The working from home thread: tips and advice

You were the one that got the party started:

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/156860/?offset=30775#comment15131831

:)

Not riding to work, sitting down all day and doing none of my usual walking around the office is playing havoc with my knee.

Looking at affordable sit/stand desk options, has anyone tried the IKEA Skarsta?

Thinking of upgrading monitors as WFH more.

Currently have 2 x 23" 1920x1080 on an Arctix Z2 clamped mount (which can take up to two 27" monitors).

Would dual 27" 4K monitors be massive overkill? I regularly wish I had more screen real estate than these current monitors, and a single 4K monitor would be 2 x the existing screens, so dual 4K would be 4 x existing.

Thinking of it in terms of 8 x 1920x1080 screens:-

• Logs, code, docs, ticketing system, github, slack, email, personal/browser
  
  

Iiyama XU272UHSU-B1 is ~£280 on scan. Laptop (Lenovo T480) looks like it can handle dual 4K (one via USB-C, one via HDMI).

Or instead of two 4K monitors just buy one 43" 4K monitor (like the Phillips BDM4350UC) for £430?

(Don't need anything gaming spec.)

Christ I'm doing all of my WFH on a 12" Surface Pro (no doubt our needs are different but I can't fathom that much screen haha!)

Ha. Well, it's a bit of a luxury but I'm getting in to some bits of work where I could be much more productive seeing 3 or 4 things at once and there are too many applications/windows open to quickly do this with alt-tab.

If I got a dual 27" 4K setup I'd be looking at mounting them vertically to have 4320x3840 instead of 7680x2160. The latter is would be like watching tennis and swinging right to left and back again all the time.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a tall laptop stand ~40cm?

My OH is struggling with the AliExpress Nulaxy clone as it's only 150cm / 6" which is perfect for me.

Annoyingly they're only complaining about it now the second one I'm using has arrived. This Nulaxy sit-to-stand looks good, but open to suggestions, ideally cheaper.

Alternatively if anyone has any clever ideas for a nice looking riser that could go under it to bring it up to height as in all other ways it's great - size, grip, space to tidy the peripherals at the end of the day. Base is 26cm x 23cm, would need to be ~20cm high and the dinning table is teak.

Cheers

Also this looks fucking great:
https://youtu.be/Ntgzb-S78zc

https://www.johnlewis.com/humanscale-quickstand-eco-portable-sit-stand-laptop-workstation-black/p4995377?searchTerm=laptop+stand

Looks like some people have had success using a Thunderbolt 3 hub for dual 4k monitors with your laptop.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T400-T500-and-newer-T-series-Laptops/T480-DCH-Thunderbolt-driver-amp-TB3-Dock-Firmware-upgrade/m-p/4352681?page=1

I'd have a think about whether one or two would be most useful to you. For example if you do presentations or virtual meetings with screen shares a lot then having separate monitors makes it easier just to share one and keep the other private.

Two 27'' monitors will take up a ton of space and you'll have to really turn your head to read from one screen to the next. I'd be tempted to go for an ultra wide monitor instead, something like the 35'' wide BenQ EX3501R. There's also no chance to lose your cursor between windows or bezel taking up space right in the middle. Not full 4k but good enough.

Two 27'' monitors will take up a ton of space and you'll have to really turn your head to read from one screen to the next.

That's why I'd mount them vertically.

I've got 2 23" monitors (mounted horizontally) at the moment, so that's 40" wide (although they're in a slight V shape so probably 39" wide with 1" wasted on two 0.5" bezels) and 11.5" high and a total of 3840x1020.

Two vertical 27" 4K monitors would give me 4320x3840 at 23" high and 27" wide (so 26" in a slight V shape and adding a bit for bezels).

So less horizontal distance than currently, but twice the height. I was going to stick infrequently used windows (that I'd still like to reference) in the top half of the screens.

If that's what you think will work best then go for it. If you do go the Iiyama route I used one of them for a long time without issue, I seem to remember they use unbranded Samsung panels. 4k is real nice, everything renders that much smoother, especially text.

Most monitors I've come across will only do 4k at 30hz if you use HDMI so stick with thunderbolt 3 or displayport for them.

Apologies if discussed before. Does anyone have any recommendations for an office chair good for lower back pain without breaking the bank (although work will pay so....)

I'm not a physio / occupational health consultant. But I do have a back, and I often use chairs, and have been known to sit for hours.

I'd have thought that any chair that allows you to adjust seat height & tilt, back tilt & height, and lumbar support, would be suitable.

My physio suggested that a seat should measure ~3/4 the length of your hip to knee, and the back should be ~ the same as the distance between the base of your spine and start of your neck.

You should probably consider your overall setup too - having keyboard, mouse and monitor in the right place could be more important than the chair alone. Keep in mind that HSE advice on monitor height is from the 70s, and unless you are looking at the top of your screen for work, then your monitor is likely way too low.

My new chair arrived this week.

OMG so good.

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I am using a steelcase please v2 which I think aggi recommended and its ace. I got a refurbished one so not so spendy

I would try to get them to pay for a second hand Aeron chair.

pls link me

Crocs?
FFS.

Thanks all for suggestions

Ironing board + hat box and a roll of magic whiteboard FTW...!

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The chair? Here.

They're pretty helpful on the phone if you need a walkthrough of the various options.

I went with the Diffusion, with headrest.

Anyone else noticed that as people are going back to the office the flow of information to those still working at home has slowed down. Just asked when a new client system will be ready for testing, told it was ready yesterday and that they told everyone in the office. Also asked why I didn't get an invite for a call that I my input was required on, turns out it was quicker to have a chat in the office.

Seems as If I'm back working in the dark again, how quickly this little things are forgotten.

Are the office people back full time? Surprised that is happening so soon

There are currently on a rota basis, so 4 in at anyone time. Just so happened's to be the 4 people I speak to on a daily basis.

Would anybody be able to recommend a rigid, hard wearing rug to put under a desk chair? Current one is constantly wrinkling as I roll the chair around.

A box of laminate flooring will do the trick.

Reddit is lousy with people discovering this omg life hax.