Best Home Office Connected Accessories

Working from home can be a great experience for many employees and entrepreneurs,  and a welcome opportunity to customize a work environment to suit specific personalities. 

Having all the home office connected accessories to help you focus on the work might even make you more productive and stress-free.

If you plan to work from home indefinitely, it pays to invest in the extras that make work so much easier. It also helps to have a dedicated space to put all your home office connected accessories, so they are ready to go whenever you are. 

When we say home office connected accessories, we simply mean tech solutions that will keep you from getting distracted and help you organize your work. 

Here are our top picks for the tech accessories you ought to have in your home office:

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Bluetooth Keyboard 

A Bluetooth keyboard is a must-have if you don’t want cable clutter in your workstation. It is also ideal when using a laptop because you can elevate it to a more ergonomic angle for your wrists. If you are more comfortable typing while reclining, a Bluetooth keyboard can give you that option. As a bonus, you can also connect using your phone or tablet if necessary, allowing you to type efficiently while on the go.

Our pick for Bluetooth keyboards is the Logitech MX Keys, a full-sized backlit keyboard suitable for desk use and fits comfortably across the lap. It has a considerable wireless range of 10 meters and works with both Windows (10 and later)  and Mac (10.15 and later) machines, as well as iOS (13.4 and later) and Android (5.0 or later) devices. It can remember up to three devices, so switching from your desktop to tablet is a breeze.

The Logitech MX Keys uses low-profile keycaps that use scissor switches, so it is quiet and requires minimal force to press the keys. The finger-sized imprints also make for comfortable typing. It works with built-in Bluetooth and Unifying USB Receiver (included). 

The backlight only turns on when it senses your fingers to extend battery life, which is up to 10 days on a single charge using a USB-C charger. If you turn the backlight option off, the battery will last up to five months.  

The Logitech MX Keys Advanced Wireless Illuminated Keyboard retails for $99.99 on the Logitech website and $99.50 on Amazon. 

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Bluetooth Mouse

Whether you opt for a Bluetooth keyboard or not, getting a Bluetooth mouse for your home office makes sense because, again, cable clutter. If you get the Logitech MX Keys (or even our next favorite Satechi Slim X2 Bluetooth Backlit Keyboard), bringing the Logitech MX Anywhere 3 Bluetooth mouse makes for a perfect pairing.

The mouse is compact but has side ridges to give you a good, comfortable grip even when your hands get sweaty, which is frequently the case when you have to work long hours. The MagSpeed Electromagnetic scrolling is smooth, fast, and precise, and the side buttons are strategically placed for the thumb. You can use it on almost any surface, including clear glass, a solid plus for the wandering worker. 

Like the Logitech MX Keys and Satechi Slim X2, the MX Anywhere 3 can pair with up to three devices so that you can switch easily at the tap of a button. It is compatible with macOS, Windows, and iPadOS without additional drivers for devices using Chrome OS and the most popular Linux versions. 

The MX Anywhere 3 is USB-C rechargeable and works for up to 70 days on a full charge. If you forget to charge it, just plug it in for a minute, and you can use it for up to three hours. 

The Logitech MX Anywhere 3 retails for $79.99 on the Logitech site and $78.64 on Amazon.

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Noise-Canceling Headphones

It’s great getting to work from home, but unless you live alone, chances are you’re going to have to deal with a lot of noise. 

Some people also like to work with music, but others in the home may not have the same taste in music. You probably also spend some time on video or audio conferences, so you need a nice, quiet environment to take them.  In any case, you need a good set of noise-canceling headsets. 

Our pick is the Bose QuietComfort 45 over-ear headsets that combine comfort and wireless convenience (cable clutter-proof). Its plush and not overly large cushioned ear cups are never too tight, and sound quality is excellent – three key essentials when you’re looking for a good pair of modern everyday headphones.

Perhaps the best thing about the QuietComfort 45 is its two modes of noise cancellation: Quiet and Aware. Quiet mode blocks all ambient noise, a critical feature for a distraction-free environment. The Aware mode uses external microphones that filter through ambient noise if you need some situational awareness, such as a doorbell ring. 

With a total of six microphones, four for voice and beamforming, the Quiet Comfort 45 provides clean and clear sound coming in and going out. With its multi-point Bluetooth, you can connect to two devices simultaneously if they are within 9 meters from you, a bonus for wandering workers. 

The QuietComfort 45 is USB-C rechargeable and can work for up to 24 hours with noise cancellation on with a full charge. If your battery runs down, you can still listen to music with noise-cancellation off. 

The Bose QuietComfort 45 retails for $329 on the Bose site and Amazon. 

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Powerful Home Wi-Fi Router

A Wi-Fi router is the unsung hero of your work-at-home setup – you can hardly get anything done without one!

While a functioning Wi-Fi router might be good enough, it pays to invest in a powerful one to keep you from banging your head in frustration from totally preventable lag. 

Our pick for a Wi-Fi router is the TP-Link Archer AX6000. It has some of the fastest transfer speeds in the market at up to 6Gbps and performs exceptionally well in latency tests. It comes with multiple LAN ports and a couple of USB ports for direct connectivity, and it runs on a 1.8 GHz Quad-Core CPU, making for low latency. It also uses band steering to automatically switch clients when necessary.

Setting up the Archer AX6000 is easy. Simply link to the router using Bluetooth and set it up via the Tether app. The design is also pretty cool and looks great on both countertops and wall mounts.

The TP-Link Archer AX-6000 retails at $269.79 on Amazon, so it isn’t cheap. However, it can make you more efficient so that it might be worth the investment. 

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HD Webcam

Video conferencing has become necessary for many people over the past year and a half, and it shows no signs of stopping. This reality means you need a good webcam to look professional. 

Even if you work with a laptop, the built-in camera might not be enough for important calls, presentations, or other remote work needs. For a home office desk, getting a solid camera ensures that you look presentable and clear every time you need to join a video call or even record video messages.

Our pick is the Logitech C920s Pro HD webcam with a resolution of1080p, a frame rate of 30 fps, and a field of view of 78 degrees. The C920s looks sleek while taking high-quality images over USB-A. 

You might ask, what happened to no cable clutter? Good wireless cameras are available if you really want to go that route, but they will be much more expensive. Additionally, since wireless cameras rely on the signal to stream data, any interruptions in the signal can affect the capture quality. If you want reliable, high-quality videos, wired is really the only way to go. 

That said, the C920s does not have 60 fps recording capabilities and variable fields of view, so you should look at its cousin, the Logitech Brio, if you need those. Other than that, the C920s is a definite champion for large meetings and one-on-one conference calls because of the excellent video quality. It also has microphones on either side of the camera, capturing natural and clear sound in conference calls.

The C920s also features Logitech’s RightLight^TM 2 technology for automatic light correction to ensure bright, high contrast images even in poor light conditions. It is tripod-ready, so it is ideal for content creators. The proprietary software that comes with the C920s gives users the ability to change their background and use avatars. It also comes with a privacy shutter that blocks the lens physically when not in use. 

The Logitech C920s Pro HD retails for $59.99 from the Logitech site and on the Logitech store in Amazon. 

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High-quality Microphone

If you have a good-quality headset like the Bose QuietComfort 45, chances are you won’t need a separate microphone for conferences and audio calls. However, if you want quality sound capture for voice-overs and other types of content creation, you need a dedicated USB microphone.

Like the HD cam, you want a wired microphone to ensure reliable and quality sound recording. You can look at the Shure MV7, dubbed the “Podcast Microphone” by the manufacturer and TeamSpeak certified. It is a more affordable version of the SM7B, which has long been the preferred microphone for vocals. 

The MV7 connects to a USB-C or USB-A port and is ready to use once connected. You can adjust the amplification and the volume by swiping your finger on a touch-sensitive ring in the center of the microphone. You can also change other settings by downloading the MOTIV Desktop app for macOS or Windows. 

The Shure M7V retails for $219 without a stand and $239 with a mini-tripod on the Shure site and Amazon. 

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