If you suddenly find yourself working from home, you’ll want to create a setup that lets you be as productive as you are in the office. Utilizing the right technology can help you stay on task and keep in touch with your coworkers and clients without missing a beat. Dell’s line of home office solutions has you covered, with a variety of top-notch laptops, desktops, accessories and software to choose from. Here are the details so you can decide which products are right for you.
Laptops and desktops
As you begin to assemble your home office setup, you’ll first and foremost want to find a computer that meets your needs. If you’re looking for something portable, Dell’s XPS and Vostro families of laptops are specially designed for business use. “These business-grade ‘workhorse-style’ laptops have powerful fans to keep the system cool, allowing them to run for 8-10-plus hours without any overheating issues, and are more durable than your consumer-home use laptops,” said Megan Wright, Strategic Partnership Account Executive for Dell. “They’re also available in small 13-inch and 14-inch options so they’re not taking up too much real estate on your desk or workspace.” Some of Dell’s business laptops also come in “2-in-1” versions, which means that they can easily transform from a laptop into a tablet or fold into “tent mode,” where only the edges of the laptop touch the surface of your table or desk (picture your laptop folding into a triangle). “This is great if you have to work from the couch somedays, and they give you a more comfortable and flexible experience while video conferencing,” said Wright.
If you’re used to working on a desktop in the office, you can get one for your home that takes up minimal space. “Dell offers micro desktops, which are about the size of a chapter book and can be easily mounted to a desk or the back of a monitor,” said Wright. “Despite their size, they’re still extremely powerful and efficient.” The ultra-compact OptiPlex 3070 Micro Desktops, for instance, stand just 7.2 inches high with a 1.4-inch width and a 7-inch depth. They come with 9th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors, allowing you to work at full speed; offer up to 8 gigabytes of memory; and are equipped with the latest 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi so you can work at a greater distance from your router and experience better wireless performance.
Whether you choose a laptop or a desktop, Dell offers options so you can customize your system to meet your needs. “For example, you can choose the right processor for speed, the right size hard drive for storage, and the right amount of RAM to help you multitask through all the different applications that you’re using,” said Wright.
When attempting to replicate your office setup at home, one of the biggest additions is introducing 1-2 monitors alongside your laptop. This will boost your efficiency and productivity greatly.
Megan Wright, Strategic Partnership Account Executive, Dell
Accessories
Once you’ve chosen a computer, you’ll want to make sure you have all the right accessories to do your job with ease. Here are some to consider:
- Monitors: “We have so many different monitor options ranging in size and resolution quality,” said Wright. “If you are somewhat of a creative-focused industry worker, we even have monitors specifically built for you, such as curved monitors.” You’ll also have the ability to tilt, swivel, pivot and adjust the height of your Dell monitor to customize your viewing experience. “When attempting to replicate your office setup at home, one of the biggest additions is introducing 1-2 monitors alongside your laptop. This will boost your efficiency and productivity greatly,” said Wright.
- Docking stations: You can easily turn your laptop into a desktop setup with one of Dell’s docking stations. The compact D3100 docking station, for instance, connects your laptop to up to three additional monitors, various external devices and the internet with a single cable that plugs into your USB port.
- External webcams: To help with those video conferences that pop up on your work calendar, you might want to consider purchasing an external webcam, which can offer better resolution, better quality videos and better audio than a built-in camera. “Having a webcam that you can mount on external monitors just makes that process a little bit more seamless whenever you have to jump on a conference call,” Wright said. Dell offers a wide range of webcams from third-party providers, with features such as 4K resolution, up to 90-degree viewing, 5x digital zoom, glass lenses, built-in microphones and light-correction ability, as well as built-in security settings and firmware.
- Printers: “You might forget how much you utilize printers in your everyday office use,” said Wright. “We do have some smaller-scale desktop printers that can be wireless or plugged in with multifunction use, including printing, copying, scanning and faxing, so you can have your printing station at your fingertips just as you would in the office.”
- Other accessories: When you need to make a phone call or join a video conference, a headset can offer excellent sound, call quality and comfort. Dell offers headsets that are available in wired and wireless versions. Dell also sells a variety of mice and keyboards, which can be purchased individually or as a combo.
Bundles
If you need multiple products for your home office setup, you can take advantage of Dell’s work-from-home bundles. For instance, you can purchase a laptop or desktop bundled with various accessories. Dell also sells video conferencing bundles, such as the Logitech Personal Video Collaboration Kit, which includes an HD webcam and a Bluetooth headset.
Software
All Dell computers come with the Microsoft Windows 10 Pro operating system. You also have the option to add on Microsoft Office 365 Business, which can be preconfigured on your computer. Microsoft Office 365 Business offers typical Microsoft applications like Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access and Excel, as well as OneDrive cloud storage. If you want more options, Office 365 Business Premium includes those applications plus additional platforms like Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. “Cloud storage is really great for security purposes and if you are needing to save quite a bit of work from home,” said Wright. “Microsoft Teams is great for collaboration, allowing you to communicate over the chat module or through phone or video conferencing calls with the combination of Zoom.”
You can also get your Dell computer preconfigured with McAfee anti-virus software for added security, from one to up to three years.
