Work from home like a pro!

Working from home can be a rewarding experience. You get to spend your working hours in a comfortable, familiar environment, perhaps even in your favorite comfy clothes. You don’t have to commute to work and face brutal traffic. And it can be easier to maintain a healthy work-life balance. If you’re just getting set up in this environment for the first time, however, it can be tricky to choose the right PC, peripherals, and networking gear you need to get into the groove. We’ve created a guide to the best ASUS work-from-home gear to keep you running on all cylinders wherever you need to set up shop.

Our products give you the flexibility you need to stay productive in the hustle and bustle of home life. We keep you collaborating and creating wherever you need to set down your PC. And the other members of your household can work, learn and play alongside you while staying connected to the communities that matter most to them.

The centerpiece of a home office: your PC

The first element of your home office to consider is your PC. It’s your primary tool for collaborating with your team, organizing files, creating presentations, sketching out your next idea, or relaxing with a favorite show or a game, so you need a machine that fits your unique needs.Your work-at-home gig might include a device allowance to spend on technology, or perhaps you’re logging in from the family PC and it isn’t working as well as it once did. It’s one thing to tolerate some minor annoyances from an old PC that you only use occasionally. It’s another to suffer through them for your entire work day.

Either way, if your home office needs a new PC, you have a few decisions to make. The first is whether to get a desktop or a laptop. If performance and value are your primary concerns, desktops are a good choice. They offer easy upgrade opportunities down the road. Graphics cards, processors, storage devices, and memory are all usually accessible in standard-sized cases. Replacing an aging peripheral or display is as easy as unplugging one device and plugging in another. And if your workflow requires some serious CPU or GPU horsepower, desktop PCs can offer the highest performance.

If portability is your primary concern, a laptop is a natural companion as you move between your home office, coffee shop, client meetings, and business trips. Laptops range from ultra-compact traveling companions to full-fledged desktop replacements that harness the most powerful components that can fit into portable form factors. Many people have found that a laptop handles all of their needs from a PC, and it’s quite likely that one can do the same for you.

A desktop PC for any home officeIf you don’t need your PC to travel with you, a desktop is an excellent choice for your home office computer. Desktops are available in all shapes and sizes, from compact mini-PCs to massive, powerful workstations, and they offer a wide range of performance to meet any user’s needs. The sheer number of options can be a little intimidating, so we’ve consolidated the world of desktop PCs down to a few options that we think make the most sense for folks setting up a home office for the first time.First, a brief note about DIY PC building. It’s easier than ever to custom-build your own desktop with our components. DIY builds let you assemble the exact PC you need for specialized workflows. We’re a leader in motherboards, graphics cards, cases, power supplies, CPU coolers, peripherals, monitors, and more to help you construct carefully tuned, high-performance desktops that last, and if you’re a seasoned builder looking to upgrade, now is a great time.

Here, though, we’ll focus on turn-key desktop PCs that you can set up and deploy quickly. These desktops range from all-in-one PCs for everyday users to high-end computers that deliver the performance content creators and other power users need for their projects.

The ProArt Station PA90 offers professional performance in a stylish design

People around the world are finding exciting opportunities to turn their passions for photography, videography, and digital art into rewarding careers nowadays. As an enthusiast or hobbyist in these fields, you can get a lot of mileage out of consumer-grade CPUs and GPUs. In many professional contexts, on the other hand, you need certified compatibility with the professional software tools that you use daily.

The ProArt Station PA90 delivers the hardware and certifications that professionals in many fields need for their work. It’s certified by a range of independent software vendors for use with rendering, modeling, and engineering software like AutoCAD, 3DS Max, and Maya, for example, and Adobe products as well. That’s due in part to the NVIDIA Quadro P4000, a graphics card with the accelerated performance you need to drive multiple ultra-high resolution displays and complete 3D rendering tasks efficiently.As you picture a 3D rendering workstation in your mind, you might be imagining a hulking, squared-off beast of a machine. Toss out those preconceptions. The PA90 contains its hardware in a 15” tall case that measures just 6.93” per side. The result is a design that’s elegant, compact, and highly effective at keeping components cool. Intel Core processors up to the eight-core, sixteen-thread i9-9900K are kept cool with an all-in-one liquid CPU cooler. When the CPU is at full load, the PA90 automatically raises its top lid to increase cooling airflow by up to 38%.

The ZenWiFi AX delivers the best of Wi-Fi 6 and AiMesh

A Wi-Fi 6 router paired with compatible devices will create a home network that will make everybody in your household happy. The headlining technologies for this new generation of wireless networking can help alleviate the congestion that clogs many busy home networks. As you upgrade your household smartphones, laptops, and smart home devices to Wi-Fi 6-capable models, your Wi-Fi 6 router can distribute the available bandwidth more intelligently so that all devices have a stable connection.

Our ZenWiFi AX system uses a pair of Wi-Fi 6 routers to blanket your home in a reliable, low-latency signal. The two routers use our AiMesh technology to form a mesh network. In this arrangement, the two routers track all devices in real-time and determine which access point provides the best signal to that device. They’ll seamlessly pass devices back and forth to each other without dropping your connection. This system is ideal for homes and buildings with odd corners and rooms that are tough for a single wireless router to cover by itself. If you have a room that just doesn’t get good coverage from your current router—and especially if that room is your home office—consider the ZenWiFi AX.

The right monitor for your workflow

Unless your desktop is an all-in-one with an integrated display, it absolutely needs a monitor. If you have a laptop, it’s tempting just to rely on its built-in screen, but many laptop users find that they’re more productive if they connect their laptop to a second, spacious screen on their desk. The following monitors range from everyday workhorses to specialized tools for professionals.

The ASUS VZ239H puts your work front and center

The ASUS Z239H is a straightforward, affordable monitor that’s perfect for everything that comes your way in office work. As a 24” display with ultraslim bezels, it’ll fit on just about any desk. Its 1080p Full HD resolution and 60Hz display rate are a great starting point for office work and entertainment alike. It has an IPS panel with wide viewing angles, so it’ll deliver clear, undistorted images even if you place it off to the side of your laptop.The TUF Gaming VG27VQ offers an expansive canvas for work and playPerhaps you’re looking for a monitor that’s an ideal companion both on the clock and after hours. The TUF Gaming VG27VQ fits that niche precisely. It’s a 27” FHD display with 400 cd/m² max brightness, so everything on screen will still be clearly visible even when your home office is filled with natural light. Your shoulder and neck muscles will appreciate that it has a full set of tilt, swivel, and height adjustments, which allow you to position the monitor at a comfortable viewing angle.

When you unwind after a day of work by hopping into a competitive online shooter, you want a monitor that displays fast-paced action as clearly and quickly as possible, and that’s where the VG27’s gaming cred comes into focus The VG27VQ’s 165Hz refresh rates means that it can display a new frame from your PC 165 times per second. Combine that with a low 1ms MPRT and our Extreme Low Motion Blur technology, and you have a display that keeps you up to the millisecond with in-game action.Games don’t always run at a constant frame rate. The VG27VQ’s FreeSync Premium designation means that the monitor can tie its refresh rate to the delivered frame rate of your GPU. This variable refresh rate system gets rid of tearing artifacts and ensures smooth visuals.Expand your horizons with the ultra-wide ASUS Designo MX34VQ

For many of us, one monitor just isn’t enough. When I’m writing a new article for Edge Up, I’ll have many windows open at the same time: my current project, several browser tabs with supporting documentation, my email, at least one messaging service for staying in touch with my colleagues across the globe, and a source of music. There’s just no way for all of that to be visible and useful on one display, so I have three monitors on my desk—not counting my laptop’s display.

If your workflow is similar to mine, you might find a monitor you like and purchase a couple. Another approach—one that’s simpler and more elegant—is to pick up an ultrawide monitor. The ASUS Designo MX34VQ gives you the real estate of two separate screens in one slick package. You’ll have space for all your windows, but without extra wires on your desk or a bezel in the middle of your field of view. That expansive vista makes working at home a real pleasure.The MX34VQ offers 34” of pixels at a resolution of 3440×1440. VA panels are known for their high contrast, and the MX34VQ’s 3000:1 contrast ratio doesn’t disappoint. It has a 100Hz refresh rate, and it’s compatible with VESA Adaptive-Sync technology, so it’ll provide smooth, tear-free visuals in games with a broad range of graphics cards. With its elegant stand, built-in Qi wireless charger, and ultra-slim bezels, it’s an attractive and practical addition to your desk.The Zenscreen MB16ACE is the monitor that travels with you

It’s convenient to have a secondary monitor on your desk that you can connect to when you’re in your home office, but some workers need to move around their house or office during the day in addition to when they’re on the road. Our ZenScreen MB16ACE is a thin and light screen that can travel in your laptop bag and set up wherever you need to.

The ZenScreen MB16ACE is a 15.6” FHD display with an IPS panel that displays clear images even from sharp angles. It’s only 8mm thick and weighs just 1.56 lbs, so it only adds a little weight to your bag. It’ll look small in your satchel, but it’ll significantly increase your productivity when you prop it up with its included SmartCase Lite and connect it to your PC.Create for any audience with the ProArt PA329CWhen you’re doing creative work with photos, digital art, or video footage, you need a versatile, high-resolution display with exceptional color reproduction. Our ProArt monitors make professional-quality displays accessible to hobbyists and aspiring professionals alike.

With its 32” 4K panel, the ProArt PA329C provides a wide canvas for your creative work. Most professional photographers and videographers shoot in 4K, if not at an even higher resolution, so it takes a 4K display like the PA329C at a minimum to let you work fluidly with those files. Its color reproduction is exceptional, as well. It covers 100% of the wide Adobe RGB gamut and 98% of the DCI-P3 color space common in digital cinematography. Another selectable mode gives you 100% of the sRGB color space.We factory-calibrate the PA329C to a Delta E of less than 2, and ProArt Calibration technology allows you to store color profiles on the monitor itself for consistent results between different applications and systems. Add in VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification and HDR10 support, and you’ve got a display that’s primed for your creative vision, even when you work from home.

Accurate, comfortable keyboards and mice

They say that you shouldn’t skimp on things that separate you from the ground: your shoes, bed, and tires, for just a few examples. We also think you shouldn’t skimp on the devices that connect you to your PC. Take a few minutes at a computer hardware store to try out a variety of keyboards and mice, and you’ll find that some are more precise, are a better fit for your hands, and more comfortable to use over the long term than others.Peripherals from the Republic of Gamers are built to meet the demands of competitive gamers first and foremost, but their accuracy, reliability, and comfort make them ideal for a wide range of workloads.

The ROG Strix Carry gives you championship credentials to go

The high-quality touchpad or clickpad in your laptop is more than capable of handling everyday office tasks, especially once you start committing the Windows multitouch gestures to muscle memory. There are likely to be times throughout your workday that a mouse will improve your workflow, especially when you work at home from a desk. More buttons and a scroll wheel give you quick access to commonly used commands, and a well-appointed mouse gives you the pixel-perfect precision you need for many creative apps.

The ROG Strix Carry is a wireless mouse that’s especially well-suited for people who need a mouse that can work with them anywhere they are. Whether you’re using it to edit a spreadsheet, touch up a photo, or play a game or two after the workday is done, this mouse is an excellent choice. You can connect it to your PC with either a low-latency 2.4GHz RF link or Bluetooth, so it’s great for moving between different systems.It’s small enough to fit easily in a laptop bag, too, yet it’s equipped with a professional-grade 7200 DPI optical sensor. Our tests show that it’s good for at least 300 hours of runtime on its RF link, and at least 400 hours when it’s connected via Bluetooth. You’ll be able to get tons of work done without worrying about plugging in.The ROG Strix Flare keeps you in the zone

Don’t be distracted by its gorgeous per-key RGB LED backlighting and vibrant, colorful underglow. The ROG Strix Flare is a full-sized keyboard full of convenient features for power users.

Like the Strix Scope TKL, it’s appointed with your choice of a variety of Cherry MX switches. Anti-ghosting tech and N-key rollover ensures that all your keypresses register, even when you’re inputting a complex hotkey combo. You can also map macros on the fly to any key of your choosing, a feature that can boost your productivity in coding and creative work.The Strix Flare also includes USB passthrough port, giving you a convenient location for plugging in devices like charging cables and thumb drives. Desktop users in particular find this a helpful feature, as your keyboard is more readily at hand than your PC’s case. You’ll also find a row of media buttons and a large, textured volume roller in the keyboard’s upper left corner. They allow you to skip tracks and adjust volume without switching away from your primary workspace or removing your right hand from your mouse.The ROG Sheath creates an unshakable foundation for your gear

Many people find that they’re more focused and productive when they’re working in a tidy, organized space. We can’t help you with your household clutter, but we can suggest using the ROG Sheath to keep your workspace organized. The Sheath is a mousepad that’s large enough to hold not only your mouse, but your keyboard or laptop, as well.

Beyond its neat division of your desk space, the ROG Sheath provides an optimal surface for your mouse and a more comfortable surface for your arm to rest on. If your desk’s material confuses your mouse’s optical sensor, you’ll appreciate how the Sheath’s precisely textured surface allows your mouse to track movements more accurately. A rubber base keeps the Sheath from sliding at inopportune moments, and durable stitching at the edges will keep the pad from fraying.

Look and sound your best on a conference call

Folks who work from home frequently use email and messaging services like Slack and Microsoft Teams to communicate with clients and coworkers. You’ll want to show your professionalism in conference calls, so you need a microphone that clearly picks up your voice while ignoring background noise.Laptops typically have an integrated webcam, microphone, and speaker array, but it’s common to see laptop users give themselves more options with a high-quality headset. A headset allows you to separate yourself from distractions in your environment and keep conversations more private.

The ROG Delta Core is the gaming headset for everyone

Even in a home office, you sometimes need to shut out the world and get work done. A headset like the ROG Delta Core helps you separate yourself from your surroundings when you need to work from home. In the box, you’ll find two sets of ergonomic D-shaped ear cushions: one that’s 100% protein leather for maximum isolation, the other a hybrid of mesh fabric and leather for more airflow. ASUS Essence drivers deliver powerful sound with punchy bass, while a closed design with tuned chambers ensures natural-sounding audio without ambient noise.

A headset isn’t just for your favorite focus music. With its detachable boom mic, the ROG Delta Core also gives you another option for contributing to a conference call. It uses a unidirectional mic tuned to make your voice stand out clearly whether you’re talking to coworkers or barking out directions to your Fortnite squad in the evening.The ROG Theta immerses you in virtual worldsMusic aficionados and gaming enthusiasts alike might consider stepping up to the ROG Theta headset. With four discrete drivers in each ear cup, the Theta provides an exceptional audio experience, and the AI-powered noise-canceling microphone makes sure your voice is clear as crystal.

The ROG Theta will handle your daily business needs just fine, but it’s made for delivering 7.1 surround sound audio for music and games. It’s like a home theater setup miniaturized into a headset. You’ll enjoy the sound quality it provides for background music while you work, and you’ll be mesmerized by the audio experience it provides when you load up a game afterward. A custom ROG home-theater grade DAC and quad ESS 9601 headphone drivers make games come alive. Thanks to its superior production of positional audio, you’ll track your virtual opponents with unprecedented accuracy.

Put it all together

If you came into this guide unsure of how to stay in the zone when you’re working at home, don’t fret. You wouldn’t be the first person to feel intimidated at the prospect of setting up a home office. There are a lot of reasons to be excited about working from home, to be sure, but this is your work, your career. You want to get this right.The good news is that ASUS technology makes it easier than ever to work effectively from home. With a carefully-selected PC, reliable home internet, and the right peripherals, you’ll be ready to face the challenges of your professional life, all from the comfort of your home.