Work From Home
If your experience was anything like mine, working from home was not exactly a smooth transition. Sure, I already have a home office of sorts set up, but it was meant to accommodate only one computer. So when my company sent me home with my work desktop, things got a little crowded and inconvenient. So I want to share a couple of products I use to make my WFH experience more bearable, and a couple of products I wish I had!
Synergy
|$10
one solution to the multiple computer dilemma, if you’ve got a strong wifi connection, is synergy! And they’re actually currently offering this for free to medical/response workers! You can learn more about it here. I’ve been using synergy for years to share my mouse and keyboard between my personal computer, and it works flawlessly. You will occasionally get some lag, or need to reset the connection if your wi-fi is not particularly fast, but overall I’ve had no issues using it, and it’s very fairly priced! $10 gets you the basic license, which you are free to install on as many computers as you would like.
KVM Switch
|$26
For those of us that already have a nice desk setup at home with our own monitors, keyboards and mice, adding a work computer to the setup can be an inconvenient process to say the least. I found myself having to unplug all my peripherals from my work computer and plug them into my gaming desktop every night, which is not something I want to deal with every day. Luckily, there are some pretty inexpensive solutions to this! One hardware solution to look into is a KVM switch. For whatever reason, a lot of the switches that incorporate video out such as HDMI as well as USB have pretty mixed reviews (and end up being more expensive), so you may want to stick with a purely USB only KVM switch and just run two separate cords from your monitor to each of your computers.
Standing Desk
|$300
The FIZEBO 48x24 height adjustable standing desk comes in at just $300, and looks to be the real deal. A good size with Programmable pre-set heights, and a three year warranty! My biggest worry with cheaper standing desks is that they will fall apart or just flat out stop working, but the reviews speak for themselves. Over 120 reviews from people that love it. One thing to consider though If you’re on the taller side, this desk tops out at 48.3”. By my very scientific and accurate tape measure test, I would say that standing at 5’ 10” that would be the perfect standing height for me. Taller people may need to prop it up a little bit, but if you’re not opposed to makeshift solutions, that’s nothing a couple of textbooks under the legs couldn’t solve. If you already own a desk and are looking for a more modular solution to fit your existing setup, take a look at their standing desk converter.