Top 5 Essential Upgrades for Your Computer: Must-Have Peripherals

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• We’ve reviewed our recommendations and refreshed some of our picks. Take a look!

Have a PC fanatic in your life but don’t know what they need? We bet these five accessories will make a great gift for even the hardest geek to shop for.

UPDATE: 08/12/2024

We’ve reviewed our recommendations and refreshed some of our picks. Take a look!

A Surge Protector To Protect Your Electronics

Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

When it comes to a PC, a proper surge protector isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential. But you can’t just get any old power strip and call it a day. You need to make sure your choice will properly protect your electronics, and you need to replace them every few years to ensure your devices are actually being protected.

So, when shopping for a surge protector for your PC, you’ll want to choose a reputable brand with enough ports to accommodate all of your PC accessories. Our pick for the best surge protector, the Tripp Lite TLP1208 Surge Protector , will cover all your needs and then some with 12 power outlets.

If you’re tight on floor or desk space, a wall wart might be a better bet. Anker’s 321 Outlet Extender is small and inexpensive, but you’ll get three outlets, two USB-A ports, and 1 USB-C port, all in a tiny form. It’s hard to beat!

Best Surge Protector

Tripp Lite TLP1208 SAT Surge Protetor

An all-purpose surge suppressor that ticks all the boxes as far as protection, versatility, price, and warranty goes.

See at Amazon See at Newegg See at Home Depot

The NZXT Puck or Headphone Stand

Sergio Rodriguez / How-To Geek

Chances are that you spend a good chunk of your PC time with headphones or a headset on. The trouble is, there’s never a great place to store them when they’re not in use. If you put them on the desk, they’re likely to fall off—the same goes if you place them on top of the PC tower.

One way to counter this is NZXT’s Puck . At first glance, it seems ridiculous to spend $20 on it, but it’s money that is surprisingly well spent. In addition to providing a convenient spot to hang up your headphones, it can easily gather and hold any excess cables.

The Puck also doesn’t take up any extra space but instead uses a spot on your PC tower that typically has nothing on it. This makes for an efficient use of space and keeps the headphones out of the way when you don’t need them.

You can also opt for something like the EURPMASK’s Gaming Headset Hook Holder , which can easily clamp to a desk and allows you to hang your headset in a secure place nearby.

A Home For Your Headset

NZXT Puck Headset Mount

The NZXT Puck is a convenient headset mount that attaches to your PC case with magnets. It has a place to store the cable, too.

An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

APC

Even in the age of auto-saving desktop programs, you can still lose your work due to a power outage on a desktop PC. That’s where an uninterruptible power supply (or UPS) comes in. These units contain large batteries and are equipped with multiple standard power outlets for your desktop PC, monitor, printer, and other equipment.

A UPS is an often-overlooked piece of equipment that every desktop PC user needs. It’s one of those accessories you won’t appreciate until that fateful storm hits or the demands of a hot summer day overload the local grid—but it’s also not something you’ll want to go without.

Our pick for the best UPS , the APC BR1500G Backup Battery , will be the best option for most people. You’ll get ten outlets—five of them having surge protection—and enough juice to keep your PC running for a few minutes while you save your work. After all, a UPS is not meant to act like a portable power station , so it won’t keep your PC on for hours in a blackout.

Best UPS Overall

APC BR1500G Backup Battery

$280 $317 Save $37

The APC BR1500G is an excellent battery backup with AVR and surge protection. It allows for easy cell replacement and the ability to add external backups.

$280 at Amazon

A USB-C Hub

Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

Depending on your PC’s configuration, a USB hub can be a very helpful addition. These devices are loaded with USB ports that connect to a single port on the PC, thereby turning one USB connection into many.

A USB hub can be very useful if you have a laptop limited in its number of USB ports or if your desktop tower only has one or two on the front. While desktops typically have a ton of USB ports on the back, they are a pain to access and use. A USB hub prevents you from having to fiddle with the ports on the rear of the machine except when it’s necessary.

You can also find USB hubs at quite a wide price range. Anker tends to be a solid choice, and the brand provides various options at affordable prices.

More USB Ports

Anker 7-Port USB 3.0 Data Hub

This hub gives you seven easily accessed USB ports for plugging in peripherals and charging your gadgets.

$40 at Amazon See at anker

A Big Mouse Pad

Michael Crider / Review Geek

Sure, you’ve probably had a mouse pad before, but what about a big desk mat that covers most of your desk? It might seem extraneous, but a desk mat feels great and keeps your keyboard from sliding around, as well.

The best part? A great desk mat doesn’t need to cost a lot. While you can spend the extra and get something fantastic, like Orbitkey’s desk mat , Corsair’s MM300 is only $30 and offers great, low-friction coverage.

You can even get a mouse pad with LED lights if you want to take your setup to the next level.

A Big Desk Mat

Corsair MM300

$17 $30 Save $13

If you’re not interested in Razer’s RGB, Corsair also has a great, big mouse mat you can use to spruce up your desk space.

$17 at Amazon