Do you work from home? Did you know that you can highly increase your productivity by improving your home office equipment?
The room space available, the tech devices and the tools you use on a daily basis can really influence how many things you get done by the end of the day. If you have up-to-date hardware and software equipment at your home office, you get a much better performance. It doesn’t have to be the latest devices on the market, but there are basic tips to make sure you don’t have productivity issues because of using older equipment.
In this post you will discover how to set up a home office to work from home in a way that is comfortable and simple. The goal is for you to work better to have more time left at the end of the day!
Let’s see the 10 things you need to set up a home office.
1. Internal Computer Storage
To upgrade your work computer without having to buy a new one, the first thing you can do is make sure that its internal storage drive is an SSD drive and not an HDD drive. If it’s an HDD, you can change it for an SSD. This is one of the main factors because the SSD can be 5 to 10 times faster than an HDD in terms of data processing.
SSD drives make the hardware of a computer work much faster because the computer boots much faster and the applications loading gets faster. You might need to upgrade other hardware pieces of your computer to change its HDD to an SSD, such as the RAM memory or the processor, so remember to hire a Computer Assembly expert to analyze what’s best for you.
You can prevent many computer crashes by upgrading it’s internal storage technology to an SSD drive, and the few minutes you get for every task your laptop performs faster added to the end of the day can save something around 30 minutes at least!
2. Internet Connection Set Up
Another upgrade that you can do on your computer is to make sure that its network card supports both 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and 5 GHz Wi-Fi because most Internet modems offer both types of Wi-Fi. The 5 GHz frequency is better for faster connections and consequently for faster performance of your computer. If necessary, you can change your Internet modem to a more powerful modem in terms of connection bandwidth.
Everything will depend on what equipment you have at home and your Internet connection speed. Just keep in mind that a modem with a very large bandwidth needs a computer that has a good Wi-Fi network card capacity to work properly. In other words, your Internet modem needs to “communicate” with your computer the best way possible so that the Internet connection reaches the best speed.
3. Ergonomics
Working on ergonomics is also important, which means arranging your workplace the best way possible to work for hours throughout, all tech devices and pieces of furniture considered. It’s important to make your workspace ergonomic by organizing your work equipment in a way that helps you get the maximum potential of your computer.
You should also choose a room in your home that is ergonomic, that better suits working for many hours. Of course, it’s possible to work on the sofa, on the kitchen table or even on your bed if your computer is a laptop. But there’s nothing like having a room that is designed for working in a comfortable way.
4. Home Office Desk
Getting a home office desk is great to improve your working hours, it’s also where you can place your computer and other work equipment. A 140cm x 60cm desk is an ideal measure with enough depth to avoid running out of space. The recommended minimum is a 120cm wide table, it will depend on how much room space you have available to set up your home office. If you can get a larger table don’t hesitate to do that because the more space the better, just remember that 120cm is the minimum to place any computer, laptop or all-in-one.
5. Home Office Chair
A home office chair will increase your productivity because it’s made to be comfortable and to support hours of work, they’re made with an ergonomic design. But how to choose the height of the chair? When it comes to home office chairs, your legs need to meet the floor of your work room at a 90 degrees angle o and the chair, the same goes for your arms, they need to meet the home office desk at a 90 degrees angle. This will depend on your height, so the home office chair and the home office desk must be chosen separately.
6. Mouse + Mousepad
If you use an all-in-one computer, you will need a mouse + a mousepad to control the computer. Even if you use a laptop computer that has a built-in touchpad, a separate mouse plus a separate mousepad can improve your work productivity, plus it’s more comfortable to work with for many hours. A mouse is a great device for productivity because you get more precision to control your computer and that can speed up everything you do on your computer, it’s easier to use and handle and it’s quicker to work with when compared to a laptop touchpad. And the mousepad enhances the usability of a mouse.
7. Mechanical Keyboard
A mechanical keyboard is made with high-quality plastic key switches underneath each of the key caps. If you use an all-in-one computer, you can upgrade with a mechanical keyboard. Even if you use a laptop, you can get a spare keyboard to plug into your computer. A spare keyboard can help you work for long hours and it’s more comfortable because it has the keys farther away from each other. In addition, mechanical keyboards have more shortcut keys than laptop keyboards, which speeds up your work even more. Keyboards are better to input data in your computer, a keyboard also improves the ergonomics of your home office.
8. Computer Monitor
If you use an all-in-one computer, you can upgrade its monitor to one that is bigger and that has better image resolution. If you use a laptop, you can get a separate monitor to use as a second screen instead of getting a completely new all-in-one computer. Another advantage of using a separate monitor as a second screen is that you can create separate work spaces inside your computer and split program windows between monitors, which doubles the number of programs that you can keep open simultaneously in your computer. You can also open a window on each monitor to better visualize something you’re doing.
9. Computer Monitor Support
If you use a laptop, it’s good to get a laptop mount to keep it at the same level of your eyes to avoid leaning your head forwards all the time to look at the computer. If you use an all-in-one computer, you can place the monitor on a stand so that it also stays at the same height as your eyes. This is an important point of home office ergonomics. Remember that the top of the monitor should be at your eyes level.
10. Video Conference Equipment
If you participate in many video conferences at home, there is a list of 5 devices that you need to highly improve the quality of your virtual meetings. You can check the details on our post The Basics of Video Conference Equipment to discover how to better organize your home office for video conferences.
Conclusion
Great! Now you know how to put together an equipment setup to work from home in a comfortable way that also increases your productivity! So don’t hesitate to put what you’ve learned into practice to have the best home office possible and get better work results!
You can also share your thoughts in the comments below!
