Home Office Setup: The Basic Equipment You Need As An Online Worker
You’ve already made one of the impost important career choices in your life and you’ve just decided to choose an online job as your main source of living. Now you are facing another burden that revolves around the question, “What is the equipment that I need should an online company hire me?”
Worry no longer reader, because the answer to that is right here presented in front of you. Without further ado, let’s talk about them in detail, so you will have the enlightenment you badly need.
What you’ll learn here:
The first thing to have, of course, is a computer. It is the machine on which online jobs, as well as any modern technical job, are so dependent on. If you don’t own one, then you should start scraping enough budget so you can do the purchase.
Laptop or desktop, which one is better?
In buying a computer, the question would be, should I buy a laptop or a desktop? In being an online worker, either machine is fine. Knowing which one to pick should just be based on the pros and cons for each of them.
Laptop
Pros:
- portable
- consumes lesser power
- equipped with built-in devices such as camera, microphone, speakers
Cons:
- more expensive
- can’t be easily upgraded
- smaller screen display
- limited keyboard features
Desktop
Pros:
- less expensive
- can be easily upgraded
- bigger screen display
Cons:
- bulky
- consumes more power
Laptop or desktop, it all boils down to one major factor: the computer’s specifications. Working at home means you will have to stay in one place anyway, so choosing the former or the latter is actually irrelevant, what matters are the capabilities of your chosen machine.
Basic computer specifications you have to be aware of
Today’s typical computers have the following specs:
- 4 GB of RAM
- 500 GB of hard disk space
- 2-3 Ghz of CPU speed
A computer is basically gauged with 3 major components: RAM size, hard disk storage capacity, and the processing speed of the CPU. Everything else is just embellishments. The above-mentioned specs are ideal enough for typical computer tasks. However, you have to consider something of greater capabilities if the online jobs you seek are those that are very resource-hungry.
Such jobs include video editing, graphics manipulation, and animation. If you plan on having jobs like these, you have to consider buying a computer with the following specs:
- 20 GB of RAM or higher
- 1 TB of hard disk space
- 5 Ghz of CPU Speed
- 8 GB of graphics card memory
The significant increase in RAM size compared to the previous setting is very noticeable. This is due to the very high demands of most video-editing jobs. Hard disk space is also very important. Commonly, computers today come equipped with a 1 TB hard disk, but for jobs that deal with video and animation, this is not enough. You have to consider buying additional external storage devices, preferably those that can be plugged in USB ports.
In addition to the hard disk being large in capacity, it must also have the speed needed to cater to the data transfer rate demands of video editing. Solid-State Drives (SSD) are the disk of choice for today’s video professionals. Having a large RAM and fast CPU surely can make work faster, but non-SSD hard disks can certainly slow you down.
For the operating system, Windows 7 should be fine. Although most picky people would opt to have Windows 8 or 10 as they are more advanced, many computer technicians declare that compatibility-wise, there is really no huge difference among the 3 OSs.
Of course, buying a more powerful computer means greater financial costs. But if dealing with computer graphics is your passion, then it shouldn’t matter to you at all. Nothing feels heavier than having to work on an online job that you despise deep within.
For most online jobs, the first set of given specifications is actually more than enough.
For internet connection, most online companies require you to have at least 3 – 5 Mbps. It should already be ideal enough to handle the download and upload rates needed.
Basic computer accessories for a home office
Now for accessories. Some online jobs especially those voice-driven ones require the inclusion of high-quality speakers and earphones. Such jobs include virtual assistance, transcribing, and technical support. In addition to speakers, you may also choose to have a microphone with noise-canceling features. This is to ensure that unnecessary sounds get filtered out.
But as long as you can set up your home office within a quiet neighborhood, or if you can do some soundproofing within your room, any typical earphones and mic will do.
Another important piece of equipment that must be present in the list of all aspiring online job-hunters is a backup power system. Some online companies are actually very notorious and ruthless in their client-dealing policies. Online teaching, for instance, requires that you start your class and end it properly.
Power outages can really ruin your online teaching career – it is a real problem told by people who have been into this gig for many years already. To prevent this problem from ever occurring, Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS) boxes should be present in your home office. If you are using a laptop, heavy-duty power banks could already be enough.
The next accessories and equipment that we will discuss are not really mandatory requirements. However, you might want to also consider buying them so that you can have greater comfort while dealing with your online clients.
Ergonomic keyboard – is a keyboard designed in a manner that will result in lesser muscle strain to your hands and wrists while typing. They are of course more expensive than standard keyboards. Many gamers buy them so that they can enjoy more gaming time with lesser body pain.
Additional monitor – depending on your chosen online job, an extra monitor could really come in handy especially if your job mostly deals with layouting and designing. The views will be wider and better, and you can certainly finish your job faster and much more efficiently.
Table lighting equipment – for virtual assistants and online teachers, this one is really useful. You can set it to emit light at a specific angle so that your face can be clearly visible to your clients from far places. LED lamps used by many of today’s photographers are ideal for this requirement. They are lightweight, rechargeable, and consume very little power.
Ergonomic chair – Although not really categorized as a piece of computer equipment, offices including the one in your home could be really made better if it has a chair of this kind. It gives you far better comfort as you sit, type, and talk for many hours as you do your job. Back pain and neck strains could be greatly minimized by this.
Business-conducive backdrop – Also not in the computer equipment list, you need to give ample time on deciding how to set up your backdrop objects. This will be highly dependent on what your chosen company requires. Make sure you follow them to the letter as some applicants get rejected simply because they failed to provide a business-conducive setting for their home office.
That should be all the things needed in having an online job. Before choosing to buy any or all of them, let me remind you that you need to deeply think them through. Weigh down your options properly as it will be a very huge investment especially for someone who’s on the first steps of choosing a new career.
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