A new work-from-home revolution has quickly become a reality. The likelihood of returning to an office any time soon is slim with lockdown extended, and for many businesses may be a thing of the past all together. We take a look at top tech for working from home.
Our best estimate is that 25-30% of the workforce will be working-from-home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.
Kate Lister, President of Global Workplace Analytics.
The importance of having a functional home workspace with the right tools to maintain productivity has never been higher. No matter the size of your home environment, with a comfortable chair, adequate desk space and a few key pieces of tech you can be the master of your own destiny without leaving the house.
Whether you are joining the “WFH” space for the first time or are already a seasoned remote worker, this list of tech for working from home will surely help you streamline your home performance. The main tech essentials associated with remote work are usually reliable internet and a laptop, these are no doubt sacred, but we do also recommend getting yourself a monitor to increase the screen wide from which you are working from, accompanied by a decent keyboard and mouse. With these gadgets you will feel far more comfortable than squinting over your small laptop screen all day.
Noise cancelling headphones should also get a special mention, particularly if your home office is more like the kitchen table. They are also very useful for video conferencing or phone calls, as most have built-in microphones.
Logitech MX Master 2S Wireless Mouse
MX Master 2S packs a punch with Logitech Flow that lets you seamlessly control two computers with one mouse and copy-paste content between them. Combined with an ergonomic design, it provides exceptional comfort and control, while allowing for great customization too.
Philips 258B6QUEB 24-Inch LED Monitor
>> Its robust, silver highlighted stand looks smart and professional, making it a good fit for any home office space. Its colour accuracy is top-notch across every colour mode and it has more inputs than you would likely know what to do with. Another feature which drew me to the Philips 258B6QUEB is the use of Flicker-Free technology which results in less eye fatigue. For those of you who suffer after pulling an all-nighter in front of a screen like me, this is a life saver.
Satechi Type-C Aluminum Monitor Stand Hub
>> Satechi’s monitor can be an invaluable part of the home office setup. It lifts the computer monitor 3,75cms off the desk, making it more comfortable to view, and it has an array of ports, so you do not need to constantly plug and unplug accessories from your computer.
Its built-in hub connects to a computer using a built-in cable and can be plugged into a USB-C or USB-A port. Once it is connected, the hub gives you three USB-A ports, one USB-C port, an SD Card slot, MicroSD card slot, and a headphone jack. These ports all face towards you, so you can quickly connect a flash drive or memory card at any time. Many of these ports do not exist on modern laptops today, they certainly don’t on the new Apple machines, which makes the hub in this stand a strong asset to have.
Durgod Taurus K310 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
>> The keyboard carries a very classic retro look over all with off-white and grey keycaps reminiscent of the infamous IBM Model M keyboard. The body of the Taurus is very solid and compact and offers a plethora of options with their configured Cherry MX Switches. You can choose between Blue, Red, Brown and Black for the Cherry Switches. This is a very nicely weighted keyboard steeped in nostalgia, which makes it very dynamic offering for its price.
Noise-cancelling headphones – Sony WH-1000XM4
>> The Sony WH-1000XM4 delivers excellent noise-cancellation and high-quality sound quality all in a lightweight, comfortable design.
The Sony WH-1000XM4 ticks all the boxes for a wonderful pair of wireless noise-cancelling headphones. They exceed expectation thanks to their exceptional noise cancellation and cutting-edge codec support. Some new features from their predecessor include multipoint airing, DSEE Extreme upscaling, conversational awareness and auto-play/pause using a built-in sensor, all of these put the WH-1000XM4 way above the rest as my best pair of headphones for 2020.
The Bose 700 is a good more cost-effective alternative for home office use if the WH-100XM4 is slightly out of your budget.
Tech For Working From Home Summary
Even with the finest collection tech gadgets around it is still no guarantee we will magically gain the digital superpowers required to multiply our workload capacity to able to handle that of a team. We need to manage our self-expectation in a world where we are increasingly expected to be doing the work of many. Outsourcing work has become more necessary and a virtual assistant service can be a game changer to optimise performance.
“By 2021, it’s predicted that 24% of digital workers will use a VA on a daily basis. This will be up from less than 2% in 2019.”
Finding a virtual assistant for hire can be fairly straight forward and can allow small business owners or freelancers with a growing client list to accelerate business growth and streamline operations. Perhaps the most powerful tech of all is an online personal assistant in your corner. You know what they say, there’s power in numbers.
I love tech and gaming, and am always looking for the ‘next big thing’…