Building the ultimate work from home set up is key to your success, especially as the world at large transitions get a lot more comfortable with people operating remotely rather than coming into the office every day.
At the same time, if you try and cobble together a work from home office your productivity is going to nosedive.
You have to be smart, strategic, and thoughtful about putting together the different pieces of the work from home office puzzle. Below we dig a little deeper into the cornerstone components every productive home office should include, giving you a little bit of information and insight into where look – and what to focus on – to get even more work done at home than you might have at work.
Let’s dig right in!
It All Starts at Your Desk
The desk that you choose in your home office is going to be ground central for all the work that you do – and that means that it has to be a rock-solid foundation that the rest of your work from home set up is built on top of.
You’ll need something with plenty of space, something with an intelligent design focused on productivity more than anything else, and something that can bring a bit of the office into your home without eating up a lot of floor space along the way.
We searched high and low, looking for the perfect work from home desk, and time and time again we keep coming back to the Zen Professional standup desk.
The 1800 mm model has plenty of tabletop space to accommodate laptops, tablets, dual monitors, widescreen monitors, and all the peripherals you need – and it’s motorized to move up and down (almost automatically) with ergonomics in mind.
You’ll be able to work standing up, sitting down, or on one of those desk/treadmill hybrids with the Zen Professional, too!
Extra Screen Real Estate Skyrockets Productivity
To make the most of the Zen Professional you’re going to want to make sure that you maximize your available screen real estate – and the folks at Dell have you covered in that department.
Productivity experts all over the world have long championed the use of dual-monitor configurations, and it’s tough to get any better than the dual 24-inch combination of Dell UltraSharp 24 inch U2419HC high definition monitors.
Some of the best-looking monitors on the planet right now, the aesthetics of these virtually borderless displays help your eyes move from one monitor to the next without any visual “hiccups” along the way. Combine that with the flood of ports and connectivity options on these monitors (including USB C connections) and it’s easy to see why so many swear by this dual monitor setup.
By now you must be thinking why is a simple dual 24-inch screen setup considered ultimate? Well, that’s because they complement the third screen. The Dell UltraSharp 49-inch curved monitor (U4919DW) is perfect for this desk. You can get almost as much screen space to work with as a dual monitor configuration.
The connectivity options here are also fantastic and the curved nature of this display helps to create an immersive workspace that’s tough to get even out of the two dual monitors we highlighted just a second ago.
Would You Like a Desk Mount With That?
Even fully extended, the Flo Plus had no problems holding the Dell 49" screen in position
While you could simply set your monitors upon the Zen Professional (they have compact bases to save valuable workspace), the Colebrook Bosson Saunders Flo Plus fully articulating monitor arm gets them up off of the desk surface and allows you to position them however and wherever you want for maximum impact.
The beauty of the Flo Plus (essentially the “big brother” of the original Flo) is the smooth action of its articulating mount arm. You can move and maneuver screens as large as 49-inches with just a single finger – but as soon as you get everything where you like it, the arm stays locked into position.
Strong, stable, and leveraging patented spring technology to make the magic happen, this is a top tier piece of engineering. The Dell U4919DW looked right at home on the Flo Plus - no issues with supporting the monitor at height whatsoever.
Of course, if you prefer a dual monitor setup you’ll want to look closer at the Ollin Dual Mount Bar, also developed by Colebrook Bosson Saunders. The Ollin is designed to accommodate two monitors rather than just the one. Both monitors will be attached to a single swing arm, giving you full articulation as you move both monitors in synch with one another. You’ll also have the opportunity to rotate one screen (or both), giving you landscape and portrait configuration capabilities with nothing but a quick spin.
Ollin Dual Mount Bar is perfect for dual screens
One of the big reasons these monitor arms are so popular is because of the cable management built right in. You’ll declutter your desk and get a lot more usability out of your screens at the same time – all with a real futuristic kind of look focused on productivity!
Easy cable management clamps
The design and quality of materials used in the Ollin Dual Mount Bar and Flo Plus are second to none. Attention to detail can be seen from the base through to the VESA mounts. These are 100% my new favourite monitor mounts.
The quality of material used in the mounts are unbelievably good
These are no doubt two of the best mounts on the market today. That said, if you need to mount the dual screens above (or below) the 49" display, you will need to look at something like the Flo Modular Monitor Arm. This uses a post system that can be extended if required. A word of caution, ensure that you check the weight rating of your monitor against the maximum weight your desired mount can handle.
The monitors are using an older pole mount system from Colebrook Bosson Saunders. Today you would go with their Flo Modular Monitor Arm system with an extension pole to achieve the same result.
Peripherals Will Make (Or Break) Your Work From Home Experience
Regardless of whether or not you are running a Mac or Windows-based work from home set up, you’ll need a handful of key peripherals to squeeze as much performance and efficiency out of your home office as humanly possible.
Logitech MX Keys
Everything starts with a top-tier keyboard – one that has been designed with ergonomics in mind. You’ll want something that you can type away at for hours on accurately and with real speed, something that’s a joy to use, and something that has next to no key travel to eliminate all that clicking noise and to ensure faster keystrokes.
The wireless MX Keys keyboard from the folks at Logitech is about as good as it gets these days. A full-sized keyboard (complete with separate number pad) while maintaining a relatively minimalist form factor, you won’t have to sacrifice any capabilities with this Master Series wireless keyboard just to get a little bit of extra space savings.
The battery life on this wireless set up is fantastic, the keys are responsive with almost no travel at all, and you’ll even be able to connect to multiple computers at a single time – across both Mac and Windows operating systems (and even with your mobile devices) – with just one keyboard.
Logitech MX Master 3 Wireless Mouse
It doesn’t get all lot better than that!
The mouse you choose should pair nicely with your new keyboard, and it’s hard to imagine there being any better fit for the MX Keys from Logitech than the MX Master 3 wireless mouse from the same company.
Logitech pulled out all the stops when they engineered this amazing piece of technology, a mouse that features brand-new proprietary electromagnetic scrolling and a machined steel mouse wheel that increases precision and accuracy (not to mention speed) across the board.
The form factor of this mouse has been described as picture-perfect, and your hand is going to naturally fit right into the moulded cradles so that you can click, navigate, scroll, and manipulate things on your device with ease.
The addition of a whole host of programmable buttons on the sides of this mouse takes it to the next level, too.
You’ll need a microphone in your ultimate home office set up for videoconferencing, casting videos, and the like. No company does computer microphones better than the folks at Blue, and the Yeticaster is right up there with the best products that they make today.
Blue Yeticaster, my mic of choice
Sound quality is top-notch, connectivity is simple and straightforward, and everything about this Blue Yeticaster microphone just sort of works right out of the box.
If the Yeticaster is a little too much over the top, you could also take a simplistic approach and roll with the Logitech H340 USB Computer Headset. These are quite affordable ($50-$60 range), come with a USB-A connection and are versatile enough for everyday tasks. They won’t have the advanced features and studio sound quality of the Blue, but they will be good enough for VoIP and Skype calls.
Keep Connected while Prioritizing Speed and Security
TP-Link 8 port gigabit desktop switch
Staying constantly connected to the internet while working from home is a major piece of the puzzle, and because you’re likely going to be juggling a couple of tasks (or a couple of projects) all at once – uploading files, videoconferencing, pulling information or research from the web, etc. – while other people at home are using the internet you’ll need a hub that can prioritize your traffic and locked down your security at the same time.
The rear ports of the TP-Link 8 port gigabit desktop switch
With the TP-Link 8 port gigabit desktop switch, you get eight individual gigabit ports with auto-negotiation technology built right in, all of them featuring Green Ethernet technology to save energy without sacrificing power or performance. The IEEE 802.3x flow control system works to prioritize essential traffic more than anything else going over the network so that your work is never interrupted – and the plug and play installation means you’ll be able to get to work right as soon as you power it up.
At the end of the day, these are the components you want to look at when building the ultimate work from home set up. There isn’t a project in the world that you would struggle to tackle with this kind of technology on your side!
