Working from home has been a big part of 2020 for some people, and while it may change, if you know someone who loves WFH, consider a way to upgrade their home office.
2020 has been one strange year, and while most of us are anxious to move on and bring in 2021, it has certainly changed one thing: the way many of us work.
With the pandemic in full swing, 2020 ushered in an era to allow many to work from home, and we’re not sure everyone will be able to go back, let alone if they will.
Some folks love the work-from-home office, and embrace the WFH, brandishing that three-letter-initialism as if it’s their life force, and look to making their home office even better than before.
If you know someone like this, this WFH gift guide is for them.
Belkin Boost Charge GaN 68W charger
Price: $90
A second charging pack for recent computers, a work from home tragic may end up being forced to go back in eventually, and that makes this especially useful. Belkin’s latest adaptor uses the new Gallium Nitride technology known as “GaN”, which runs cooler than standard silicon and means the power circuitry can pack into a smaller design overall.
In layfolk’s terms, it means the Belkin Boost Charge GaN 68W adaptor can be used to charge both a USB Type C-charged laptop and a phone in a smaller size than the bricks typically used to charge both, making it handy for both work and on the go.
Logitech MX Master 3
Price: $170
About the best mouse you can find, the Logitech MX Master 3 takes a sculpted mouse — sculpted for the right hand, sorry lefties — and adds a bunch of buttons that can be customised on an app-by-app basis.
As cool as customised buttons are, Logitech has pushed things to another level, supporting multiple computers. Thanks to the Logitech Flow software, your mouse can literally leap from computer to computer in an office, and even drag files with it. That’s about as cool as a mouse can get in the home office.
WD My Passport SSD
Price: $189 for 500GB or $319 for 1TB
One of the smallest and speediest ways to back up, WD’s external solid state drive for 2020 is actually one of the fastest and lightest you can find around. It’s as strong as the Samsung T7 SSD, and when compared against each other, both come out about as excellent as each other.
While a hard drive (or solid-state drive) may not seem like a cool present, it’s a thoroughly useful one, allowing the person you’re buying for to backup in something small that they can take with them, and that’s about as fast as a backup needs to be.
Brydge Stone Pro
Price: $320
Buying for folks who love to work from home may mean a gift that cleans up their desk, and a hub can do that.
Brydge’s Stone Pro is basically a dock for a laptop that adds ports and is made to sit under a laptop, expanding what that notebook can do without the added mess.
Nespresso Lattissima One
Price: $349
A good working environment needs a good dose of caffeine, which means it needs a coffee machine.
Nespresso’s Lattissima One is a no-nonsense coffee maker that takes Nespresso’s espresso pods, and can even handle frothing and texturising milk. Back when we reviewed the Lattissima One, we found it used an infrared sensor to pick up on how much milk is in the machine, and could handle single-serve drinks quite well, making it ideal for that one person working from home.
Dyson Pure Cool Me
Price: $499
A personal fan for a personal environment, the Dyson Pure Cool Me takes Dyson’s air multiplying cooling technology, complete with purifier, and applies it to a personal space, aiming it at your head and body, and making it ideal for the desk.
Let’s get this out of the way: this is a fan that only does one thing, cooling one person, and one little spot of space. But in the work from home world, that home office may be the only spot that matters, so it’s a fan that makes sense to keep them cool during the warmer months of work.
Lenovo ThinkVision M14t
Price: $539
A second monitor can be a crucial thing to get productivity up, but in the work from home world, it can be hard to know whether you need something small or big. Lenovo’s M14t is a curious take on the extra monitor, and is actually a type that can be flattened and packed away into a laptop bag. Think of it as the external screen for home and on the go.
Running off Type C USB, it includes a couple of USB ports, and even works as a touch screen complete with a pen. It’s not technically tablet and does need a computer to work, but it’s both an external screen for on the go and for home, which is a snazzy concept altogether. It can even be used as a graphics tablet for a PC, or a working monitor for a phone.
Dell UltraSharp 34 Curved Monitor (U3421WE)
Price: $1455
If you know someone who never plans to go back to working in the office, and is WFH for good, consider a big monitor for their office environment, because it’ll mean getting more done all the time.
Dell’s ultra-wide screens have long been focused on that, and the 34 inch curved U3421WE keeps it up, offering a very wide and very spacious screen for all those things to work on, plus some extra ports, and a curvature of the screen that draws one person in for its view and perspective. We’ll let you work out who that person is (hint: it’s the person working from home).
Apple iMac 27 (2020)
Price: $2799
Of course, you can always gift the WFH Tragic a new computer, and it may well become their portal and conduit to working just in that one computer. Unlike a laptop which moves around with them, an all-in-one desktop stays put, making it the work computer if someone is working from home.
The 2020 iMac isn’t just any computer, though, as we noted in our iMac review this year, sporting a sharp 5K screen, fast and capable performance, not to mention an upgraded camera that is better than most of the cameras found in any other Mac model to date.
