Today i went out and bought myself some new hardware. Unfortunately It wasn’t as exciting as it could have been. I could quite well wait to get it home from the shop and the setting up process was positively mediocre.

I talk of course of the purchase of a brand spanking new mouse and keyboard. To be more specific a bluetooth mighty mouse and wired apple keyboard. They were purchased from my nearest apple premium reseller in Nottingham (my home away from home – i felt safer in London) at a price of £69.98 in total. They are for my 12″ powerbook.  I opted for the wireless mouse as ill be taking that on the road with me and the convenience of saying wire free was worth the £15 upgrade from the wired variety. I did however decide to compromise with a wired keyboard. I knew that it wouldn’t come out on the road and would be sitting in my room with my flat screen waiting for the more serious work. I didn’t feel that twice the price (of the wired version) meant twice the product, so the bluetooth version lost out.

The apple keyboard and mouse range has been out for quite some time, so I’m thinking that giving my shiny new hardware a good thrashing and posting you the results would be a decidedly redundant exercise at most. If you really must read one try looking here. Incidentally if you’re interested I’ve been impressed with the way that these products have performed yet not overly wowed.

Im not sure if its the fact that they’re made by apple and I’m now used to this kind of quality, or the fact that they are just a mouse and keyboard after all. But neither product seemed to excite me the way a new piece of hardware should. So i pose this question, what price can be put on plain functionality? Collectively consuming the best part of £70 i wouldn’t class these peripherals as a budget end choice. So what was it that persuaded me to part so much of my cash?

I think the best explanation can be found in my desktop PC. My peripherals of choice for the workstation are a logitech MX510 and a crappy MS Multimedia Keyboard. Both were my first choice devices for that platform and have served me well for a good year or so. At a total cost of £40 they prove on paper to be far better value than my Apple setup.

The truth is, i wouldn’t be without either. They were both chosen for very different reasons. My MS keyboard is black, like the rest of my computer, it has a neat row of multimedia buttons that control Itunes and firefox etc and has a quiet and light action on the keys. Best of all it was less than i fiver. Everything i needed. The mouse was chosen during my counterstrike days and was (arguably) one of the better offerings at the time. Today, since moving away from incessant FPS gaming i make the most of the extra buttons and decent ergonomics. My apple offerings are equally as functional. Despite the lack of media buttons i find no lack of functionality in the keyboard, my main usage on my MS board is for the mute button which hasn’t neglected by apple. The mouse is nice and tidy too, i like the option to cover the sensor as you switch it off. I miss the forward and backward navigation buttons in firefox but since the greatest portion of my surfing is done in windows its no real issue.

So all in all, ive two sets of well working decent mice and keyboards. One costs £30 less than the other. Can i justify the expense or not ? Well yes i can indeed. Owning a mac for me is as much about form as it is about function. Yes i prefer the OS, Yes i love the stability and Yes find it easier to operate and maintain. But i also love the iconic simplicity of Apple’s design. Functionalities price tag in my experience seems to read around the £40 mark as i have little to complain about in regards to my other equipment. Yet despite the higher cost and the marginally smaller function set I’d pick the apple set every time. despite what some might say i’m arguing for the case of form and function together in one beautifully made package.