Robin Kretzschmar

Posted on Mar 23, 2020

Remote working equipment

#productivity #office

Due to the current situation, many people are now working from home either for the first time or more often than usual.

For me the advantage is that I had time to prepare because I set up an office at home over time and already work from there. During that time I found it very useful to read what the equipment of others are to get inspired or even a slight idea what to look for. Because of that I am writing this article so you have a source of inspiration what you could need yourself or what to look out for on specific components.

My post was also inspired by the positive comments about my setup on this post:

🦠🚪 Show your COVID19 work from home desk? 👩🏻‍💻🪑

Sarthak Sharma ・ Mar 22 '20 ・ 1 min read

#discuss #showdev #productivity

Common
Furniture
Cabling
Peripherie
Lighting
Decoration

Common

Common stuff I used to attach cables and stuff is listed here for reference.

Cable clips

Cable clips are always handy to order and store your cables clean and nicely. I also used them to attach my LED strip to the bottom of my desk to have a little distance to the surface to have a more indirect light effect.

Velcro closure (taped)

Use velcro closure to attach things like the USB hub on the underside of your desk to be able to easily detach, exchange, reposition or completely remove it.

Amazon Velcro tape for cables

Swannies 👓

I own a pair of Classic day swannies from Swanwick to wear during the day. This pair of glasses filters a specific blue light and protect your eyes.
Swanwick has a very good explaination on their site so I don't even try to describe it to you and only link it here: https://support.swanwicksleep.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001370627-How-do-Swannies-Blue-Light-Blocking-glasses-work-

Furniture

Desk

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
After seeing a lot of amazing self made standing desks I wanted to build one myself but decided I did not have the time to do so back then. So I looked for ready to use solutions and I was torn between the IKEA Bekant standing desk and a frame from Inwerk (H700-1160).
I bought the IKEA model because it was only 499€ at the time and it had a net underneath for cables and stuff. It looked very robust and I can confirm that even after 2 years of usage.

The result looked like this:

Chair 🪑

The problem with chairs is that there a too many models on the market to recommend a specific one. My advice on a chair is to look out for a comfortable sitting position, adjustable height and to have an alternative available (e.g. a gymnastics ball) so you can change the chair during the day and have a different kind of strain on your muscles.

I also have a SportyAnis® Premium Balance-Board for the times I stand at my desk to loosen the hip and glutes a little bit.

Cabling

USB Hub ⚓

A USB hub is essential in my opinion so you just have to connect one cable to your laptop or desktop to have all peripherals available. I also recommend to use one with an external power supply so you can charge phones and stuff with it also even when the laptop is not running.

I use a TP-LINK UH700 7-Port USB 3.0 HUB:

Why this model? Because it also has a power button to turn it on and off so you don't have to pull the plug.

Multi power socket 🔌

This is also essential to have enough power sockets for your devices and always keep one or more free in case you have a new device or just need to charge something. Nothing is more stressful than not having a free socket and deciding what to unplug ;)
I also recommend one where you can turn on/off the single sockets instead of just the whole thing. This can come in handy in the future.

I use this one from BESTEK:

In combination with the standing desk, I use one to connect to the power socket on the wall (cable long enough when the desk is in the standing position) and then another one connected to this under the desk in the cable-net for all the devices on my desk. The advantage is that is looks clean and only one cable is running down from your desk into the wall.

Peripherie

Mouse & pad 🖱️

I had a lot of gaming mice in the past for... you guessed it.. gaming! 🤣 and in my experience those are perfect for working because of a ergonomical form, good dpi and handling.
Currently I use a Corsair Glaive PRO RGB.
Why this model?

exchangeable side part for the thumb (more comfort for different sizes of hands and needs)
18.000 DPI optical sensor (precise)
RGB light built in (personal taste, but I like a well lit ambiente and this contributes to it)

My mousepad is a KLIM RGB Chroma.
Easy to clean, robust, LED colors (again).

Keyboard ⌨️

KLIM is my favorite company not only because they are also german but their products are robust, nice looking and have perfect usabillity.
The keyboard is a KLIM Domination. As you propably already noticed, I like stuff with it's own lighting :D
This is a mechanical keyboard and you can program each key with one of 9 individual colors as you like. No drivers needed, perfect speed and no problems. Keys are easy to remove for cleaning.

Headset 🎧

My SteelSeries Arctis 7 gaming headset is also in use for my work. It has perfect sound and microphone quality (!) and an external bluetooth connector. It works on my PS4, on my phone, on my laptop (Arch) and on the windows maschine without problems.

Speakers 🔊

I bought a Logitech Z906 5.1 surround sound system with subwoofer and optical output years ago and use it since then. But there are definitely better options on the market right now. So no recommendation from me here.

Docking station 🖇️

As I use a Dell laptop, I use an Dell Thunderbolt Dock WD19TB 180W, DELL-WD19TB (180W).
.
It is connected to my laptop via a single USB C Thunderbolt cable. The USB Hub is connected to the dock. The speakers, the LAN cable and the monitor are also connected to the dock. This enables me to have everything connected with just one cable that also charges the battery.

Monitor 🖥️

I have a laptop to be able to work from anywhere but at my desk the screen is too small. For many years I was used to have two external monitors connected but what always annoyed me was the small gap between them. So a year ago I decided to buy an ultra wide screen big enough to have at least the screen real estate like before (or more!) but only one monitor.
I bought the 38" LG 38WK95C-W and won't switch to anything else now!
Make sure to connect 4K displays with a DisplayPort cable and not a HDMI cable to benefit from the full resolution!

Lighting 💡

Good lighting is very important to be productive and for your eyes!
It can also influence your mood.
I used a simple LED strip at the bottom of my desk to create indirect lighting and be able to change the colors according to my mood.
Since the mouse pad has its own lighting feature, I can harmonize the colors and create a great environment. There is also a small desk lamp hanging from the shelf above my desk in case I need more light.
On the other side of the room is also a warm lamp so that not only the corner with my desk is illuminated which is good for your eyes.

Decoration 🖼️

Decoration is depends on your personal taste. I'd recommend to restrict yourself to a couple of decorational items only to not get distracted. My personal taste is to not hang any gaming pictures or something that reminds me of free time. Plants are also great.
Personally I have a metal picture from Displate and I chose one that is related to work: