How To Improve Productivity With Gadgets At Home – Headset, Headphone, Portable Monitors - Singapore

In our last video, we have shared some of the teleconferencing services that we think will be useful to you. And we hope that it has helped you with your work. Today we have some hardware recommendations to make your “work from home” experience a lot better.

A headset is crucial when you want to hear the person you are having a meeting with and also to allow the person on the other side to hear you clearly. This is especially important when your meeting stretches over a long period or you are chairing the meeting and want your audience to be engaged.

The difference between a headset and a headphone is that it has a built-in microphone but recently many of these headphones do include microphones too. If you are working from home, the situation is that all your meetings will happen online and you will be spending the whole day with your headset on.

For that, a comfortable headset will be a godsend. So do try it out before buying and choose something that you are comfortable with. Some headsets come with an extended arm for the microphone and this could be useful for someone that speaks softly. For someone with a louder voice, do remember to adjust your microphone from the laptop settings.

You also have the option to choose between a wired or a wireless one. For the wired headset, do choose one that connects via USB. More laptops are doing away with an audio port, so using a USB headset may be the better option. It is also easier to select the device you want to use from your laptop as it will be detected as additional hardware. Choosing a wired headset also takes away the worry of making sure its charged. You can just plug in and jump straight into a meeting and feel confident that it will work.

If you are mainly on audio conferences and also a good multitasker, having a wireless headset may be more suitable as you can attend to other things around your home while on your calls.

More and more headphones and headsets now come with ANC, active noise-cancelling function. This could be useful if you are in a noisy environment or if you are someone that can easily be distracted by sound. ANC works best on humming or consistent noise.

Having headphones with padded over-ear design also help to reduce noise further. But do take note that some the material can get pretty warm after prolonged use.

If you are working on a laptop, chances are you have 13-14” screen. That’s not going to be enough when you have multiple windows running. An extra screen will really come in handy.

Portable monitors are becoming more and more common now as screens are getting thinner and lighter. There are many that require an HDMI output from your laptop and plugged into an external power source. Problem is not many laptops come with an HDMI port and it can be cumbersome to plug into another power source. Luckily there are some that only require a single USB C port to power and transmit a signal to your screen. This is easy to set up and makes it truly portable.

Here are some pro tips for you. Propping up your laptop can help with your posture. Raising your screen to your eye level will create less strain to your back and neck. There are many different types of laptop stands around and most of them are pretty affordable. But do look for one that does not raise too high and you can still get support for your wrist. If you have a ring folder lying around, you can also DIY one yourself. All you need is just a little bit of sticky tape to hold things in place.

Having your screen level to your eyes also makes you look better. As most webcams are placed on your screen, raising the camera gives you a more flattering angle compared to one of low angle. Light is also important, always face the window and not the other way round. Of course, unless you are going for that silhouette look.

If you want to engage or even charm your audience, do remember that visual and sound are just as important as your content.

This is part of the SG United Content Series supported by IMDA. Let’s stay hopeful and stay united! #SGUnited #StayHealthyGoDigital.