So, you are a programmer, and they finally decided to give you more “work from home” time. That is good! Except you soon realized it is not going to be a regular WFH, because as it appears your favorite coffee places are closed, malls as well, and it is not recommendable to be outside at all.
Could it be? It seems you are actually going to work from home!
You are just like me, and that is not bad… Not so much. But now it is too much WFH, and as days pass by, you realize only a laptop on a desk is not going to be enough.
Your desk needs to get pimped, so let’s go! But yeah, let’s not spend too much money eather.
MOUSE
Surely, the first thing you might notice missing is a wireless mouse. But you are not going to notice that, because you are at least that much equipped. Every household has a mouse, even my grandma’s, therefore you can skip this part.
Oh, but you did not skip… That is fine, here is something you might be interested in.
My favorite kind of mouse is the one with left/right click, and a scroll wheel. Apart from our mouse not having 5–6 clickable parts, we should make sure it is also not heavy, and it has a long battery life.
Therefore, if I were you, I would go with this minimalistic piece of art called “HP Wireless Mouse Z3700”! But like, don’t take the black one.
The second best thing is you can try it on a variety of surfaces, and the first best is that you can find it for under $20.
KEYBOARD
Look, I am going to tell it to you straight. I will give you four options on what to do here. Have in mind though, you’re not Beethoven, but you’re also not a teacher.
The first option is if really the only thing you care about is saving money. Hopefully it is not. But if it is, then just go on and buy any good looking Chinese copy. Those you can find for $15, and the only tip is to try and find a copy of a very expensive keyboard.
The Second one is for adventurers. You can tell everything from the image.
Yeah it is ergonomic, and that’s great. You’ll need time to get adjusted to this type, so just remember that this is all going to be over soon. Before you know it, we’ll be back in the office with our old classic style keyboards, and you’ll have to get readjusted once again.
However if I really woke up your imagination, then…Yeah, I can’t help you here.
Third is the Beethoven option, which is for keyboard players, that are actually gamers because they play on the keyboard… However, you are not Beethoven, and you are trying to get some budget quality, which brings us to the fourth option Budget Keyboard!
Well, basically that is the point of this whole post, so I could’ve started from there.
I am a fan of non-mechanical keyboards. I know there are people out there enjoying that mechanical keyboard sound, but I like to not feel any difference when switching from laptop to it. Apart from that, the only other two criteria I have here is the battery life, and good wide rubber feet. Weight really doesn’t matter since you are not going to be moving it around.
Please take a look at my favorite “Microsoft Surface Keyboard”!
MIcrosoft says the battery will be good for twelve months, I guess only time can tell.
Another nice thing is that it connects via bluetooth, so no need to take another usb jack into usage. Also you can get this one for about $80, which is really not bad taking everything into consideration.
HEADPHONES
If you live alone, you don’t really need these, and your life is sad. On the other hand if you have a roommate, or a roommate with kids, it would be rude to always have sound on speakers when listening to a “Deep jungle walk”, or maybe other people talking on meetings.
To be honest, I don’t think anyone really needs some expensive sound cancelling headphones. Actually earphones are a fine choice as well. There is only one feature that headphones must have, and I wouldn’t even mention this if I haven’t seen some that do not have a MUTE button.
Nobody wants to hear your vacuum cleaner, doors closing, or party. You need easy access to be able to mute yourself the second you stop talking.
In conclusion, find headphones with a mute button.
DESKTOP MONITOR
Now, this section is no joke! You can easily go on and spend a large amount of money, whilst you could’ve taken a much cheaper option and still get a good quality.
As a developer, you understand the perks of having the best monitor. Eye irritation, and headaches are not uncommon in our branch.
So we are looking for bright colors. Also we want to be able to view two visual studios at the same time without having to purchase two monitors, therefore we need a large screen area. A large monitor requires at least a full HD 1920x1080 resolution. You will hardly find one that has a bigger resolution and a low price. Also, you will prefer to have both VGA, and HDMI inputs, just so you don’t need to buy a converter additionally.
Basically, if you are not going to go further into specifications details, you will find many options that satisfy these conditions, and cost around $150 for a 23–27 inches monitor. Such would be a “Philips 276E9QDSB”.
But to conclude this post in a cool way, I would advise you to put in an extra hundred bucks and take a 32-Inch Full HD “LG 32MA70HY-P” for a spin.
It is large, it displays with quality, and as a bonus it has both inputs mentioned above.
One drawback that I could think of is that in the future, having a monitor like this, you’ll rather choose to actually work from home, than your favorite coffee place.
In conclusion, you pimped your desk for about $400. Now, have in mind that you purchased quality stuff that will last longer instead of going with the cheapest options that you would maybe even get tired of before they last out.
Next time we will talk about actually buying a new desk, and what type of wood to look for. Until then, the one you used in highschool and college will do just fine.
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