Working from home? Your desk might not be as sorted as you like, but we have some ideas that could help.
A whole lot more people are working from home than ever before, and that means more desks need to be equipped.
The situation for working from home — “WFH” as most shorten it to — shouldn’t be handled from a bed or a couch, as you need a place to work. You need a desk or a stand to work from, and a chair to be seated at.
You need a computer and an internet connection, plus the aforementioned furniture, but once you have that, you’re mostly good to go.
However there are extra bits and bobs you can bring in to make a WFH desk even better, and bring out the creature comfort to make working from home more like your own environment.
Comsol Wireless Fast Charging Desk Organiser
Price: $59
One of the more unique takes on the wireless charger, this one seems like it’s destined for the desks of owners of new phones.
Specifically, it’s a box for holding pens and such, and a stand for your phone with a wireless charger inside.
You’ll still need a phone sporting wireless charging, and that means anything from an iPhone 8 and higher, including the iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone 11 and 11 Pro/Pro Max range, plus Samsung’s phones from the S6 onwards, including the Galaxy S9, Galaxy S10+, and recent launch of S20 phones, plus quite a few others.
Available at Officeworks
TwelveSouth HiRise
Price: $79.99
Wishing your laptop was just a little higher off your desk? TwelveSouth’s HiRise makes that possible.
Think of it as an arm that holds a laptop up, giving you up to a good 15 centimetres of height, and able to hold up 11 to 15 inch computers. While the Apple MacBook models are what this is made for, it should work with other laptops, too.
You shouldn’t type on the laptop while it’s held up, though, but fortunately, you can always get a keyboard, like the suggestion below…
Available at TwelveSouth
Logitech K580 keyboard
Price: $79.95
If you’re working from a laptop, you’ll probably want an external keyboard to work from. It’s not that the keyboard on your laptop is bad, but you’ll be more comfortable with a keyboard you can move closer.
Logitech’s K580 not only provides a wireless keyboard with that flexibility, but it also has a notch at the back where you can rest a phone, plus wireless connectivity to link the keyboard to that device instead of just your computer.
It means if you intend to write some long messages on your phone or tablet, you can switch the keyboard over and use that instead, before switching back to the computer afterwards.
Available at Logitech and Officeworks
Logitech MX Master 3
Price: $149.95
A good WFH setup needs a good mouse, and while there are plenty out there, one of our favourite mice at the moment is the Logitech MX Master 3, a versatile little mouse that offers more than your conventional mouse will.
Set with two sets of scroll wheels for regular vertical and horizontal, it also comes with buttons that can be set as macros for custom functions in some apps, plus is moulded and sculpted to fit the right hand. It even has the ability to jump from computer to computer thanks to some automatic device switching technology.
Yes, it’s a little more costly than other mice, but it’s one of the best mice around.
Available at Logitech and Officeworks
Apple Magic Trackpad
Price: $219
A little more exy again, Apple’s Magic Trackpad remains one of the largest and most spacious external mice you can get, providing the feel and gesture control of Apple’s inbuilt trackpads, but in an external way.
And with the latest update from iPadOS launched with the 2020 iPad Pro, it’s not just a trackpad for a Mac, but also for iPads, too.
Windows users may struggle a bit to get it to work, but there are some Magic Trackpad Windows instructions online, just don’t expect the same “magic” gesture functionality across the board.
Available at Apple
Belkin USB-C Express Dock
Price: $369
In a world that uses a lot of USB Type C (and some Thunderbolt, too), it’s not surprising that laptops are mostly headed to that small reversible port.
It’s on phones, tablets, and laptops, and often it’s there multiple times, even taking the place of standard USB and HDMI ports.
So what do you do if you need several? Use a port replicator.
Belkin has two, with this one being for USB Type C while another model is equipped for Thunderbolt 3 alongside, adding old school USB, new school Type C USB, HDMI, and Ethernet in a port that only needs the one Type C connector.
Available at Belkin
Dell 24 inch P2419HC
Price: $319
Thinking of having an external monitor to work as one second monitor?
Dell’s 24 inch wouldn’t be out of line, and offers a USB Type C connection for folks who have those USB Type C connectors on their computer, meaning just one cord is needed to connect it up. In fact, if you have that Type C connect, Dell says the P2419HC should even recharge your computer at the same time, meaning you only need the one Type C connection.
If you don’t have Type C, that’s ok, too, as the screen supports HDMI and DisplayPort, meaning older computers can plug in, too.
Available at Dell
Unfortunately, because monitors are in demand throughout the coronavirus crisis, you might have trouble finding one of these or will be thrust into a wait queue of quite a few weeks.
If you’re looking for a replacement and have that Type C connection on the side of your computer (such as on the MacBook Air), consider any number of other monitors that advertises support for USB Type C with one cable to charge your monitor and provide video, as while the screen’s panel will be different, the easy plug connectivity may be what you’re after.
Alternatively, you may want to look for something a little bigger, because with a slightly higher price, these are likely to be found a little more regularly, such as the below…
Samsung 34 inch Ultra WQHD
Price: $899
One of the more useful styles of monitor for a desk is the ultra-wide, and there’s a great reason why: an ultra-wide monitor makes it easier to stack windows side by side, as if you have two monitors.
Yes, it will take up a decent amount of space on your desk, but if you fancy the idea of having two screens in the one, ultra-wide screens like this are an option.
Available at Bing Lee, Harvey Norman, JB HiFi, and Officeworks
