My current favorite keyboard from my current favorite manufacturer of late:
Mechanical key switches in a low profile. Super satisfying to type on. The RGB lighting is whatever.
So Iāve been asking questions because when I started my home office setup three years ago it was ātemporaryā. Itās obviously permanent, or at least semi-permanent (hybrid). Iām quite happy with my sit/stand desk frame (seriously, if you donāt have a sit/stand desk you should seriously look into one), but the desktop is a little small. I want to increase the desktop real estate. Easy enough, just need to buy a larger top, as the frame is adjustable. The prospect of a super wide monitor is appealing as it will give me more workable screen space while having to wrangle only one monitor stand/arm and clear up some desk space. Iām looking to mount the docking station underneath to clear up more space on the desk. Iām not Limey-level of having to be tidy, but less clutter is always good. I have a Logitech C920 camera, and use that as the microphone. It works reasonably well, but Iām considering upping the microphone game. I use my trusty Grado SR60s for sound. My desk chair is a Steelcase Leap V2 that I bought used, because thatās what they make us use at the office. But Iām always open to something more comfortable.
Any suggestions on potential upgrades to camera, microphone or chair? Iām not Thurston Howell III, but am willing to spend a little on a top notch setup.
An Audio-Technica 2020 USB or Rode PodMic are solid choices if you want a boom mic. If not, a Yeti is always good.
Most webcams under $100-150 are about the same, and the Logitech C920 is still plenty good. I have a C910 at home and a C920 at work and havenāt gotten the itch to upgrade.
Chairs are highly personal, but I got a Herman Miller/Logitech Embody Gaming chair at work a few months ago and love the shit out of it. May not be great for taller people though. My boss loves his Herman Miller Aeron.
Just to add: if you do want to make a significant camera upgrade then you can use a DSLR, which is what many professional streamers use. Thatās a few hundred dollars though, so maybe not worth it.
I imagine that people on the other end of the video call would appreciate HH buying the cheapest webcam out there.
2 Likes
I donāt get on calls with my junk hanging out.
The camera works fine. And the microphone is ok too. I just hate being on a call with someone using their computer cam, speakers, and mic. It sounds like theyāre in a cave. Iām trying to put my best face forward, even if itās not the one you want to see.
The 920 is fine. You may or may not have a ring light or a cube, lighting makes a huge amount of difference as does the minimizing of backlighting or busy backgrounds. I deal with a lot of users who think spending money on headsets or exotic microphones are the answer when a decent directional microphone pointed at or across the speakerās mouth, generally on axis, with sufficient volume and having as much of the softwareās audio compensations turned off and the best possible bandwidth (no vpn penalty, wired instead of wireless, turn off that blurred background, whatever is possible) will almost always result in really good quality. A gooseneck with a mount for the camera is a nice little upgrade.
Iāve thought about the ring light. Several people I work with have those and recommend. The camera just sits on the top of one the monitors, but if I can get a little desk space, a gooseneck mount may be an option. And Iām going to reposition my desk to get a better background. Most people realize itās just a home setup, and frankly most people donāt care what they look like, but Iām trying to look as professional as I can. Same reason I shower, shave, and put on decent clothing when working from home. I may be old, fat and grumpy, but that doesnāt mean I have to be sloppy too.
2 Likes
The camera only sees from the waist up, as many local anchors can tell you. Unless you have to get up on-cameraā¦
When I say āsoftwareās audio compensationsā it comes in a couple of flavors. For individual users, enabling background rejection (dogs barking, etc) really does work wonders, as does automatic gain control, but the tradeoff is that the software is fairly incapable of fine distinctions and will try very hard to make every square peg it notices fit into a round hole. The result is weird audio anomalies like warbling, or abrupt volume gains and declines, or echoes as it searches to employ its processes. One of my charges is a large meeting room that has a couple of large monitors and a Webex endpoint with an array of pressure zone microphone plates flown from the ceiling. Those mics have delay corrections built in but they also have other processes to aid clarity. The downside is that when they get overloaded by something like applause, the sound is more like a wave of rain on a tin roof, which really comes off a cheesy during some sort of gathering.
Weāre currently undergoing a building renovation and one of our rooms is getting some Shure Microflex ceiling arrays. Iām pretty stoked.
Theyāre so much more even but theyāre also incredibly sensitive. Those whispered asides from anywhere around those zones can get picked up. They might not be noticed in the room system, but they sure are by anyone watching a broadcast.
Not iMac, but Iāve been having problems with my PC the last few months. Itās an Asus Zenbook3 running Windows 10 and up until a few months ago I loved it. Then it was having trouble booting up. Then it got to where it simply went into a BIOS utility mode, and would not start. It kept saying it had no boot options available. ASUS was no help, and basically said āyouāre fuckedā. After some online searching, I finally was able to punch enough buttons to go into a safe mode and re-install Windows 10. It seems to be working, for now at least. Apparently this is a Windows 10 issue. Has anyone else had that issue? Other than ābuy an iMacā, any advice?
You could upgrade to Windows 11?
Iām not the biggest fan of the latest version, but it probably will fix the issue.
1 Like
Iām not sure if Iām Windows 11 compatible or not. Something Iāll have to check.
If you were able to use the Windows recovery tools to reinstall Windows 10 from the same drive then it sounds to me like your OS just got corrupted somehow. It may have been fixable without the reinstall, but not without some elbow grease.
3 Likes
I finally took the plunge on Windows 11 earlier this year and I donāt hate it.
1 Like
Thatās good to hear. Hopefully this fixes the problem. It wasnāt a big deal to re-install Windows. I probably didnāt want to have to do brain surgery on it.
I did the same on my gaming PC earlier this year. There were a few hiccups, a few things that broke and took some Google-fu to fix, but overall I donāt hate it.
So just checked, and my PC says it does not meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11. So that settles that, I guess.