The Digital Office Part 1: Hardware & Gadgets
If you had a 'clean sheet' opportunity to create the ideal digital office environment for you and/or your business, what would you buy? What hardware and software would give you a productivity advantage, while being fun and affordable? Here is what we did in our London based marketing agency.
This is Part 1 of a 5-part series in ReadWriteWeb's Enterprise Channel. Part 1 covers everything from a physical perspective. What, ideally, you need to have to make the digital office run. In subsequent parts, we will cover browser, web apps, mobile, and more.
The Essentials
LAPTOP
Recommendation: The Mac Book Pro
Why?: Primarily, OS X - arguably the best operating system out there. In terms of hardware however, the MBP's form factor, strength, wireless connectivity, long battery life, speed, memory, improved graphics card, multi touch trackpad and decent sized hard drive all wrapped up in a beautiful metallic case should be enough to convince you.
Asus U2E, Sony Vaoi TZ31MN, Macbook, Macbook Air, Asus EeePC 900
PHONE
Recommendation: Blackberry Bold
Why?: Let me be clear. I'm an iPhone user and I'll openly admit I have yet to use the blackberry bold. However, I have used almost every previous blackberry and from reviews by gizmodo, engadget and a number of gadget sites - this is the best blackberry ever. However, the main reason I have selected the Blackberry Bold over the iPhone is because of the downfalls of the current 3G iPhone rather than the excellence of the Blackberry Bold. Running your digital office you need to ensure you have access to your email, contacts and a solid long lasting battery - the iPhone is still not reliable enough on both of these points. If this post was more about the Social Media Guru's device list... yes, the iPhone would definitely be my phone of choice. Although of course, with an external battery attachment! We are, however, discussing the digital office and the iPhone is not there yet and won't be until battery life is extended, bugs are ironed out, multifunctionality between local apps is implemented and yes, email and connectivity issues are corrected.
Alternatives: iPhone, Treo Pro, Nokia E66 / E71, HTC Touch Cruise
MOBILE BROADBAND
US: Sprint / AT&T
UK: O2 / T-Mobile / Vodafone / 3
The Should Haves
EXTRA BATTERY FOR MOBILE & LAPTOP
EXTRA CHARGER FOR MOBILE & LAPTOP
WIRELESS MOUSE
Recommendation: Logitech VX Nano Cordless
Why?: Stylish, small but not too small, super precise and smooth maneuvering. Very convenient to just need the small usb plugin which can be left in your laptop all the time. Above all though, it's very very cool.
Price: $45.00
Alternatives: Apple Mighty Mouse, Logitech MX Revolution
WIRELESS KEYBOARD
Recommendation: Apple Wireless Keyboard
Why?: Elegant design. Sturdy and durable. Works superbly well. Extremely accurate, (very) small and lightweight, feels wonderful as you glide your fingers across the keyboard. On top of all that, seamless operation with Leopard, Tiger AND Vista.
Price: $80.00
Alternatives: Logitech diNovo Edge, Logitech Cordless Desktop S510
EXTERNAL HARDDRIVE
Recommendation: Western Digital My Passport Essential 500GB
Why?: Uprecedented amount of space for it's weight and size. It's pocket size, flawless performance and very practical - all at a fair price.
Price: $120
Alternatives: Toshiba 320GB Portable External, Iomega eGo Rugged Portable 320GB
USB DRIVE
Recommendation: Kingston DT100/8GB Data Traveler
Why?: 8GB on a usb drive! Above all, convenient, easy to use, small and reliable.
Alternatives: iPhone, HP 8GB USB Flash Drive
Price: $30
BAG
Recommendation: Incase nylon sling pack
Why?: Comfortable, solid protection and padding for your laptop, feels very well made. Lightweight and very slim - so no more smacking into people as you turnround. Works with laptops up to 17 inches. Features a lovely integrated fur compartment for your laptop as well as plenty of space for your iPod and other accessories.
Price: $80
Alternatives: Mobile Edge MEEN01 Express Tote ($30)
MOBILE PRINTER
Recommendation: Canon Pixma iP90v Photo Inkjet Printer
Why?: Small, dinky and portable. Prints pages at a decent speed and color photos come out very well if you're using it for that. Set up is a peice of cake however one drawback, make sure you have a usb cable and buy a few spare ink cartridges as they run out faster than your normal sized ones. Also, a superb price as it is currently on sale at Amazon!
Price: $200+ (currently on sale at Amazon for $151)
Alternatives: Canon iP100, HP Deskjet 460c Mobile Printer
MOBILE SCANNER
Recommendation: Canoscan LiDE 90 (PC/MAC)
Price: $90
Why?: Great value. Just over A4 in size and about 2cm in depth Completely USB powered, extremely convenient and lightweight. Resolution is up to 2400x4800 dpi and scan speeds of approx 15 seconds. Works well with both PC and Mac.
Alternatives: Scansnap USB 10PG Adf Mobile Scanner (pc/mac), Pentax DSmobile 600 Scanner (pc)
WEBCAM
Recommendation: Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000
Price: $80
Why?: Hassle free installation with XP and Vista. Superb picture quality. The Right Light function works very well even in the dullest conditions. If you want a good webcam for Skype, this is it!
Alternatives: Philips SPC900NC PC Web Camera
BLUETOOTH HEADSET
Recommendation: NoiseAssassin-Jawbone II
Price: $110
Why?: Easy to setup, slick to look at, comfortable to wear (at least in my ear). Works well with all bluetooth enabled phones and computers. Definitely does a superb job with controlling levels of background noise - just make sure the headset is actually touching your jaw or else it doesn't do it's job properly.
Alternatives: Plantronics Discovery 925
PORTABLE CAMCORDER
Recommendation: Sanyo Xacti HD1010
Price: $700
Why?: Easy to use out of the box. Brilliant quality image. Practical. Beautifull little camera. Video quality is vivid and crisp. Perfect if you want something you can pull out fast and record.
Alternatives: Samsung mx 20 "YouTube" Camcorder, Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD700
PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER
Recommendation: iPod Touch
Price: $400
Why?: It's not perfect however you'd be hard pressed to find a better all round device at this size out there. Glorious screen quality and device build. Setup is elegant and straight forward as you would expect. Navigation is equally impressive. Youtube is so easily accessible, accessing e-mails works flawlessly, battery lasts well to listen to music but runs low fast when on the youtube or internet. For such a small thing it can do so much: Games, Calendar, Mail, Internet, Music, Movies, Apps... What are you waiting for? The only real competition in my mind is the iPhone.
Alternatives: Archos 605 Wifi, Microsoft Zune
HEADPHONES
Recommendation: Shure Se210 Sound Isolating Earphones
Price: $130.00
Why?: Perfect to travel with and maybe even miss your flight! Shure's Se210 are in a completely different league. Having used a variety of high spec headphones over the years, Shure stands well above the crowd. An amazing piece of ingenuity. The clarity is astonishing, hearing notes I previously did not. The mid's and high's are exceptional, and the bass is perfect.
Alternatives: Sennheiser CX 95, Klipsch Image
USB HUB
Recommendation: Any Brand
Price: -
Why?: Frankly, I have personally bought a number of USB hubs from ebay over the years and have yet to have one problem. I highly recommend going for the cheapest option which ever that may be. If you're a brand fan and looks are a very high priority however, the two options below should suit you fine
Alternatives: Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 7-Port Mobile Hub, Cables To Go 7 Port USB
3 PLUG ADAPTOR
Recommendation: Monster 4 Outlet Mini Power Strip
Price: $15.00
Why?: Handy. There is always a shortage of power points when you need one. This compact power strip is a perfect for travel and obviously a doddle to use.
The Unnecessaries but Oh So Cool
What is it? A smart pen that digitally records everything you write and hear. You do however require special paper embedded with thousands of almost invisible dots for the pen to work - these are only $5 for a set of pads though. The recordings are transferred to a computer through a USB docking cradle. Notes can even be shared online and Livescribe gives 250 MB of storage space for free.
Price: $149 for the 1 GB version or $199 for the 2 GB model.
What is it? A tiny adaptor size device whicn you plug it into your room's socket, plug in the hotel's Ethernet cable and voila, you have wifi.
Price: $80
Alternative: Linksys WTR54GS
What is it? Essentially, an e-book reader launched by Amazon. It uses an electronic paper display and reads Amazons propriertary Kindle format (AZW) and downloads ebooks directly from Amazon.com.
Price: $359
Alternatives: Sony Reader
Next in the Series
Part 2: The Browser. How the browser will increasing play a vital part in the development of digital office. This post will be a run down of tips, tricks and features to make the browser work for you and your team.
Part 3: Web Apps, Desktop Apps & Integration. This will revisit the deskapp to webapp conundrum and the recent developments which have quite possibly sealed the argument.
Part 4: Tools & Services both Online & Off. An illustration of the best tools and services out there which combine to create the digital office.
Part 5: Portability, the iPhone & Mobile Web. This will cover portability and the mobile web, in putting the finishing touches to the new work way.
Top image credit: moriza
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Very comprehensive advice there. Wish I had this info when I was buying my bits n pieces.
Looking forward to Part 2.
Have a look at the Panasonic SD9 before you make up your mind on the Sanyo.
I understand there are different types of mobile, but these seems strongly aimed toward the throw it in the car type rather then someone who actually needs to carry their office around. Weight and the idea 'less is more' seems like it would be a priority for a mobile office. Why do you recommend printers and scanners over alternatives that may be up to 75% lighter? I understand quality may be better, but is it so much so that I should carry around an extra 3 pounds?
Some people may have a strong preference, but wouldn't a bluetooth mouse (that should work on most of the machines you have listed) be preferred over one that requires a USB adapter, especially if that may require you to bring a USB hub?
One thing I might recommend depending on the number of USB devices carried are one of these new USB batteries. You can charge them off your laptop, but then use them to recharge or power other USB devices like your iPhone, or bluetooth headsets. A portable multipurpose charger if you are going to be away from outlets for most of the day can be nice.
oh, congrats Zee!! started blogging for RWW? cool! I also recently started another blog which focuses on failures; i attempt to document failures historic, political, technological, personal, etc!
Posted by: Hayk Hakobyan
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September 16, 2008 12:16 AM
cheers Hayk . What's the blog?
Posted by: Zee from WeDoCreative
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September 16, 2008 12:53 AM
Zee, its really new (merely 10 days old but i wanted to do it since few months ago). i tried to make it simple and solemn. http://fail92fail.wordpress.com/
Posted by: Hayk Hakobyan
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September 16, 2008 12:58 AM
http://fail92fail.wordpress.com/
Posted by: abacab
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September 16, 2008 12:59 AM
Hmm Charles - you reckon a blackberry bold or iPhone are worthy of being chucked around in the car? I'd have to disagree there - there both magnificent powerful tools with fantastic office-like features now.
Regarding the printers & scanners. I own both & I've yet to come across a more reliable & portable set yet. But hey, please don't think twice about suggesting alternatives - frankly, the more the better.
About the choice of the "Logitech VX Nano Cordless" over a bluetooth mouse, you're right it is very much down to the individual but again, I based these on my personal usage as well as read reviews and this has surpassed every mouse I have ever owned in terms of portability, connection & efficiency.
Oh & your recommendation to charge off the computer is spot on. :) Cheers for your points Charles!
Dude, you recommend a device (Blackberry Bold) that you haven't used. Please. Even a marketing PR guy should know better.
I thought it was a bold move...
Nice Gadgets..
Great Post! Anxiously waiting for remaining posts.
Love this! Thanks for the great recommendations. I wish RWW did gadget roundups/etc. more often!
I'm just wondering what mobile 'office' needs a printer, scanner, video camera, webcam and portable media player? This seems like a lot of extra junk to lug around, especially the video camera and scanner. You've also got a lot of over lapping things, the macbook pro has a webcam built in, the blackberry bold will do all of the portable media player stuff..
I'm with you there David, that section is there mainly for anyone / any team who need to ensure they are completely fully equipped. In my opinion, absolutely no need to have more than the essentials: mac, phone and mobile broadband.
Kindle? Really?
I know you listed it under "The Unnecessaries but Oh So Cool", but I think that although Kindle lives up to "unnecessary", but falls short, way short, of being "cool".
all we need on a travel!
MOBILE BROADBAND
US: Sprint / EVDO / AT&T
Um, Sprint and AT&T are companies, while EVDO is an IEEE standard for data transmission used by both Sprint and Verizon.
This post seems rather clueless and like a "How to Fail at Your New Company"
Elegant design? How is that related to productivity?
Using a Mac?? Do you know how much free software exists for the windows platform?
A little dramatic wouldn't you say Frankie? But fair enough I stand corrected, will get that changed - hardly a mistake likely to break the bank though.
Regarding elegant design, hands down up in top 3 things that allows me to get the job at hand done. Give me a clunky working environment and i'll give you substandard results.
And this post isn't about the cheapest set up - it's about the best and in my opinion, considering you can use both windows & OS X on a mac - you can't beat it.
Zee,
I appreciate your comments. I have an iPhone and love it. I was trying to keep my comments in line with this article and I'll wait for the rest.
I agree with David in that most of it seems like a lot of extra junk to lug around. Your response is what I'd expect to hear, but you have them listed in the 'Should haves' category. Seems more like 'optional, but these items are recommended if you have a need for them'.
Mobile can mean different things to different people, but this seems more like luggable, rather then mobile. Tokyo has made me a lot more aware of weight then I was in the US.
Charging off the computer does save some cables, but this is something like the device I was thinking of:
http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t_id=4125&t_mode=des
or
http://www.amazon.com/3GJUICE-iPhone-3G-Charger-External/dp/B001DDYH9I
or
http://www.amazon.com/APC-Mobile-Power-Pack-External/dp/B000GBN42E/ref=reg_hu-wl_mrai-recs
Basically charge it up, then you can use it to charge your high drain items like the iPhone on the go without draining your laptop battery. Bluetooth headsets or any other USB chargeable device can be powered off them.
your website is friendly....but can you help me how to edit a paper from microsoft word to an ieee format like this