IDEAZON
MERC Gaming Keyboard: $40
www.zboard.com

Oddly enough, it's easier to control some games on a keyboard than it is to play using a handheld controller. The problem with conventional keyboards is that they aren't designed for gaming. Rather, they're laid out with productivity in mind. But because the keys are so like-sized and close to each other, it gets tough to maintain consistency in a fast-paced shooter. Ideazon first addressed the need for a specialized gaming keyboard three years ago with its Z-Board. The Z-Board used removable keysets to customize the user experience for many different titles—even productivity apps such as Photoshop, 3ds Max, and Macromedia Flash. That unit was pretty expensive, though, and buying keysets for every new game undoubtedly soured many customers.

The MERC gaming keyboard reaches a nice compromise by incorporating a set of gaming keys to the board's left side and leaving a standard layout for general computing. The gaming keys put common functions within easy reach. Movement keys are oversized, weapon-select buttons form an ergonomically-friendly arc, and a number of programmable function keys trigger game-specific macros. Of course, Ideazon's Z-Engine software is included, letting your customers set the board up for each of their favorite titles.

Best of all, Ideazon has really come down on the board's price. Whereas the Z-Board runs $50 plus $20 for each keyset, the MERC runs a more reasonable $40. It's quite a bit wider than most other keyboards, but a full array of multimedia keys and a standard number pad maintain plenty of functionality outside of gaming.

SAMSUNG
SyncMaster 214T: $679
www.samsung.com

There are plenty of 21" monitors out there, but not all are created equal. Response times, brightness, contrast ratios, and interfaces all differ slightly. But there's another item to which you'll want to start paying attention: Do your monitors support HDCP, the content protection scheme implemented in Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista?

Samsung's 214T happens to be one of the only displays out there right now with HDCP support, making it a fantastically futureproof 21" LCD. Add that to a 900:1 contrast ratio, 1600x1200 maximum resolution, and sleek bezel. It looks great today, and it'll run without a hitch tomorrow. Sounds like a winning combination.

ZALMAN
HD160: $299
www.zalmanusa.com

A year ago, system builders were making headlines by custom modding Microsoft's MCE IR receiver into HTPC-ish ATX cases. Zalman's HD160 deserves special praise if only because it takes this step at the factory and includes an MCE remote control to boot. But there's plenty more here to make this an irresistible MCE/Viiv chassis. Available in black or silver brushed aluminum, the HD160 is a full ATX desktop able to accommodate seven full-height cards and four internal 3.5" drives. Given the Viiv propensity for RAID configurations and the general need for mass storage in HTPCs, this is no small advantage.

The HD160 sports plenty of venting, including a grill over the CPU socket. Two 80 mm fans adorn the back panel, and, when run at 5V, the cooling impact is substantial while there is essentially zero discernable noise output. Zalman pays impeccable attention to noise control by planting noise dampening throughout the case, especially in the drive cage grommets and power supply mounting.

Zalman's all-aluminum construction is tank solid, and the fascia is CE-class sleek and simple. A stealthed flash card reader sits below the external drive door, and the vacuum fluorescent display is bright and legible. We've seen more complex HTPC cases to work on, but the HD160 is no quick joyride. There's a lot of screwdriver work to do, and you'll need to spend extra time on cable management. When that's done, there's still the VFD configuration to tackle in MCE, but fortunately Zalman gives decent guidance on how to do this through its Web site. Some will find the HD160 pricey, but on close examination, we found this to be one of the best value-add HTPC cases in the field and well worth the price of admission, especially once you get past the first couple of installations.

SIIG INC
eSATA II ExpressCard RAID: $99
www.siig.com

Notebook expansion is slowly shifting from the PC Card to ExpressCard standard, potentially leaving many of your customers confused as to why their old wireless or FireWire cards no longer work. ExpressCard is an entirely new interface, shedding backward compatibility in much the same way as PCI Express supplants PCI in desktop platforms. Although you'll want to make a conscious effort to educate customers on the differences between whitebooks with the older standard and new ExpressCard designs, the good news is that ExpressCard is generally able to deliver better performance. SIIG's new eSATA II ExpressCard RAID is a perfect example of what the interface can do.

The eSATA II ExpressCard RAID sports two eSATA ports designed for external hard drives with signaling speeds of up to 3 Gbps each. A built-in controller opens the door to RAID 0 and 1 support if your customer intends to populate both ports. Now, under normal circumstances, that'd be more traffic than a PC Card could have handled. But ExpressCard employs a single PCI Express lane, enabling more than 250 MBps of bi-directional throughput. Priced under $100, this is one of the best ways to bolster a high-end notebook's storage subsystem with plenty of performance to spare.