Your home is now much more than a place to hang your hat. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, chances are good your casa is also a home office, school room, and where you spend the vast majority of your time.
In order to make your abode as user-friendly as possible for all of the work that you and your family members must get done—as well as have some fun in the process—please consider investing in the following technology devices and programs:
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A Hardworking Laptop (Or Maybe Two)
In order to set up a home office and help your kids get ready for online schooling, having at least one laptop in the house is more than a “want,” it is a “need.” At the same time, you probably don’t have unlimited funds to spend on this type of tech, so a low price is key.
No worries, work-from-home warrior, for $259 you can order an HP Chromebook online that has plenty of bells and whistles for a budget-friendly price. Featuring an impressive eight hours of battery life, you can work from your patio on crisp fall days if you prefer, all while enjoying the 14-inch anti-glare display, 4 GB of memory and lots of internal storage. Your kids can use the same laptop for school. As a bonus, you can manage which apps and websites they can access, and you can even lock the laptop remotely once school is over for the day and you want your at-home students to stay off the screens for a while.
A Budget-Friendly Webcam
While the laptop mentioned above features a built-in webcam, maybe you have room in the budget for one laptop for your middle school student to use. You are fine with your trusty old desktop PC, but if it lacks a webcam, you probably need to invest in one as soon as you can. Granted, you could log into video meetings from your phone or iPad, but it is much easier to sit in your home office and take part in video meetings with the boss.
Here is some great news: you can score a great webcam for about $40 — this Logitech model features video capture up to 1280 x 720 pixels and still image capture up to 3.0MP for clear video and pictures. It also includes an integrated microphone so you can hear your boss and co-workers loud and clear.
Identity Theft Protection Program
Since you and your family are spending more time than ever on your computers, it is more crucial than ever to invest in an identity theft protection program. If you are concerned about high costs, you don’t have to be: the cost of LifeLock is quite reasonable, varying from $8.99 to $26.99 a month. In return, you will get invaluable peace of mind knowing that if you or your kiddos accidentally fall for a phishing scam or a hacker gets into your bank account, your personal information and sensitive data will be protected.
A Fun Splurge
Maybe you’ve had your eye on a new smart TV, Blu-Ray player or gaming system. If there is room in the budget, consider splurging on a fun piece of technology that the whole family can enjoy. This has been an exceptionally challenging year in many ways, and a new TV or other device can make all of the time you spend at home a bit less stressful. Talk it over with your family to see what everyone would like the most and treat your household to a pre-holiday present.
New Technology Can Make Life Easier
This year will definitely go down in the books as one of the most difficult ever. By investing in some key pieces of technology—both must-haves and a splurge or two—your home office and school space will be more productive, your good name and identity will be kept safe, and you can also escape with a movie or video game from time to time.
About Carson Derrow
