The Remote Worker's Starter Kit
From desks to hardware, a good remote worker needs to have their kit in order. These are battle tested and expert-approved pieces of hardware for your new remote life.
Chairs
The key to being a successful remote worker is keeping healthy. If you don't want to suffer from back pain, it's time to invest in a proper chair. In your home office, you are the boss, so get one that you like!
Gaming Chair by Respawn
Surely those overpriced gaming chairs are nonsense, right? Well, not exactly. Gaming chairs are known to be extremely ergonomic, while also being comfortable and are proven to be in the top class when it comes to health benefits. Additionally, many of them are made for the home environment and have special gadgets, like lean-back functions. While pricey, definitely a fun experiment for home!
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Classically Ergonomic Chair by NOUHAUS
Again, while not exactly cheap, having a well designed ergonomic chair for your home office is a must. Investing the few extra bucks in your health will undoubtedly pay off in the long run. This one by NOUHAUS has top ratings on Amazon amongst home workers.
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Something new: Ergonomic Kneeling Chair
For anyone looking to experiment a little, there are always new ergonomic chairs available. The newest generation seems to be a kneeling chair, which is said not only to support your back, but your knees, shins and behind too!
Get itLaptop Stands
Most home setups will benefits from a high-quality laptop stand in one way or another. Whether static or foldable, with an external display or simply a keyboard hooked up to this – these laptop stands will help you fight the hunchback.
Classic & Permanent: mStand by Rain Design
The classic, permanent and sturdy aluminium laptop stand by Rain Design is an amazing choice if you have a fixed desk setup you can use with a keyboard, mouse and possibly even external display. It will cool your laptop and also keep it from moving around while typing on it.
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On the go: Nexstand Laptop Stand
On the go, in coffee shops or even when working from the dinner table, a lighter and more nimble laptop stand could be what you need. The Nexstand laptop stand is foldable, comes with a portable case and is highly popular.
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Guilty pleasure: The bed tray
Now unfortunately we weren't able to try this one yet, but it seems to be something that should be in every remote worker's household. For one of "those days", the Nearpow bed tray laptop stand promises to make working possible in bed or on the sofa. If you decide to try it out, let us know how it goes!
Get itHeaphones, Headsets & Microphones
Can you hear me okay? If you love to listen to music while you work and would like to upgrade your audio quality for your calls and meetings, these are some great pieces to look at.
HyperX Gaming Headset
We are once again glancing over into the gaming world for a high-end hardware pick. HyperX are the top of the line when it comes to a headset that combines great microphone inputs with a headphone that dampens out background noise and sits incredibly comfortable.
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Bose QuietComfort 35 II
How did we ever live and go about our lives without headphones with active noise cancellation? If you ever work from a train, car ride, coffee shop or flight, these are a must. At the switch of a button, you go from hearing all sorts of background noise to nothing at all.
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Blue Yeti Microphone
If you really want to push your meeting quality to the next level, don't only invest into a Full HD camera, but also a proper desk microphone. Gone are the days of dangling earphone microphones or nasty headsets, hello audiophile!
Get itWebcams
All clear! If you don't want to offer your co-workers your blurry picture through the laptop camera, it's time to upgrade! A cheap webcam can already put you on Full-HD picture quality!
Logitech C920
Simply said, the C920 is the go-to remote work webcam. It'll get you from your badly lit and corny FaceTime HD camera to a proper image that is Full HD, runs at 30FPS and tries to get you into focus, even if you are in bad lighting. This is the baseline and probably a good investment.
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Logitech StreamCam
The newer Logitech StreamCam gives you that extra bit of something from a webcam. With USB-c it works perfectly (and often faster) with the newest generation of machines, runs at 60FPS instead of 30FPS, leading to more fluid motion and on top of that, comes with a more powerful software that allows you to set exposures, focus and more.
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DSLR like Nikon D3500
Looking to go for the extra mile? Buying a DSLR for Zoom meetings might seem a bit too much, but if you've wanted to experiment with photography anyways, now might be the time to push! A DSLR is hooked up to Zoom, WebEx & co. in a few minutes and will totally transform the image you send to your coworkers and meeting partners.
Get itBooks
The theory counts! Remote companies around the world have figured out the ins-and-outs of remote work and many of them have published books about this. These are our top picks!
Remote: Office Not Required
The leader is and will be David Heinemeier Hansson's and Jason Fried's "Remote" book for a long while to come. The book by Basecamp (at the time 37signals) founders Jason and David has been released almost a decade a go, but everything in it holds up perfectly to this day.
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The End of Jobs by Jeff Wald
What does the shift to remote work means for our future job and work lives? The End of Jobs covers a few topics that are rising together with remote work right now: automation, computerization, gig economy, remote work. A great read!
Get itLuxuries
As a home worker, you need to substitute the luxuries of going out, into a city or office with things at home. Whether it's a good cup of coffee or nice, cold, filtered water, these are our top picks for that.
A great french press
Instead of giving my money to the caring coffee lady every morning on my commute, I invested in a french press and a few nice coffee beans when I first became a remote worker. It has paid off! I tend to like my own cappuccino more than the coffee shop ones – and the coffee shop ones are amazing!
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A clicky keyboard: Keychron
If you don't need to be worried about annoying your co-workers anymore, you can go full clicky! If ergonomic or not, having the feeling and the aural feedback of typing makes a desk job a lot more enjoyable! My top pick here is Keychron. I rock the K2, but suppose most folks would take something bigger, like the K6.
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Hydroflask
Don't forget to hydrate! In an office, I never took a bottle with me. Our tap water wasn't the best and we didn't have a filter. I have multiple of these flasks at home now. I spend nothing on bottled water and finally got away from sugary drinks! Definitely a great investment as well.
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