The working from home thread: tips and advice

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  • We're after a colour printer ideally, preferably HP!

  • Cheers will look at this

  • A mate got an HP Envy a while back to print stuff during lockdown for his kids. The one he bought came with 6-months free subscription to their 300-pages printing a month thing (they send new cartridges as they start to run low). Cancelled the sub once he stopped printing as much but the printer does decent photo printing (fine for home, rather than pro)

  • This is the stuff I think my wife was talking about, ace!

  • We got a HP laser CP 1025 years ago when the wired ones were being sold off cheap to make way for network versions. Still running strong, never going back to inkjets.

  • I do prefer laser and miss being able to print stuff out at the office but have gone mostly paperless through necessity, looking at inkjets for ease and the fact you can get an ink subscription for cheap-ish

  • We've gone with laser (B&W), mostly because we don't print enough to make inkjet worth it - toner cartridges don't dry out, and will still be good if you don't print for a few months.

  • Got an HP Envy 6230 and Canon Pixma 6550 in the house, would take the HP all day long, like the subscription model and the Canon is endlessly clogging on the black toner cartridge is a faff to sort out

  • Flexispot desk installed, dual 25 inch 2560 x 1440 screens.
    Contemplating a monitor clamp arm to free up more desk space and screw a power strip under the desk to reduce the number of cables hanging down the back of the desk.

    Also want to upgrade the Dell sound bar speaker to small but better speakers.
    Are the Creative Pebbles any good? (I have some nice headphones for better sound quality stuff)


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  • Ended up getting a HP Envy 6432 from Currys with 6 months instant ink subscription, such excite

  • Contemplating a monitor clamp arm to free up more desk space

    Best thing I've done. And the Von Haus one is crazy cheap for the quality of it.

  • I've got one of those already I think, from a previous setup.
    Will dig it out at some stage!

  • I’m after a second screen I can use in portrait mode, similar to the smithchild setup with the portrait monitor on the left. Finding one the right size with - ideally - a built in stand and HDMI,. is proving tricky.

    I’m limited for space so max width is about 26 cm and height about 44cm.

    I’d be grateful if anyone has any ideas.

    BTW - what’s the lamp you’re using to grow your herbs?


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  • The dell Ultrasharps have pivot stands.
    Don’t know whether they do the 20 inch versions these days, but I once had 2 of those portrait with a 24 inch screen in between.

  • It’s a SAD lamp which I got second hand.. makes me appear studio-lit in video calls and I’m certain it must be flooding my system with vitamin D.

    I don’t get a whole lot of use out of the vertical screen to be honest. 2 x horizontal would be better but I got the second screen for free.

  • what brand is the sad lamp?

  • If you get a monitor arm, you can swing the monitor into portrait mode, tell your OS that's that how it rolls, and all is good. I've currently got 2 monitors in landscape, and one in portrait for pdf files. Thinking of adding a fourth for pdf contrast and compare purposes.

  • Not sure if we've had this already but the government have changed the process for claiming relief on some costs of working from home. If you've only worked a single day from home since the first lockdown (March 23rd) due to employer or government guidelines, you can claim back £6 a week for the entire year in a single form: https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home

    Takes literally 2 mins if you already have a government gateway ID.

    This is for PAYE non-self assessment only.

    It's roughly £130 back for a higher rate tax payer.

  • I think it's been mentioned but probably good to remind occasionally. I'm holding out until the end of the tax year as it doesn't look like I'll be going back to the office until then, presumably this is the sensible thing to do?

    Also wondering if I should go down the specific expenses route as I might but myself a new desk I could claim for and I've been monitoring my computer's energy use since the start of lockdown. Haven't worked out if this would be worth it.

  • Any tips (desk workers) for keeping warm sat at home. It feels like the temperature has dropped an awful lot this past week!

  • The form above auto submits a claim for £6 a week from whenever you started (you input the date) until the end of this tax year (April 2021), no matter if you worked at home for 1 day or 1 year.

    You can submit now and it will make no difference.

  • Carpet / rug, slippers / socks. Lot's of heat escapes via your feet; especially into a hard floor.

  • Slippers are a game changer.
    Also. Uniqlo gilets.
    Tartan blankets.
    Thermos of soup.
    Tena pads.

  • Big scarf is a huge win.

  • Always check your surroundings before leaning over your sick WFH set up to plug something in.

    Managed to smack my head off this pointy boi. Gouged a 3 inch strip of skin out of my scalp.

    Shan't put the aftermath photos here in case someone happens to be eating (not that bad, but reminiscent of those memes where people pull hangnails too far, looked like I could pull the strip and unzip my head).


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The working from home thread: tips and advice

Posted by Avatar for andyp @andyp

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