Whether you use a desktop or a notebook computer, replacing your keyboard is often a great move--and a very cost-effective upgrade. 

You could opt to go wireless, for instance, clearing up some trailing wires from your desk.  In a lot of cases, you'll be upgrading your mouse at the same time (in theory at least).  A new keyboard is almost certain to have some useful (and possibly some not so useful) hotkeys to activate your favourite programs or control the music that you're listening to.

Mice
We have an entirely separate Product Survey for mice, but manufacturers are increasingly likely to throw in a free mouse with new keyboards.  As a general rule, we think it's reasonable to expect to find a keyboard and a mouse of similar quality in the same box.

Unfortunately, though, the mice supplied are often tacky add-ons, and it seems that many manufacturers realize that users are often more sensitive to the quality of keyboards than they are mice.

The upshot of all this is that it's very often worth opting for a separate keyboard and mouse, but we'll still be commenting on the quality of the mice that are bundled with keyboards.

Although we weren't initially fans of Bluetooth, we have to admit that things have improved a lot since the first implementation of the specification.  You can now take your keyboard up to 20 meters from your computer, and battery life is also much improved. 

In practice, though, most of the team here has gone back to using wired keyboards after too many nasty scrapes with batteries running out at exactly the
wrong moment: it's all very well having batteries that last for months, but if those months come to an end five minutes before a deadline then you're still in trouble.

Which brand?

This is probably the biggest question of all, but we can certainly give a few general pointers.  For a long time, the market has been dominated by just two manufacturers, Logitech and Microsoft:

• Microsoft usually offer the quietest keyboards, but are often the biggest sinners in terms of bundling inferior mice.

• Logitech, on the other hand, usually have more rounded kits, but the sting is in the heavier price tag.

Both are also guilty of overpricing their products, so recently, we've seen other attempts to tempt customers away from the big two, either with cheaper keyboards or extra features.

Noise

Most manufacturers make a lot of noise about how quiet their keyboards are, so we've included videos with some of our reviews so you can see and hear what they're actually like to type on.