Due to Covid-19, all of a sudden working from home becomes a popular trend. In the past, working from home at a full time job seems to be too good to be true, but now that government and health experts suggest us to stay at home, working from home is becoming our new reality. Today we will go through the must-have gadgets to make home based job more efficient.
Webcam
Whether you are having remote video conference with your colleagues and clients, or connecting with your friends and clients, the truth is, webcam is playing a very important role in our work from home lives. According to the survey by Lifesize, 98% of respondents think that video conferencing helps with relation-building inside and outside the company, and 90% of them think that video makes it easier to get their point across.
For a successful video conference, a good webcam is what you need. You surely don’t want you to look blurry and faint in others’ screen, so you would want your webcam as clear as possible. The clearness of a webcam is determined by the resolution. Nowadays the common webcam resolution includes 8K, 4K, 1080P, 720P, 480P etc., with 8K the highest resolution, but also the most expensive. Since the resolution of most computer screens is 1080P (1920 * 1080), a 1080P webcam will be sufficient in most video conference, which equals the resolution of a Blu-ray movie.
Lighting Device
If you want you or your product look even better in front of your webcam, you should improve the lighting in your environment. As you may know, lighting is a very important element in photography, as it can make or break you photo or video, so if you job includes pitching yourself or your products to your clients, you may want to get better lighting. The best lighting you can get is the natural sun light, which is also free, so do the video conference under sunlight if possible. But if you are in a room with no window, or conferencing at night, then you may want to get an extra light source to improve the brightness and softness of the light. You may not need a professional fill light, but a ring light that can adjust color and brightness can come in handy.
Keyboard
As one of the basic input devices of a desktop computer, keyboard plays an important role in your input experience and productivity. There are basically two types of keyboards: membrane keyboards and mechanical keyboards, and they are quite different. Membrane keyboards are generally more quiet than mechanical keyboards, but since you are working from home, quietness may not be an important preference for you, so you may opt for the satisfactory of typing on mechanical keyboard. Either way, please feel free to check out the membrane keyboards and mechanical keyboards we have to offer.
Mouse
Besides keyboard, home based professionals will also need a decent mouse for working on computers. For daily office operations, a gaming mouse is not required, although it may help increasing productivity in some way. What is really required is a mouse that is portable, ergonomic and durable. That is because when working at home, you may walk around in your house with your laptop, or use your mouse for a long time, which makes your wrist sore if your mouse is not ergonomic. With the proper mouse, you will be able to get down to work wherever you go, or handling intensive business work on computer continuously. Check out the office mice Havit has to offer.
Voice Input/Output Devices
To keep in touch with colleagues and clients on computer, people who work from home may also need a device that can input and output sound. Many people will use a microphone and speakers to do voice chatting, which works fine in most scenario. However, there are some drawback of this solution. First, it requires two pieces of devices; second, it may disturbing your families while they are sleeping; and third, you will have to sit in front of your desk.
Besides microphone and speakers, you can also use a pair of headset for your voice communications, since most headset nowadays also come with a mic. There are usually two types of headset: wired and Bluetooth. Wired headset connects to computer via 3.5mm ports, and its pros including not consuming power (unless it is RGB backlit) and clear sound, while coming with cons like less comfortable comparing to earbuds, limited by the headset cord, may not work with some laptops that do not provide 3.5mm ports etc. Bluetooth headset, on the other hand, consume battery power, and may be less clear in sound if the connection range is too long or blocked; however, it allows you to walk around within a wider range than wired headset, and compatible with any Bluetooth enabled devices. You can choose your headset based on your own requirements.
Network Devices
Last but not least, your network matters. Without network, the idea of "work from home" would not even exist, because you will not be able to contact and cooperate with your colleagues and clients over the internet.
Depends on the working environment in your home, you can either connect your computer with your router via an Ethernet cable, using Wifi, or use 4G / 5G network. Connecting to router with cable would be the most reliable and affordable option, as there will be little to none latency between your computer and the router, and network cable is not expensive; however, the problem of using cable is it is not very flexible, as your working range will be limited by the length of the cable, also the cable may not look good in your home. Using 4G / 5G, on the other hand, is very flexible, as long as the signal covers your home, you can work in any corner in your home, and if your computer supports 4G or 5G, you don't even need a modem or router to access internet. However, 4G or 5G plans may be very expensive, especially if you video chat or steams video very often.
So for most people, using Wifi is a more practical option, as it provides wireless flexibility, while is still being affordable. But it still has a problem, which is getting lagged between router and your computer. Unlike using an Ethernet cable, your connection between router and computer is wireless, and the signal in between can be affected by many factors. Havit recently released a Wifi Range Extender, which will boost your Wifi signal if your home is too large for your wireless router to completely cover, and it may solve some cases of Wifi lagging.
Work From Home Can Be Enjoyable
Now that you have the gears you need, you can sit next to your desk and start working. Working in an environment you are familiar with should be able to boost your productivity and creativity, so you and your boss might find working from home a better option than going to your office. Make use of the gadgets we mentioned today, and make your home a better place to work in.
