I have been using a desk since the last June 2020 when I shifted to rental accommodation and since then I have tried to make the best use of my small desk as compared to what I was using earlier for the past 3 years in my old house. I was putting my Acer monitor on the top of a circular gift pack to raise its height to suit my neck ergonomically as well as various other JUGAAD technology on the go.
Since the last year when I shifted to this home a lot of accessories have been brought into the play on this small desk setup. In this blog post, we will go one by one through the items I am using on my desk.
1. Deskstand Wavy Sit-Stand Laptop Bed Stand - https://www.thelifesway.com/2020/05/thelifeswayreviews-thedeskstand-wavy.html - It's a really nice laptop stand I bought last year but soon it got broke and the company sent me another one for free during the lockdown. You should definitely try out their products. I bought the one for R395 on 25th Sep 2018 during one of their month-end sales.
2. BOSE Companion II Multimedia Speaker System - I bought them in clearance sale from Incredible Connection long back (7 July 2014) for around R600 only. Since then I have been using them on a daily basis, and only now there is a hissing sound when not being played or connected to a source and even after connected to the sound is prominent. Otherwise, the audio quality of Bose speakers knows no introduction and I totally love these.
3. Asus VivoBook S15 Laptop - Asus VivoBook has been my laptop of choice since my Dell XPS L501 laptop became too slow for my liking and then I shifted to this Intel Core i5 8th Gen powered laptop with NVIDIA GEFORCE. I also upgraded the same to 1TB of SSD (for around R3188 on 23 July 2019) as compared to 1TB of Hard disk drive it had and since then the laptop switched on and off in no time.
4. Acer KA220HQbid Black 21.5'' LED Monitor - I bought an external display for having bigger size screen and this was my first LED monitor which was on sale on Acer Online store for R1300 and I was given R500 discount coupon by Acer South Africa to buy anything from their store so it costed me R800. I bought the same on 31st August 2017 and since then it has been my monitor of choice and during the last years work from home it has been my main display.
5. Leroy Merlin DESK LAMP WITH CLIP E14 1X25W METAL + PL - I bought the last piece available on display (priced at R149) from the Edenvale store and the manager offered me a discount as I got it for R100 only. As this was the last piece and I wanted it badly, so I didn't check the quality of the clip which I feel has a missing rubber. Overall, it has a long cable so can reach all the sides of your study table and can even be clipped to your bed as a nightshade. I want to install a Wifi enable colour LED into the same so as to enjoy various colours of lights on the go. I have stopped searching for any other table lamp since this has come into my life in the month of September 2021. Thanks, Leroy Merlin for the great products and discounts from time to time. Your service is excellent.
6. REDRAGON DRACONIC K530RGB Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard - This one I also reviewed some days back on my blog post where you can get all the information regarding this awesome keyboard. I need to have an RGB mousepad and another RGB mouse for my setup to be complete.
7. Logitech M720 Wireless Triathlon Mouse - I got this Logitech mouse in May 2017 and since then it has been in my hands and never given me any kind of problems so far. I really love the design of this mouse and the feature that it can be connected to three different gadgets using the small Logitech dongle. Now I want to change to a wireless RGB mouse for my desk setup.
8. Free Dell Alienware Mousepads - I got these mousepads during one of the RageExpo some years back as a part of their expo campaign. Since that time I am using the same and now wants to switch to RGB mousepads for my desk setup.
9. Pens and Stationery - Most of my pens and stationery are free goodies from various events but Pens from Parker, Xiaomi and Pilot are bought by me specifically as I love writing with Parker Fountain Pens (I have Vector and IM series). I specifically love the design of Lamy pens but so far I have not had them. I love fine tips or anything which is lower than 0.5mm in nib size. In Pilot pens, I love the C4 which has around 0.38 mm nib tip in gel pen style which is priced around R60 per piece. I keep them all in the Dell Pen Stand or the Typo Buffalo pen holder.
10. Notepads/Journals - I am still using the Huawei notepads got from one of their launch events and that has been my daily gratitude journal of 5 things to be grateful for. The other notebooks I have are from the movie Godzilla as a goodies bag which is my BuJo (Bullet Journals) and contains all the important information about myself and my days since the past year or so. I soon want to move to the expensive journals from Exclusive books or from Typo.
11. Maxnomic ESL Pro 2.0 Gaming Chair - This was a dream come true gaming chair that I got in October 2017 and since then my posture has improved and never I have faced any kind of back pain or neck pain. A gaming chair of this quality really helps you ergonomically. I enjoy sitting on this chair and since the lockdown last year the PU leather has started to crack as the time spent on the chair increased a lot. I can change it to a leather cover for the chair which will cost me around R1000 to change but I thought I will get it done once the whole piece is gone or not worthy of sitting anymore.
12. Orico Power Adapter - This is one of the simple gadgets to plug in all my devices as well as offering 2 USB charging points. I bought this one for around R150 from one of the shops in 2016 or so and since then has been my favourite charging station. Now I am finding it difficult to insert 2-pin plugs as the adapter is showing resistance. It takes a little bit of power and shakes to insert the power adapters to charge my smartphones. There is no such problem faced with the South African power adapters.
13. Xiaomi Mi Wi-Fi Range Extender Pro- This is one of the cheapest wifi repeaters available in the market and I bought this from the mia.africa.com website in one of their online Chinese New Year sales in the month of Feb 2021 for R150. I bought another one for R100 only during their June 2021 sale.
Other than that there are many things which I have received from the launch events and goodies from the expo which I use for some time before being replaced by the new ones. Also, I keep visiting typo and other shops in search of deals that can make my desk set up a little bit cooler and organized. I am also a productivity fan and follower and always tries to save time. I am one of the lazy persons Bill Gates talks about in his famous quote.
Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!
October 2020 saw 20 posts going live on my blog as I got some time from my project work for an Australian client. I was hopeful to see myself going there and settling there but it didn't happen as I kept waiting for the opportunity but the VISA restrictions didn't allow me to even start the process. I thought it's better you start working where you have the VISA if you don't want to work and go back to India. Though overall in all this project closure to finding a new project in South Africa took me more than 10 months and due to which all benefits like home rent, insurance and many other things were taken away and I had to survive on my savings. Coming out of this, I found that it's always great to be self-dependent on your skills rather than the company you are working for. You should quickly change when there is an opportunity to add some layers to your salary.
1. #HuaweiWatchGT2e @HuaweiZA Watch - Is it really Smart? #ProductReview - I received this Huawei Watch for review and used the same for some days. I didn't love the watch that much as compared to the features of the Huawei Watch GT2 but I received a brand new one at the end of the year 2020 and it's been showcased on my wrist since Jan-21 this year.
2. Unboxing @CanonRSA #CANONeosM50 Mirrorless #vLogging Camera #LiveForTheStory - I started my youtube channel and started shooting a lot of videos to be shared on my channel. I also thought that to increase the SEO of the channel, I should share them on my blog posts too. This post is part of that exercise and I am still using the Canon South Africa EOS M50 Mirrorless Camera with kit lens 15-45mm. I got this camera last year in May 2020, just before I shifted houses. I only opened the same in my rented flat thereafter.
3. Gadgets I Own @SonyElectronics #SRSBTV5 Bluetooth Speaker #SonyAudio #ProductReview - Sony Audio products are awesome and during the launch of the James Bond movie SKYFALL in 2012, I was participating in a lot of Twitter contests in India. This awesome Bluetooth speaker came as a prize and is still better than most of the speakers in terms of audio quality. The size and design of this speaker are amazingly unique and great.
4. @FujiFilm_SA X-T30 #NewLittleGiant #XT30 Mirrorless Camera #ProductReview - Fujifilm sent their X-T30 mirrorless camera for review and I did some photoshoots with the same. I really love Fujifilm products and their unique retro design. The price of these mirrorless products is equivalent to or more than the mid-level DSLR cameras but they offer portability and are lightweight with full features to take your photography to the next level.
@AstrumAfrica #AstrumEN250 2.5" SATA HDD Enclosure #ProductReview - I also did review some of the HDD enclosures I bought for some of the small hard drives coming out of my laptops. I posted the product review directly on my Youtube channel which you can watch them too.
October 2021 - I am waiting for some gadget which I am waiting for since August-21 and can't wait to receive the same. I am not so sure when I will get it but I am looking forward to the same. I also got my South African Driving License card and had a wonderful trip to the Northern Cape which was my first one to the area. Totally loved that part of South Africa and there are some great unexplored national parks that need an SUV to travel for sure.
Cheers!!!
Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!
I went to Incredible Connection with a friend who wanted to buy one of the ACER's SWIFT or ASPIRE series of laptops and wanted my opinion and we together were able to find a great deal for him from the Sandton City store. As I was browsing the store, I found that these Orico 2.5inch HDD and SSD enclosures in 4 colors - Blue, Black, Red, and Yellow. The price difference was there on the same devices with 2 tags one mentioning R189 and the other R249 with no visible difference which I even asked the sales agent. I wanted one in Yellow color but that was coming in higher price range so I chose the RED version as it looked great. I immediately transferred my Toshiba HDD from Astrum 2.0 case bought for R150 from Fordsburg to Orico 3.0 case and data transfer speed saw a huge difference. It's as easy as just inserting the hard disk into the slot and then closing the case and carry it wherever you want. I have made this specific drive for all the knowledge material, video, lessons, lectures I need to go through in my spare time.
I totally fell in love with the enclosure and here is a video showcasing the same too. I am still not sure about the price difference on the same models inside a store but maybe Syntech can tell more who is the distributor of these devices in South Africa as per my knowledge.
Overall at the price of R189, it's worth it as even if I ordered it from Takealot.com where it would have been a little bit cheaper but will charge me around R50-70 for the courier fees, it would have cost me much more than R189. So this is the first time, I thought that an actual buy from the store is cheap as compared to the online version. Thanks to Orico for making the same.
Cheers!!!
Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!