HACKER Q&A
📣 sabrina_ramonov

Favorite Home Office Purchase?


Mine: mug that keeps coffee/tea warm for an hour


  👤 norwayjose Accepted Answer ✓
Aeron chair - I bought this in 1999 and it's been much more comfortable than any chair I've used at any office I've ever worked in.

4k monitor - Picked this up on a Black Friday sale 1.5 years ago. It's much easier on my eyes than the HD monitor my company provides in the office.

KVM - Allows me to switch between my work laptop and some of the higher end embedded machines I work with. I end up needing to swap cables at work.


👤 swatcoder
A private office away from my actual home.

I've been remote for most of my career and keeping an physically distinct office/workshop has demonstrated a very high ROI both financially and pyschologically.

It's the best of both worlds: mental separation of work and play/rest; rent that's cheaper per sqft than residential space; work in "town" with home that's quietly removed; a practical workshop with a simpler aesthetic at home; and still no on-site colleagues, cubes, open offices, drama, etc


👤 kingkongjaffa
I’ve been a remote worker since September 2019.

Sit stand desk - help avoid being sedentary as a remote worker, an electronic one with preset heights.

Herman miller chair - i got mine used for £400, 5 years ago, still perfect.

Keychron keyboard - might as well take advantage of having no coworkers and got full thoccy keyboard. Click clack.

Lots of notebooks - leuchtturm1917 brand.

A standing or wall mounted whiteboard - I draw a 3x3 grid on mine and each square can get a postit note to help me task manage in my physical space.

A USB powered desk light - i put this on to improve the lighting and for video calls, mine is temperature adjustable from cool to warm.

Sharpies / pens / copic markers - even in tech don’t underestimate the power of creating things in physical space. Sometimes I go straight to code or figma, other times my process starts on paper.


👤 nickfromseattle
Walking pad so you can walk while you work. Helps minimize negative health impact of working too much.

👤 nicbou
Switching everything to USB-C. It makes everything much simpler, especially when backpacking. Everything charges everything using the same cables. At last I also found a USB-C shaver (from Manscaped).

That aside, the desk on my balcony. I loooove working outdoors among my plants and hearing birds sing.

I also got my money's worth with Airpod Pros. I carry them almost everywhere. They're great when working in coffee shops and noisy environments.


👤 jmercouris
A large format keyboard/mouse pad (it fits both). It has changed how I use my desktop. Before my mouse pad would slide around, now it is a non issue.

👤 sbolt
I bought a BenQ desk lamp that sits on my monitor a few years back and have loved it since. Lights up my whole desk evenly and is out of the way. https://www.benq.com/en-us/lighting/monitor-light/screenbar-...

👤 keiferski
Multiple monitors. Every time I'm away from my 3-monitor set up, I feel vastly less productive for most (but not all) tasks.

👤 wannabebarista
Logitech M500S corded mouse. I've been using some version of this mouse since 2002, and it fits better than any other I've tired. Plus it's around $30.

Steelcase Think chair. I used this chair in my work office and couldn't find another chair that worked for me at home long term.


👤 freedomben
Without a doubt, the UHK (Ultimate Hacking Keyboard). It changed (for the better) the way I use my desktop. I even ended up buying a travel case for it so I can take it on business trips where I will do a lot of keyboarding. By far my favorite home office purchase.

👤 olegious
One thing I haven't seen mentioned- a wall mounted monitor arm. I use an adjustable sit/stand desk and hated even the minor vibrations produced by my typing, attaching my monitor to a wall mounted arm eliminated this issue.

👤 mydriasis
Kensington slimblade trackball. Very configurable ( though on Linux you'll need to write some config files ) and very attractive. Has been very OK ergonomically.

👤 scottmcdot
Herman Miller chair.

👤 ssc23
Yeti Rambler, Rubz Ball(best for foot sole massage)

👤 softwaredoug
The Magic Keyboard with touch-id probably saves countless amount of time with authentication.

👤 beretguy
ThinkPad wired keyboard so that I don’t have to move my arm away from home row (because it has track point).

👤 runjake
Noise-cancelling ear devices. Bose QC 25 that take the (user-serviceable) AA batteries and AirPods Pro.

👤 andrei_says_
Logitech lift vertical ergonomic mouse. Replaced the logo drivers with better mouse for macOS.

👤 I_am_tiberius
- Kinesis Advantage 360 keyboard

- Logitech MX Ergo

- Laptop stand (Fatorm)


👤 Crier1002
standing desk and a monitor for sure.