Working from home, remember that?
Well, if you are like me, you won’t have forgotten – I’m still doing it. Most of the time, at least, Hybrid Working is upon us!
What seems like many moons ago now, working from home seemed like a practice only those in top jobs did, but since the Covid pandemic, it became a lot more normal pretty much overnight.
While many of us enjoy working from home, there are some essential things that make the experience much more enjoyable – and I don’t just mean having a nice roast dinner instead of a dry sandwich made the evening before that’s smuggled its way to the office in your work bag.
A decent sized screen
When I first started working from home, I was issued a company laptop. A Microsoft Surface Pro to be exact. Whilst this tiny little machine has plenty going for it, screen size is not one of those things.
If you’re sat in front of a screen for half your waking day, you want to actually be able to see what you’re doing (granted, in some jobs, you probably prefer not to!). So I went on the hunt for a new screen.
After much researching, I decided the best fit for me was something large, with good clarity and perfect for seeing as many cells as possible in one go on Excel without breaking the bank.
I took the plunge and purchased a ViewSonic VX3276-2K-MHD 32 Inch IPS WQHD Monitor
This monitor was perfect for me. A large display that was crystal clear and gave me no eye fatigue whatsoever over long uses. Not only that, as an avid computer user away from work, it serves me well for games, Youtube videos and all the other forms of time-wasting activities.
I still use this monitor to this day and have no plans to replace it or any regrets. In fact, I was so impressed by it that I ended up buying a second one for my daughter’s computer.
A good quality Mouse
Admittedly, it took me a while to figure out how important this purchase was. For years, I have always got by on a fairly cheap mouse, or simply a mouse that came with an averaged priced mouse and keyboard combination.
I guess I simply didn’t see value in something you simply clutch with your hand for most of your working day – and when you say it like that, it seems so obviously important!
I decided I was going to make the right purchase with this and did hours of research to make sure I got it right. I didn’t want to take any risks, and I was prepared to spend that little bit extra on something that had already been tried and tested.
Every road I took lead me back to the Logitech MX Master 3 Advanced Wireless Mouse …
…and in all honesty, I’m glad it did. I never knew a quality mouse could add so much efficiency to my productivity. Not to mention the comfort. Did I mention that? It’s an absolute level above any other mouse I have used.
It has plenty of features built in using the Logi software that help make it more than just a standard mouse. One of the key features for me is the ability to switch between multiple devices over Bluetooth. Just flick a switch on the mouse and you go from controlling your work computer to your home computer or laptop. It’s that easy once paired with other Bluetooth devices.
Another quality product for anyone who uses spreadsheets, too. The infinity style scroll wheel that uses magnets to do excessively long scrolls up and down a page or spreadsheet is a feature you didn’t know you needed.
This is now my mouse for everything, and the truth is I probably never would have purchased it if it wasn’t for working from home.
A keyboard you want to type on
When you’re constantly typing endless replies to messages on Microsoft Teams from colleagues, it’s pretty important you have something you actually want to press the keys on, isn’t it?
Well you might not realise just how much you type on a typical working day, but the truth is, it’s probably a fair bit. I had always felt uninspired to type on my old cheaply priced average mouse and keyboard combo setups and that just had to change.
Anyone who does any typing of merit will tell you there is nothing worse than typing on spongy keys that offer no feedback whatsoever. It was for this reason I knew I wanted a mechanical keyboard.
However, the Mr Vain in me knew I wanted it to look pretty cool, too. As mentioned before, I’m an avid computer user and I didn’t just seen this as a work investment. I wanted something that I would enjoy using all the time.
In the end, I went for the EPOMAKER Ajazz K870T
This keyboard is a joy to use. I went for the brown switch variant. After much research, deciding that the brown switch would give me a pleasant sounding and feeling key press. And that’s exactly what I got.
It really breaks the monotony of typing. I actually want to type things – which sounds mad. You really have to use a mechanical keyboard to understand and appreciate this statement.
Just like the mouse purchase, this keyboard has the ability to switch between other Bluetooth devices, making it a great one size fits all keyboard for everyone.
Are you listening? – choosing Headphones
I was issued with a fairly poor quality headset for home working. But it doesn’t have to be that way and it doesn’t have to cost the earth to do something about it.
I found a much more comfortable user experience buying a decent pair of Bluetooth earphones. Once again, I wanted something for work primarily, but they needed to be good enough for everyday use, too.
I opted for a pair of fully wireless Bluetooth earphones and, of course, a built-in microphone for making those joyful Microsoft Teams calls as well as doing that old-fashioned thing of calling people on my mobile phone.
I whittled my choice down to Soundcore by Anker Life P3 Noise Cancelling Earbuds
These earphones fit the bill completely. Very easy to pair with all my work and home devices, including my iPhone 14 Pro.
The noise cancellation is a great feature for louder working environments and does a very good job of killing the outside sound. Both Android and iPhone users will benefit from a well-made Soundcore app to get the most out of the headphones when paired with a mobile phone.
Are you watching? – choosing a Camera
Whilst the Surface Pro does come with it’s very own built-in camera, I found I often stored it off my desk and away from any decent camera viewing angle. After all, I was using my ViewSonic screen now, and wasn’t using the Surface Pro screen at all.
There’s an absolute truckload of web cameras available nowadays, but I just wanted something simple, clear and cheap. It also needed to sit on top of my screen and have some angle adjustments.
I really didn’t want to waste any money buying loads of cheap webcams to find something decent, so I watched plenty of Youtube videos and eventually stumbled across NexiGo. The name cropped up very often in my search for the perfect cheap webcam.
I chose the NexiGo N930AF AutoFocus Webcam
I was very pleasantly surprised that my research paid off. The quality of both the camera and the microphone exceeded my expectations.
Sometimes a price isn’t always too good to be true. If all you need is a decent image and a good quality microphone for making those pesky video calls, you can’t go wrong here. And yep, you guessed it, it’s also great for making family video calls, so this served a dual purpose – and you know I like that!