I'm preparing to shift to a fully remote work setup and want to maximise its effectiveness. So I would like to ask you, which work-from-home purchases had the most significant positive impact on your comfort, productivity, and well-being?
Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
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Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
#2houseplants
Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
#3A good ergonomic desk/chair setup. Exactly what that means will depend on what works best for you (and remember that expensive doesn't always mean better).
Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
#4"Real" Chair (Steelcase / Herman Miller) and four-legged standing desk (better stability). Plus a handheld "mouse" (ELECOM Relacon) so when I'm reading I can stand differently or do light movement/exercise. Blowing $2.5K on a desk + chair is a lot, but also not a lot depending on your perspective.
Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
#5houseplants
100% if you live in a city and don’t have outside space for yourself.Plants are the last line of defence for your mental health in that case.
Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
#6Not quite wfh specific but as I was having to type and diagram more, I found an ipad, apple pen and nebo notes was an incredible improvement in my productivity.
I can easily share my ipad screen and draw like I would with pen and paper, and then save the notes to send or keep alongside code/docs.
Also being able to quickly handwrite notes and memos, double tap to transcribe, and then copy them to slack/notion/an email is awesome.
I will admit it feels like a bit of a waste of an ipad with that being its only function for me, but if anything in this setup broke I would replace it in a heartbeat.
Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
#7"Real" Chair (Steelcase / Herman Miller) and four-legged standing desk (better stability). Plus a handheld "mouse" (ELECOM Relacon) so when I'm reading I can stand differently or do light movement/exercise. Blowing $2.5K on a desk + chair is a lot, but also not a lot depending on your perspective.
I'm sorry I've been searching steelcase and Herman Miller for a chair for awhile. what does "Real" mean here?
Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
#8I bought standing desk legs and attached it to a wodden desktop that fit my space perfectly.
They are pretty easy to buy and install yourself, I got mine from amazon.
Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
#9I found that I never used a standing desk when I had one, and the health benefits are dubious.
I bought a decent Microphone (jlab talk pro) and a $200 Webcam (Logitech brio 4k). Since all of my interactions are over Webcam I wanted to have something better than the default laptop Webcam. Also I do my work on a desktop
I would also recommend building a PC. I run several docker containers at once and the company issued MacBook pro is very sluggish with this. I built my own PC with lots of ram and (what was at the time) a good cpu.
Also, learn about different kinds of house lights (ambient, task, accent) and get some RGB LED light bulbs so you can control the light level of your home effectively. I have some Ikea lights which light up the whole apartment during the day, but if I'm up late working, I only have a warm LED light on a spring arm lamp over my desk that I use. Some people light to get lights that attach to their monitors and point at your desktop
Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?
#10"Real" Chair (Steelcase / Herman Miller) and four-legged standing desk (better stability). Plus a handheld "mouse" (ELECOM Relacon) so when I'm reading I can stand differently or do light movement/exercise. Blowing $2.5K on a desk + chair is a lot, but also not a lot depending on your perspective.
I'm sorry I've been searching steelcase and Herman Miller for a chair for awhile. what does "Real" mean here?
Presumably not a "gaming chair" or any of the other garbage that has become popular recently.