James Bricknell Senior Editor
James has been writing about technology for years but has loved it since the early 90s. While his main areas of expertise are maker tools — 3D printers, vinyl cutters, paper printers, and laser cutters — he also loves to play board games and tabletop RPGs.
- 6 years working professionally in the 3D printing space / 4 years testing consumer electronics for large websites.
Justin Jaffe Managing editor
Justin Jaffe is the Managing Editor for CNET Money. He has more than 20 years of experience publishing books, articles and research on finance and technology for Wired, IDC and others. He is the coauthor of Uninvested (Random House, 2015), which reveals how financial services companies take advantage of customers — and how to protect yourself. He graduated from Skidmore College with a B.A. in English Literature, spent 10 years in San Francisco and now lives in Portland, Maine.
- Coauthor of Uninvested (Random House, 2015)
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More than ever, people are finding jobs that offer remote work. Whether you work a hybrid schedule — a few days in the office, the rest at home — or a fully remote job, you need the right equipment to make it comfortable. We’ve gathered some of our favorite webcams, desk stands, USB mics and other devices that help make remote working that much easier. Add these essentials to your home office and see how your work-from-home experience improves.
Watch this: Gifts to make working from home easier
What’s the best home office essential?
If you are working from home but as part of a team a really good webcam is essential. We like the Dell Pro 2K webcam for its face tracking and high-quality visuals. it also comes with a magnetic cap to cover it when not in use, just in case you are security conscious.
The home office must-haves for a remote worker are obvious: a full-size keyboard, a wireless mouse and an external monitor. But there’s a handful of other gear — from the best desk, blue-light-blocking glasses or a good pair of noise-canceling headphones — that can make your workday less frustrating, more productive and comfortable. Our recommendations for the best home office essentials for your home office setup are below. We’ll update this list periodically as we review new products.
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When you’re presenting a meeting or actively participating in one, you need to be front and center on the screen. The Dell Pro webcam uses some clever software to keep you centered in the frame as you move around a whiteboard or wheel around your office.
The image is crisp too and looks cleaner than almost any other webcam I’ve used. I’ll admit it works much better on a Mac than a PC, but on a PC it’s the very best webcam you can use right now.
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Sharp image
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Face tracking
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Security cover
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James Bricknell / CNET
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This Logitech mouse is ostensibly geared for travel, but it’s really just a good all-around mouse for anyone who finds the step-up Logitech MX Master 3 to be overkill. From the scroll wheel to the programmable side buttons, this mouse can handle any pointing task. It charges via USB-C and interfaces with devices via the included USB-A unifying dongle or Bluetooth. There’s also an Apple-centric model available for the same price.
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Excellent scroll wheel
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Compact
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Extra side buttons
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It’s not my favorite webcam, but the C920S will get the job done. The image quality and sound pickup are pretty good, and the clip-on design makes it suitable for an external monitor or laptop computer. The physical privacy shutter is a confidence-inspiring flourish that protects you and your office space from prying eyes.
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Great price
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Good picture for 1080p
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Security cap
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The Shure MV5 digital condenser microphone combines an unfussy setup and high-quality audio with a compact design. I wouldn’t recommend it for high-stakes recording projects, but it will certainly boost the sound quality of your Zoom meetings and other web conferencing interactions. It comes with both USB-C and Lightning cables.
If you’re willing to spend more and can find it in stock, the Blue Yeti is an even better mic for advanced users. It features three capsule microphones, four pickup patterns (for different kinds of recording) and just enough controls to help optimize the way you sound without overloading you with super technical features.
Pros:
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Small yet powerful
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Great for Zoom
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Moft’s sit/stand desk converter is stable, easy to use, and easy to store. If you are thinking about a standing desk, but aren’t quite ready to take the plunge, then this cheaper alternative will give you a taste of the standing desk life. The best thing? If you are working in a hybrid environment you can take your Moft sit/stand desk with you in your backpack.
Pros:
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Lightweight
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Easy to take with you
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Very sturdy
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Apple’s Magic Keyboard is awesome. It has the old-school Mac keyboard design and space, with the pleasing scissor key mechanism, and it’s wireless, connecting via Bluetooth. Best of all, the battery, which is rechargeable via USB, lasts for months on a charge. The larger version with the numeric keypad — yep, that’s great, too.
Pros:
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Wonderful clacky experience
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Matches your MacBook perfectly
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The full-size keyboard is even better
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You can use Apple’s peripherals with Windows machines, but if you’re looking for an alternative Bluetooth keyboard that will work with anything from Windows PCs to Macs to iPads to phones, the Logitech K380 is a great choice and runs about $30. Pair it with up to three devices and toggle between each of them with the click of a button.
Pros:
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Compact
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Cheap
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Multi pairing mode
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The Sennheiser CX buds sound excellent for their price point but do stick out of your ears a little more than some buds. (Note that there’s also the new Sennheiser CX Plus, which adds noise canceling for $50 more and sounds very similar).
The buds are equipped with Bluetooth 5.2 and battery life is up to nine hours at moderate volume levels (the slightly bulky charging case stores an additional three charges) versus seven hours for the previous model. The CX also adds an extra microphone on each bud, which does improve the voice-calling experience from the earlier CX400 and makes it easier for callers to hear you speak, even in noisy environments. To be clear, however, these are not active noise-canceling earbuds, they simply offer noise reduction for calls. Splash-proof, they have an IPX4 rating. Read our Sennheiser CX first take.
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Great battery life
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Noise reduction
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Affordable
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I got the black version, but the buds also come in white.
David Carnoy/CNET
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When you work from home, making coffee becomes a sacramental practice. Think of this kitchen appliance as the Swiss army knife of the drip coffee maker world. The Ninja programmable brewer (with frother, thermal carafe and reusable filter) offers an uncanny degree of flexibility, making it the best coffee maker for those who don’t always want the same cup. It can create everything from solid drip, to perfect cold brew, to iced coffee, to latte-style drinks with its milk frother, and it will adjust the temperature according to your choice. Its thermal carafe will keep tea or coffee hot up to two hours.
This programmable coffee maker even lets you brew iced coffee and hot coffee in multiple sizes, from small cups, mugs and travel mugs, all the way up to half and full carafes.
Pros:
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Many ways to make coffee
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Great milk frother
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When you’re not commuting, there may be some more time for dinner prep. Dinnerly rolls out exciting-sounding and delicious meals such as summery chicken panzanella and risotto with asparagus and cannellini beans. But with no more than six ingredients per recipe, the damage done to your time and kitchen is minimized. The price tag for Dinnerly puts it squarely in the budget-friendly category, clocking in with a cost per serving of around $5. The subscription options include a Two-Person Box for $30, or a Family Box for $60, each with three recipes for the week. Looking for more options? Check out our list of best mealkit services.
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After testing the Expression I was pleasantly surprised at how well this printer did. Being Epson’s budget option it could have been poor, but instead performed excellently at text reproduction and about average on the image quality.
The setup was quick and easy and the Wi-Fi connection seems to be solid wherever I put it in my house. Print time was average at 1 minute, 15 seconds, but the text quality more than made up for the speed. All of the text, even the photocopied text, was legible and smooth.
The only downside is how small the ink cartridges are on this printer. I know ink is where companies make the most money, but replacing these tiny cartridges every few weeks or months will get old quickly.
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At first glance, the Branch standing desk looks pretty generic, but the level of craftsmanship is apparent on closer inspection. All of the materials feel premium, with a weight that only comes from good engineering.
Putting it together was simple and only took about 30 minutes, though I think having two people would reduce that significantly. It was also extremely well packaged — something that Branch does with all its products — so it was in top shape once I had it all together.
The Branch desk can remember four separate heights and has a handy cable door at the back to keep your desk clear and tidy. While the desk can feel a little too business-like — I bought the white top and white legs — if you choose one of the warmer woods and the gray legs it will likely fit into your home office better.
If you’re furnishing an office, the Branch desk and Verve office chair from our best office chairs is a great combination.
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Branch Furniture
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Because home office essentials are a healthy amalgam of tech, and other services our testing will depend on the product. Each of our products has its own testing schedule and more explanations of how we test products can be found on the best list article for that product. Suffice it to say, in our decades of testing products we’ve learned a thing or two about every category that will touch your home office experience.