A Quick Guide for Setting Up Your MacBook Pro for a Home Office

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the entire world into a kind of frenzy. Needless to say, the post-COVID world is going to be nothing that you’ve known before. For instance, remote working and WFH (work from home) is now the norm, not an option. What’s more, companies have started embracing permanent work from home culture.

Whether you will be WFH for the long term or permanently, setting up a dedicated home office is only practical. It’ll help you stay productive and easily find all the amenities you need to complete tasks – a big computer monitor, a lot of desk space, and ergonomic solutions to prevent backaches.

However, every home office will not follow the same design. For example, a designer working remotely will not benefit from a home office setup designed to suit the needs of accountants. Moreover, home workspaces may even differ by the computing device used by remote workers.

Suppose you are a MacBook Pro user or plan to become one soon; follow this guide to set up a productive home office.

Choose the aptest docking station 

The high-bandwidth Thunderbolt 3 ports make your MacBook Pro extremely powerful, especially if you select the right docking station to harness the power. Some of the top docking stations for MacBook Pro include Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Care, Brydge Vertical Docking Station, IOGear Quantum Dual Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro, and so on.

When setting up a home office, flexibility matters, and this is where a docking station can come in handy. At certain times, you may want to work on a single laptop screen in your bedroom or need a more elaborate multi-screen setup, along with desktop peripherals. A docking station saves you from the trouble of relying on a host of dongles or USB-C adapters at your desk.

Find a good monitor 

The MacBook Pro is designed explicitly to be used with external displays, including the ultra-high-resolution ones that need a lot of bandwidth. While Apple sells 6K Pro Display XDR, there are several HD and UHD options available. Connect MacBook Pro to monitor to enjoy a more transparent, more prominent, and better digital canvas to multitask between apps, work with documents or collaborate with clients and colleagues. By using external monitors, you can enjoy a productivity boost of about 30%.

Use ergonomic peripherals to boost efficiency 

Numerous wireless and wired peripherals are supported by the MacBook Pro. For your home office set up, you would need to do the following:

• Mice and trackballs 

The built-in trackpad of the MacBook Pro is very versatile and responsive, along with a list of gestures. However, when you’re setting up a home office, it might not be as comfortable or even convenient to use as a trackball or mouse. So, you can get mice and trackballs with Bluetooth connectivity and programmable buttons that will improve your efficiency.

• Keyboards 

MacBook Pros are highly efficient and powerful machines, but some of them come with shallow butterfly keyboards. The keyboards are not ideal for prolonged use and make typing difficult as there’s a physical distance between the keys. There’s no option for wrist rest.

If your work involves a lot of typing, investing in an ergonomic keyboard designed for adjustability and comfort will make sense. It’ll be great if the keyboard comes with Bluetooth connectivity as it will free your desk of cord clutter and free up ports for other USB-C accessories.

• Ethernet adapters

Since you have a home office, your MacBook Pro is probably stationary. So, have you considered going for a wired connection? If you use an Ethernet-to-ESB-C dongle, it’ll give you a faster, stabler Internet connection, and you can enjoy up to 2.5 Gbps.

• Mousepads and wrist rest 

An ergonomic wrist rest is a must if your job involves a lot of typing or designing. You’ll find ample options of wrist rests that work seamlessly with MacBook Pro peripherals. You can also get mouse pads for added comfort and convenience to your workspace at home.

• Headphones or AirPods

Do you expect to participate in multiple calls throughout the day during WFH? If so, you need a reliable pair of headphones that will make it easier to sit through multiple meetings. Get AirPods as they will sync seamlessly with your MacBook Pro and offer high call quality. If you need to focus and require a noise cancellation feature, you can opt for AirPods Pro.

You can also get wired headphones because MacBook Pro comes with a built-in headphone jack.

• External hard drives 

Whether you need a place to keep your seldom-used files or running out of storage, external hard drives are an excellent option. They can help free space in your MacBook Pro so that the machine runs faster and nothing is slowing it down.

So, are you ready to set up your MacBook Pro for a productive and efficient home office? Make the most use of your system by keeping in mind the tips mentioned earlier.