the world of cases and bags. So, so many cases and bags.
MacBook accessories: Speakers
Whether you need a speaker for a presentation or simply chilling out in front of a film, there’s a lot of Bluetooth speakers to choose from (we prefer the no-wires option where possible).
MacBook accessories: Headphones
Wired or wireless? The MacBook doesn’t come with headphones, so you may want to invest in a pair for work, play and everything in between. Obviously it’s a purchase that you can also use on your iPhone and iPad, so it’s a worthy investment.
MacBook accessories: Printers
Even as computing moves more into the cloud, with files shared and collaborated on digitally, there are still uses for the humble printer. Whether you’re bashing out your final year dissertation or printing off the quarterly earnings report, there’s a printer for you and your MacBook.
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