WFH Equipment Recommendations
Great Sound, No hassle
When presenting via video conference your voice becomes outmost important. Unfortunately built in laptop mics and even the Apple earbuds have terrible input sound quality.
The Blue Yeti X (Amazon) has great sound quality and usually ranks #1 for USB mics. Joe Rogan uses it when not in his studio. It’s the choice of most YouTubers and Twitch Streamers. Best for typical home office use cases as well. Just place it next to your screen and plug it into your computer. The mic lets you select a “cardioid” pick up pattern so that it records just you and not the whole room reducing echo and background noise. Costs $170.
Unfortunately, this mic tends to be sold as everyone is realizing that they need better mics for WFH. The good news is that there are cheaper versions that are fully adequate for videoconferencing as well:
Yeti Nano - $99 (Amazon ) - compact version
Yeti USB - $129 (Amazon) - standard version, $40 cheaper than Yeti X
Best price/value mic
In order to achieve good sound quality not just the microphone quality matters but also the echo in your environment. Rooms with hard surfaces and that are larger will increase echo and vastly decrease sound quality. In this case a mic closer to your mouth such as the
Audio Technica ATR2100x-USB (Amazon) is a great choice. Likewise you could try to move the Yeti mic just closer to you and/or use a boom arm.
The ATR mic is excellent value given its sound quality. In fact, I use two ATR2100x-USB mics for my podcast interviews. They sound excellent and reduce background noise. They are sturdy and come with a USB connection. Best price/value at $80 - $100.
Best used with a boom arm so that you can move it close to you and out of the way when you don’t need it. To be clear, I do not recommend to use such a mic without a boom arm. The mic is otherwise far from your mouth will be a hassle on your desk. To illustrate listen listen to this interview with Sir Martin Sorrell at 37:00 - 39:00. I was using a boom arm for him whilst I used a basic stand. You will notice that at times I do not sound as crisp and distant. See recommendations for boom arms below.
Boom Arm
Easily swivel the mic close to you at any height and position by using a boom arm
The Blue Compass (Amazon) looks super clean due internal cable management and is well reviewed from podcasters but comes at $100. If sold out the RODE PSA-1 (Amazon) is the established category leader and costs also $100. The PSA cable sits outside of the arm so I personally think that it does not look as good.
At $22 this boom arm (Amazon) is best price/value. I use it for the ATR2100x. It will not work with the Blue Yeti however as the mic is too heavy.
Best Looking Monitor Arm
I wanted a white monitor arm that basically becomes invisible when moved in front of my white wall. Ergotron is the category leader. The Ergotron MXV (Amazon) is the newer and sleeker version of Ergotron’s flagship product and therefore my pick. The quality is excellent. It moves easily and looks great. I am very happy with it. $170.
A Monitor that looks even better from behind
I wanted a 27 inch, USB-C, 4K monitor with a white back so that it looks great also from behind. How hard can it be?
This LG monitor (Amazon) is the outcome of several hours of research. It looks fantastic with my white monitor arm. When I move it out of the way it blends into my white wall. It comes with white cables as well. The image quality is also excellent. I’m very satisfied with it. $450
Best Wireless Mouse
The Logitech Master MX2 is the best wireless mouse for office use. It has a ton of functionality, including a scroll wheel that allows scroll through browser tabs and horizontally in spreadsheets. I love it. $99