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Using the wrong keyboard can slow down your productivity and put you at a disadvantage in games. Get your fingertips on the right model with our guide to the best office, portable and gaming keyboards
HERE AT SHOPPER we spend a lot of time and words on finding the most powerful PCs, the fastest smartphones and tablets, the most efficient processors, and so on. And while it is important to make sure that you buy the best tech hardware you can, it would all be for little if your tools for using them were rubbish.
Yet many people are willing to put up with a mediocre keyboard. It is, along with the mouse, your physical interface, your way of deriving utility and entertainment from the PC, handheld device or even smart TV that you have spent so much on.
Don't, then, settle for small, spongy keys or dodgy build quality; look for something that's genuinely worthy of all the time you will - quite literally - have your hands on it. To help out, we've tested and rated 16 keyboards, from sub-?10 Bluetooth models to premium gaming gear, and here's our buyer's guide to choosing the right board.
FITTING THE OCCASION
It goes without saying that there will be different keyboards for different uses, so be clear about how and where you intend to use yours. General office keyboards are perhaps the most common, but that doesn't mean that standards for them are any lower. They need to be fast and responsive enough to keep up with skilled touch-typists, and since they're likely to be used for long typing sessions, they should be comfortable to use even if they're not specialised ergonomic aids.
Portable keyboards can have a tougher time, since they must balance the need to be thin and light with the requirement to provide a sufficiently practical typing experience; some simply settle for having tiny keys, which can be disastrous for speed and accuracy. In our experience, anything much smaller than a laptop keyboard is likely to be more trouble than it's worth. Many portable keyboards save space by dropping the number pad - this is known as a tenkeyless design.
Gaming keyboards couldn't be more different; they're designed to pair up...
