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At Work | Best Practices | Business Buying Guide | Ultimate Office
At Work | Best Practices | Business Buying Guide | Ultimate Office
Tech tips, picks, and tools for your business on your budget
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Build a cheap home office
With the right technology, you can easily run your business from your own home--even from the kitchen table. Best of all, there's no commute: just roll out of bed and get to work. All of the essential equipment for a start-up home office--desktop PC, monitor, printer--is relatively basic, easy to set up, and inexpensive.
CNET editors say:
These products are ESSENTIAL for your home office.
A budget desktop PC strikes a balance between performance and cost, covering the basics at affordable prices--everything you need and nothing that you don't.
If you're staring at your monitor all day, you'll want something better than that CRT you found abandoned in the back room at your old office.
If you need a hardy inkjet printer to handle your basic color needs, these printers should suffice; they print quickly and come in network-ready flavors.
This product is NICE TO HAVE for your home office.
Back up your data, record presentations for later, and even transmit data via sneakernet while you're saving up for your networked office.
CNET community says
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Enter your area codeAdditional resources
Check out real-life stories of how people use the latest electronics and computing technology in their home offices.
Got an old PC lying around? Put it to work as a first line of defense for your network or as a Linux box.
A good wireless network lets you work from any corner of the house. It can also carry music, movies, and photos.
Additional resources
Check out real-life stories of how people use the latest electronics and computing technology in their home offices.
Got an old PC lying around? Put it to work as a first line of defense for your network or as a Linux box.
A good wireless network lets you work from any corner of the house. It can also carry music, movies, and photos.
Building the ultimate office: from start-up to skyscraper
Conference room
Products
Additional resources
- Best practices: Web conferencing the smart way
- CNET's how-to: Record a meeting
- Tech you can expense: Get Uncle Sam to work for you
Home office
Products
Additional resources
- Show Us Yours: Home office
- Insider Secrets: Three things to do with your old PC
- Digital Home DIY: Set up a wireless network
Hotel room
Products
Additional resources
- Best practices: Stay in a hotel with free Wi-Fi
- Insider Secrets: Wi-Fi the right way
- Show Us Yours: What's inside your home office?
Airplane
Products
Additional resources
- Best practices: Book your trip online
- Get the Picture: Packing your bags preflight: power and portability
- Best practices: Get work done at the airport
Boss's office
Products
- Start-up: Budget laptop, PDA, phone, VoIP service
- Growing: PDA/phone, RSS reader, desktop, LCD
- Mature: High-end laptop, PDA/phone, mouse/keyboard, HDTV
Additional resources
- Insider Secrets: Streamline your Web browsing with RSS
- Weekend Project: Double your display power: add a second monitor
- Internet phones: Cut costs with Internet calling
- Works for Me: Too much of a good thing
Utility closet
Products
Additional resources
- Weekend Project: Share files and printers across your network
- CNET business buying guide: Networking and wireless
- Show Us Yours: What networking gear do you have?
- Security Center: Protect the integrity of your network
Cubicle
Products
Additional resources
- Insider Secrets: The best software is free software
- Weekend Project: Add a second monitor to your PC
- Works for Me: A change from default settings will do you good
- Insider Secrets: Make the most of your keyboard
Car
Products
- Start-up: Company cars on a budget, Best basic phones, PDAs for newbie road warriors, Budget laptops for mobile businesses
- Growing: Cars with growth potential, Laptops for growing mobile businesses, Smart phones, GPS navigation
- Mature: Executive cars, Bluetooth cell phones, Stylish laptops for mobile executives
Additional resources
- Insider Secrets: Geek your car
- Show us yours: High-tech payload
- Best practices: Literate listening with Audible.com
Where do you work?
Start-up:
Tech for a tight budget
Conference room, Home office, Hotel room, Airplane, Boss's office, Utility closet, Cubicle, CarGrowing:
Best tech per dollar
Conference room, Home office, Hotel room, Airplane, Boss's office, Utility closet, Cubicle, CarMature:
Tech to impress
Conference room, Home office, Hotel room, Airplane, Boss's office, Utility closet, Cubicle, Car
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