Selecting Ideal Work From Home Computer Type

Over the past year and change, the rise in popularity of work from home situations has been enormous. Due to the COVID-19 situation that forced many businesses to expand their work from home capacity and allowances for employees, plus resulting realizations from many that continuing this theme even once life returns to normal might be a highly efficient approach for some businesses, far more people continue to work from home today than would have been the case in the early parts of 2020, or really for any recent period before that as well.

And for those who have made this transition or are considering doing so permanently in the near future, the team at Xidax is here to help with one vital piece of the puzzle: Selecting an ideal work from home computer. We offer numerous desktops, laptops, professional workstations and several other computing options that are ideal for a number of needs, including those transitioning their work to their home. How can you go about determining which of our excellent options is best for your work from home setup using several important variables? Here are some important themes to keep in mind.

Desktop Options

The most well-known and long-running area here is the desktop computer, which has been around for decades and gets better and better with each passing year. For those who don’t really need much mobility and are looking for the very best combination of affordability and performance, the desktop is usually the first area you should be looking in, whether for a standard desktop or some kind of workstation setup.

Here are some of the general advantages of going with a desktop computer for your work from home needs:

• Cost: When considering the value they provide, desktops are generally the most cost-effective computing option out there.
• Performance level: Desktop computers can be engineered to reach incredibly high levels of performance, ideal for those whose home working demands involve a need for strong computing and processing power.
• Connectivity: Compared to laptops and other hybrid options, desktops tend to have far more ports, connectors and related areas. This is often enormously beneficial for those who have detailed, multi-faceted jobs that require multiple actions or tools being used at once.
• Noise: Because of the space they have available for components like fans and ventilation sections, desktop computers are able to attain much better airflow than most laptops. This means they tend to be much quieter in their operations, including many that are built to be virtually silent at all times.
• Upgrades: If there’s any chance whatsoever you might need more computing power or storage in the future, or if you simply want to leave your options open as you move forward, desktop computers offer far simpler upgrade capabilities down the line than laptops. The space available in a desktop computer makes upgrading it simple, plus leaves open tons of capacity for additional parts.

Now, there are a couple potential disadvantages of a desktop depending on your needs:

• Size and mobility: While there are certain compact desktop options available, the standard desktop is obviously much larger than a standard laptop. They’re designed to remain under a desk or on some kind of support, and are often heavy to move. If one of your top needs for a work from home computer is portability, a desktop might not be for you.
• Peripheral items: When you buy a desktop, you also have to buy a few other items, such as a keyboard, monitor, mouse, webcam or any others you need. These aren’t huge expenses, but they’re worth keeping in mind.

Laptops

Laptops are newer in the computing world than desktops, but they’ve been making up ground on their forebearers for years now. Modern laptops are far more powerful than the desktops of, say, a decade ago would have been, and they achieve this power all while remaining mobile and easy to set up in any location.

This portability is their primary benefit. Those who need to be able to unplug the device and move it around, whether to another location with the home or any other place, will do best with a quality laptop that’s configured to their needs. In addition, the fact that a laptop does not generally require the purchase of additional items, such as keyboards, monitors or others, can make it a simpler purchase than a desktop.

However, for those who do not have significant mobility or portability needs, there are also some significant downsides to a laptop for a work from home situation:

• Cost: When comparing machines that perform similarly, laptops tend to be more expensive than desktops.
• Performance: As we noted above, laptops have expanded their computing power enormously in the last 10 years – but they still aren’t as powerful as the best desktops.
• Noise: As we also noted earlier, laptops are often louder because they’re fitting more components into a tighter area, requiring louder fans and operation formats.
• Ports and connectors: Laptops tend to have fewer of these than desktops, which might matter for some who work from home and use the computer as a central hub.
• Upgrades: The only real areas that can be upgraded on a laptop are RAM and storage, while core components basically remain the same no matter what.

All-in-One Computers

While we’ll only spend a short period on them, a hybrid computer type also exists known as the all-in-one computer. This involves placement of a desktop computer’s components inside a large monitor, one that’s not quite as portable as a laptop but can still be moved around more easily than a desktop. These also come with the other peripherals you need. However, these systems are both expensive and sometimes hard to source today, plus are noisy and can’t really be upgraded much.

For more on the different computer options available to you if you work from home, or to learn about any of our custom PC and laptop services, speak to the staff at Xidax today.