Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about redesigning our home office. Currently, it is very, well… normal. My wife has a desk and I have a desk. It has drawers with standard stuff like paper clips that I haven’t used in probably 5 years.
It got me thinking… what could be added to make this better. I came up with a few things off the top of my head:
- Professional Speakerphone – My wife is spending more and more time working from home. As part of that arrangement, she’s has a lot of conference calls. It may be overkill, but I thought it was worth getting a quote on a Polycom IP phone solution.
- New Computer – I’m still happy with my Asus Zenbook and when it comes time to upgrade, I might buy another. However, LG has been seducing me with a 2 pound Ultrabook with the attractive name of “Ultra PC 13Z940.” It has everything that I want in a laptop, in a very small package. It doesn’t have a touch screen, but I don’t use it on my current computer. It seems to be only available in Asia and Australia, so I’ll have to dream about it from afar. Then there’s Microsoft’s new Surface that they announced yesterday. I can’t wait to read the in-depth reviews on it to see if it really is a laptop with no compromises. Hopefully by the time my Zenbook quits on me, there will be a Surface 7.0.
- Treadmill Desk – Walking my dog keeps my Fitbit registering a high number of steps. Imagine what I could do if I had a treadmill desk to work at all day. I’d probably be pulling in 30,000 steps a day where the average person is around 5,000. If you are thinking of a treadmill desk, I recommend reading Danny Sullivan’s experiment at CNET.
As for other parts of my office, it looks like the Epson printer I wrote about here finally solved most of those woes. Before that purchase, my biggest headache was getting a signed contract to partners. The print, sign, scan, process with a temperamental printer is a nightmare.
So what would you put in your perfect home office? Feel free to stretch a hypothetical budget if you really think a product has great value.