Quarantine Home-Office Hacks: Episode 1

Some of you settled on taking a monitor home to work. I decided not to. Because to me, it meant more wires and less space. I have a Toshiba ThinkPad, running Windows 10, which has one HDMI port. I also have a LED TV which doubles as a monitor. So I decided to connect my laptop to my monitor. The benefit of my setup, is that it allows me to use both my laptop and TV monitor as screens.

I also sometimes prefer to avoid physically touching the laptop. To do that I use a mouse which I connect to the laptop, then I use the On-Screen Keyboard option on the laptop. The On-Screen Keyboard works for me because I do not type much. To find your On-Screen Keyboard, just type either  "osk" or On-screen Keyboard in the Search menu. To close your laptop lid and use your additional monitor as a screen, go to Settings>System>Power & then select the option to do nothing when the laptop lids closes.

I prefer the Extend option because it allows me to utilize more desktop space. I am able to recreate the affect of having multiple screens by selecting the Extend option. My second choice would be Duplicate. I do not use the Duplicate option often, because I prefer the affect of more space, not a replica used space. To me, the Duplicate option would be best for someone who wants to project their PC onto a bigger screen.

How to Extend Your Laptop Screen to Your TV Monitor using Windows 10

1. Plug a HDMI cable from your laptop to your TV Monitor (use a cable that is compatible with your devices)

2. Using your laptop, navigate to the taskbar, then click on the notification bar then select Project

3. Select Extend 

4. You should now see a display on both screens

Review of the TP-Link N300 WiFi Extender

I wanted an extra Ethernet port, but I did not want to purchase a new router nor did I want to run lots of additional wiring. I researched several extenders before I decided on the TP-Link N300 Wi-Fi Extender. I needed it because the Optical Network Terminal (ONT) from my internet service provider was in a space, that didn’t allow from much wiggle room. So, I read the reviews and initially decided on the Netgear Wi-Fi Range Extender EX3700. I liked the fact that it was dual band, however I could not get the Ethernet port to work. It was a major deal breaker because I could foresee myself using the Ethernet port for guests. Then I read feedback on various websites and determined that other users could not get the Ethernet port to as well. So I returned the Netgear Wi-Fi Range Extender EX3700.

Ultimately, I chose the TP-Link N300 WiFi Extender. Download/Upload speeds were identical to the WIFI speeds coming from my router. Because it’s a single band extender, I was not really concerned with speed variation. If you are concerned with speed, you should purchase a dual band extender. The Ethernet port worked great. The user interface is user friendly and you must be connected to the network to access the management page. Or you can download their App to manage the device on your portable device. The power supply is attached to the device, which is nice because it’s one less cord to run. 

I primairly use the extender to connect cameras, computers and VOIP phones. This product is very reliable and provides speeds very similar to a direct router connection. However, I do experience some quality of service loss, that I do not experience with a direct ethernet or WIFI connection. The distance of my cameras from the access point create an automatic signal loss, which I cannot attribute to the quality of the product. The extender works great with my cameras and provides a signal at distances my router cannot reach. Overall, I would definitely recommend this product.

  

PROS:

Ethernet port

Easy to setup

You can manage the extender via the App

CONS:

Bulky

 

Conclusion:

I recommend this product