Computers for the home office - what should you look out for?

Teleworking offers us the incredible convenience of being able to independently determine the conditions, place and even the time at which we perform our duties. The quality of the devices we use to carry out our professional duties will be decisive for optimal working comfort at our home desk.

Stationary or portable computer?

The first question we should ask ourselves when choosing hardware for our home office is: should it be a stationary computer or a good laptop? One argument in favor of the former solution is its performance. Unfortunately, laptop components have a lower computing power. This is due to the fact that they have to be scaled down to fit into a much smaller unit, which has a significant impact on working comfort. Stationary computers are an investment in the future. You can replace the components in them, increase the GB capacity of the RAM memory or choose a fast SSD hard disk. With a laptop, there are natural limitations in this respect. But you shouldn't immediately rule out portable devices. At this point, the best computer models from the Dell or Lenovo brands are worth a look. A business laptop with the logo of these American technology giants will ensure sufficiently fast operation of the computer and the possibility of replacing the SSD hard disk or RAM memory in this case is similar to that of a stationary computer. A comfortable laptop will also be equipped with a fingerprint sensor and Touchscreen for security reasons and will have a long battery life. The most obvious reason why customers choose a portable computer is the need to guarantee comfortable teleworking. We don't have to confine ourselves to one room. We can do some of the work in the kitchen over our morning coffee, or even in bed when we're not quite ready to start the day (after all, that's what a mobile computer is for, isn't it?). The specifics of working from home require customers to choose certain convenient solutions, but we can't overcome technological limitations. So what components are important for working remotely?

Hardware that ensures comfortable teleworking

The vast majority of people for whom a laptop or PC is only a tool for teleworking are unlikely to have particularly high expectations. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that our home office hardware meets certain requirements. The first choice, which may seem surprising, is the network card. It guarantees us an appropriate data connection capacity. To put it simply, there are wired network cards and wireless network cards, with the former naturally guaranteeing us better Internet functionality. Unfortunately, not everyone has the option of connecting directly to a device that provides an Internet connection using an appropriate transmission medium. A common solution, however, is a Wi-Fi connection. Therefore, when choosing a wireless network card, it is important to consider which data transmission standards are supported.
For example, we differentiate between

• 802.11b - data transfer rate 11 Mb/s, frequency band 2.4 GHz
• 802.11g - data transfer rate 54 Mb/s, frequency band 2.4 GHz
• 802.11n - data transfer rate 300 Mb/s, frequency band 5 GHz or 150 Mb/s and frequency band 2.4 GHz
• 802.11ac - data transfer rate up to 1 Gb/s
• 802.11ax - data transfer rate up to 10 Gb/s

It is important to remember that the above data transfer rates can only be achieved if the Internet service provider provides them in its package. You should therefore check this before purchasing.

Sufficient RAM memory for teleworking

Another important question is the size of the RAM memory. It ensures multifunctionality, i.e. how many applications can be used simultaneously. In our opinion, a RAM memory of 8 GB should be the absolute minimum for effective teleworking. However, 16 GB is recommended. The operating system alone takes up 2/3 GB of the RAM and internet browsers (especially Google Chrome) use a lot of its capacity. It is therefore worth opting for a larger RAM so that you don't have to worry about it being too small.
If we already have these two components with a better standard, we can work online without any problems, but the rest are also important for the proper functioning of the hardware so that we can work comfortably.

Generous SSD hard disk

With the current technological standards, there is no other solution to consider than a generously sized SSD hard disk. It allows you to access and save files much faster than an old HDD hard disk. How its capacity should be sized is a matter of opinion, as data storage in the cloud has become somewhat standard in teleworking. It's a very convenient solution because, among other things, we don't have to buy more SSD hard disks. If we run out of storage space, we simply buy a larger package of this service. We also don't have to worry about the security of our files or fear data loss in the event of a defect. In today's world, this leads to the choice of solutions such as Chromebook, in which AMSO is seeing considerable interest. However, if we do not like this type of solution, we should make sure that our laptop has a hard disk with a capacity of at least 256 GB.
The processor is also a very important element of our computer. The following parameters are recommended for it: four cores and a clock frequency of at least 2 GHz. Most Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7 processors meet these requirements.
In a computer used for office work, the graphics card does not play a particularly important role, so it is not necessary to look for a more expensive specialized card. An integrated graphics card (in the processor) fully meets our needs. An exception is working with software that demands much more from our graphics system (e.g. AutoCAD for technical drawings or Blender for modeling and image processing as well as 3D animations).
A webcam and microphone are required for communication during teleworking. In most cases, both components are built into the laptop, but unfortunately not in a stationary computer, so you have to buy them separately.

Accessories and components for optimal work on the computer

When choosing a camera, you should pay attention to parameters such as resolution and frame rate. For video calls, you don't need a resolution higher than HD (1280 x 720) or a frame rate of more than 30 fps (frames per second). Interestingly, there may be a built-in microphone, which is perfectly adequate. However, if it is missing, it is best to buy a microphone with headphones. Why? The noise from the loudspeakers is picked up by the microphone, resulting in various types of feedback that interfere with the reproduction of the audio signal. The sound quality of microphones is influenced by parameters such as impedance, sensitivity and frequency response, but if we are interested in a simple microphone for online conversations, it is not necessary to pay attention to these parameters.
The last component is the monitor so that we can see our work clearly and legibly. The larger the screen size and resolution (at least HD), the better the ergonomics for spending many hours at the computer. One solution worth considering is to get two monitors. This is often necessary to be able to work with several programs at the same time, when switching between them is a real pain. An additional large monitor solves this problem because you can see several windows at the same time.

How to choose a laptop or a stationary computer for teleworking?

To summarize, working from home does not require much from your future computer. However, you should pay attention to specific components:

• RAM memory size
• generously sized SSD hard disk
• powerful Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 processor
• preferably a wireless network card
• Monitor / monitors

We have prepared the following computer hardware at an affordable price so that everyone can work comfortably. Regardless of what kind of work you do, you can choose a good laptop or stationary computer for little money from the following list.