This guide is one part of a series designed to help you get the most out of working from home. Check out our others:
1. Office equipment
2. Software essentials
3. Home office furniture
As we all face up to working from home on a more regular basis, it's prudent to equip a home office with devices that will help you perform your job to the best of your ability, and to furnish your surroundings in a way that will help make it not only a productive space, but also a pleasant one.
In this guide we review and recommend the best hardware upgrades you can make to your home office to help you work from home.
Looking for something specific? Try these quick links:
Computer monitors
External hard drives
Laptops
Webcams
Headphones
Best computer monitors
To truly get the most out of that new PC or laptop you’ve invested in, a great-performing monitor is vital. Most of the information you take in from your computer comes through the display and it’s worth having a quality one for a positive computing experience. Not to mention the productivity gains made from working with two screens. Because there are so many to choose from, we’ve rounded up our picks to help you find the right one for your needs.
Now that the best PCs and laptops can handle 4K easier than ever before, 4K monitors are all over the place. That’s why BenQ released the PD3200U, a massive 32-inch Ultra HD display, as part of its Designer Monitor range.
Designers particularly love this display, thanks to the factory-calibrated color accuracy and CAD/CAM mode. Marketed to creatives and professionals, BenQ has designed, seemingly by istake, a panel that gamers will enjoy as well, making it one of the best monitors all-around – so long as they can find the space for it on their desks.
Also worth considering
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The best computer monitors compared
| Cloud service | Screen size | Resolution | Brightness | Contrast ratio | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BenQ PD3200U | 32-inch | 3840 x 2160 | 350 cd/m2 | 1,000:1 | $699 |
| Asus Designo Curve MX38VC | 37.5-inch | 3840 x 1600 | 300 cd/m2 | 1,000:1 | $899 |
| Dell UltraSharp UP3218K | 32-inch | 7680 x 4320 | 400 cd/m2 | 1,300:1 | $3,999.99 |
Best external hard drives
External hard drives will save you money. Instead of paying for expensive upgrades to an existing laptop, or buying a new one, hard drives are a way to save money and protect your files. They’re perfect backup solutions not just for personal but business use as well. These are our picks for the best external hard drives right now.
If you’re looking for the best external hard drive that will save you money, Buffalo's MiniStation Extreme NFC could be your match made in heaven.
With compatibility for both Mac and Windows machines, the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC is very flexible, and comes with a rugged case that's dust and water resistant, along with a built-in USB 3.0 cable.
Not only is your data kept protected from knocks and drops with the rugged shell, but it's also got 256-bit AES security features and NFC (Near Field Communication) features as well.
Essentially it allows you to unlock the drive to get to your files quickly and easily by tapping the supplied NFC card onto the drive's body. Pretty neat!
Other recommendations
The best external hard drives compared
| Hard drive | Capacity | Connectivity | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC | 1TB / 2TB | USB 3.0 | $114.99 / $164.99 |
| Western Digital My Passport Ultra | 2TB / 4TB | USB 3.0 | $79.99 / $114.99 |
| Samsung T5 SSD external hard drive | 1TB / 2TB | USB 3.1 | $129.99 / $229.99 |
Back to external hard drives top.
Best business laptops
Over the course of a year, we review over 150 laptops covering every price point and use case. If you’re looking for a productivity workhorse - the perfect business laptop- then these are the computers for you. In our evaluations, we focus on design and comfort, display quality, the keyboard and touchpad, performance, battery life and especially value. These are our picks for the best business laptops you can buy right now.
What do you get when you put one of Intel’s new Tiger Lake processors into a Dell XPS 13? Even more speed. The latest Dell XPS 13 keeps all the things we loved about this year’s previous model, such as a smaller frame, four-sided InfinityEdge bezels and a larger keyboard.
This refresh brings Intel’s 11th Gen Tiger Lake processor and a host of promised features, including better CPU and graphics performance and longer battery life. You also get Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6.
But does Tiger Lake live up to the hype? Absolutely. With the new Intel Iris Xe GPU you can play certain AAA games on an integrated GPU, albeit on low settings. And in many cases, the overall performance is top-notch as well.
The battery life even surpasses Intel’s new Evo standards by two hours. Those looking for a business laptop with equal parts beauty, power and longevity, the Dell XPS 13 is the laptop for you.
Other recommendations
The best business laptops compared
| Video conferencing service | CPU | GPU | RAM | Storage | Display | Weight | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dell XPS 13 | Intel Core i7-1165G7 | Intel Iris Xe Graphics | 16GB | 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD | 13.4-inch, 1200p | 2.8 pounds | $1,400 |
| MacBook Pro M1 | Apple M1 | Apple M1 GPU | 16GB | 1TB | 13.3-inches, 1600p | 3 pounds | $1,200 |
| Acer Swift 3 2020 | AMD Ryzen 7 4700U | AMD Radeon Graphics | 8GB | 512GB SSD | 14-inch, 1080p | 2.7 pounds | $809.00 |
Best webcams
When working from home, or if you're unable to visit friends and family, webcams can not only be essential tools, but lifelines as well, that allow us to keep in contact with colleagues, friends and loved ones remotely. An upgrade from a laptop or smartphone's built-in camera will mean vastly improved image and sound quality and make these essential communications all the better. These are the best webcams you can buy right now.
Our top pick for the best webcams is more than just a webcam. The Logitech StreamCam won’t just have your back when you’re video conferencing, video chatting with families and friends, and live streaming your games. This feature-rich 1080p webcam has many tools to offer for your content creation needs as well, including auto-focusing, smart exposure, facial tracking, up to 60fps frame rate, and a flippable design so you can take photos and videos in 9:16 format. You can even mount it on a tripod, and it uses USB Type-C for fast and more efficient video transfer speeds.
Also recommended
Best webcams compared
| Product | Resolution | Connectivity | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logitech StreamCam | 1080p | USB Type C | Smart auto-focus and exposure, AI-enabled facial tracking, 9:16 format, built-in electronic image stabilization | $199.90 |
| Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 | 720p | USB Type C | Colour correction, noise cancelling | $55.95 |
| Microsoft LifeCam Studio | 1080p | USB Type C | Colour correction, hi-fi microphone, Skype | $99.00 |
Best headphones for work
With many of us working from home on a regular basis, having a good pair of headphones with a mic is vital, allowing you to stay in touch and engaged in conference calls wherever you are. There's a huge amount of choice out there, which can make choosing the best headset for conference calls difficult. These are our picks for the best business headphones and earphones picks out there.
The Sony WH-1000XM4 are the best all-around business headphones in 2020, thanks to their combination of excellent sound quality and noise cancellation, as well as being wireless.
Not only do they sound great and pack excellent noise cancellation, but they manage to do this all wirelessly.
While they don't look significantly different from their predecessors, a number of new features including multipoint pairing, DSEE Extreme upscaling, conversational awareness and auto-play/pause using a built-in sensor all help the WH-1000XM4 claim the title of best headphones in 2020.
Offering all of this without a serious price-premium over the competition means the Sony WH-1000XM4 are a great all-around choice.
You could also consider:
The best headphones for business compared
| Product | Acoustic design | Cable length | Battery life | Wireless range | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sony WH-1000XM4 | Closed | 3.94 feet | 30 hours | 98 feet | $298.00 |
| Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 | Closed | None | 24 hours | 330 feet | $62.98 |
| Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless | Closed | 4.6 feet | 25+ hours | 30+ feet | $349.95 |
More working from home guides and product deals
This guide is one part of a series designed to help you get the most out of working from home. Make working from home as comfortable and as productive as you can:
