Working from home

Easy setup

I work quite a bit from home – both because I can and because lots of things come up during the weekend/evenings. We have a mantra of “when it gets done, it doesn’t matter where you are” at Seedcamp, so I just stay home some days to focus (and have music pumping all day).

The key to actually get stuff done here is in my opinion a very simple question of setup – I have the same monitor, keyboard, and mouse at home as I use in the office. I just plug my laptop in and sit down, all works. Now all I need here is a nice Aeron chair, maybe I’ll find one falling off a truck.

I feel that the resolution on the 13 inch Macbook is not really great for working on the road. Email and some light excel work is ok, but anything beyond that is annoying – it’s only 800px high, not much more than a netbook. The external 24 inch monitor only cost me a hundred pounds, and I can use it to watch movies as well. I contemplated the 15 inch Macbook with a high res display, but it’s just too big to lug around (and an expensive step up if only concerned with the display). Let’s hope for an update, because beyond that, it’s a great machine.

My update was the 1m pine board standing on Ikea Capita kitchen shelf legs for a couple of pounds. It’s simple, cheap and very useful, as i can store lots of stuff below it and keep the desk area clean. The Monitor is not height-adjustable, so it’s also quite good for my back – i am tall sitting up. This is one for Roitsch not to miss in his quest for the ultimate desk!

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5 Comments

  1. Great! And thanks a lot for the glimpse into your personal office. Can you recommend the Dell display? I am looking for a external display myself and the offers are huge. Setting up the display so high is a great idea! I can really feel it exhausting my back sitting a long time infront of my 13″ at home. And thanks a lot for the post! It reminds me to focus on the quest again!

  2. The Dell is really nice – and quite cheap. Got it used, so best deal ever. I think most displays in that range have the same panel (=tech) anyways, so it doesn’t really matter. There are some Samsung displays with LED technology, they will look a bit better next to your mbp, but are of course quite pricey.
    If anything, get an external monitor, at least 1080x resolution. Sitting at a laptop for hours is the worst for your back.

  3. Very cool. One question though. How much tidying up did you have to do before taking the picture? :-). Mine is usually in such a mess that it can be considered an environmental hazard.

  4. Heh… as you see, there’s not much space to throw stuff, so its not that
    messy. I keep everything quite organised digitally, and i move away paper as
    soon as I can – I leave it on the desk until then, but it is so annoying in
    the small space that I just tidy it up (=throw it in the appropriate box or
    the trash).

    Also, I intentionally moved here with almost nothing, so the only things I
    possess are useful (toiletries, various cables, and some tools), personally
    interesting (books, camera, sports stuff), or clothing (and many, many
    sneakers under my bed). This makes it easy to tidy up every day.

    I was never a very ordered person, but having little (shelve) space helps a
    lot.

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