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Useful Computer Accessories

The development of USB ports began in 1994 by the biggest computer companies, after it became obvious that too many different interfaces will cause many compatibility issues later on. The first USB controller was made by Intel in 1995, but the 1.0 version standards were adopted only in 1996. USB 1.0 had a maximum transfer rate speed of 12Mbits/s (1.5MB/s) that was later supplemented (USB version 1.1 adopted in 1998) with an optional lower transfer rate (1.5Mbits/s) for I/O devices that don’t need 12Mbits/s, like keyboards, mice and joysticks.

Slowly, but surely USB became the main port for external computer devices, although it always had some competition. At first COM, LPT and PS2 ports were alternatives, which can still be found on most motherboards, but more serious adversaries are FireWire and eSATA. There are many popular devices that connect to the computer through USB, and many useful computer accessories are related to these devices. Today most keyboards come with USB connectors, allowing users to connect more than one to a single computer, each designed for a specific game or application (ex: gaming keyboards, numpads, A-shape keys for typing etc…).

The most common problems with keyboards are placement and keeping them clean. If your computer desk has a proper height and you feel comfortable typing on its surface then it’s best to place the keyboard in front of the monitor, leaving enough space in front of it for the armrest area. If the desk is too high, there are many solid keyboard drawers available that can easily be mounted under the desk with only 4 screws.

This particular model costs about $127, but it comes with a soft palm rest area and a heavy duty mouse pad. With this accessory the best way to work on the PC is to adjust your chair to the proper height so that your arms are on the armrest and your palm on the soft pad in front of the keyboard. Prevention is far better than treatment, so to prevent dirt from building up in your keyboard it’s recommended to use keyboard covers called keyboard skins. They are made of a rubber-like silicone material that is very flexible and resistant. It fits snugly on the surface of the keys and flexes easily with every keystroke, reducing some of the noise and makes typing more comfortable because of its soft surface.

Another useful computer accessory is for external hard drives, or – better said – for external use of internal hard drives.

This is basically an opened external hard disk rack that permits you to change the hard drive very easily. With this accessory you can make and organize huge archives made of many 2TB hard drives.

It has a USB 2.0 port for transfer rates up to 60MB/s (theoretically), while the eSATA port makes it possible to use any hard drive as if it was installed in the computer and connected to one of the primary S-ATA ports on the mainboard.