Many have asked me what equipment should I buy. For me, I strived to obtain technology that would make my life easy. I also had to consider the fact that I work out of a home office and sometimes have to take my office with me. In addition, I had to be able to communicate with my paralegal and get her work to do.
So, here is my list of home office equipment and technology I have and use everyday.
One of the best purchases I made was my Treo 650. I use my Treo as my only phone. I even have my landline call forwarded to my Treo and let its voicemail answer the phone if I can not. I use it to check and send email, messaging, calendar and sometimes as a digital camera.
The next great purchase was a Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner. This little machine is wonderful. It has a 50 page sheet feeder and will duplex scan without even telling it to. It takesup about as much room as a laptop computer. If you are working towards a paperLESS office, I believe each attorney should have one of these on their desk. I even use this as a replacement for a fax machine with some great fax software and my printer.
As far as printers, I use a hp Printer. Nothing flashy, it just works. I have two of the older 1200 models and they really are a workhorse. I do plan to get a bigger printer soon. And one that prints in color.
My Dymo LabelWriter is yet another great office tool. While I try to not have paper files, I do. I use the Dymo to print file folder labels and have even used it to print address labels. You can get one now that will also print postage stamps from an Internet account. Something to consider if this one wears out.
To enable communication and the transfer of work to my paralegal, I use an Olympus 330 Digital Voice Recorder. I transfer files with the included USB cable and attach the files to an email and send it to my paralegal. Its that simple.
For my file and fax server, I use a Mac mini. This small wonder measures 6.5 inches by 2 inches. And it is inexpensive. Best of all it is a Mac. And what have I always said about my Macs, they just work. I back up my laptop to my Mac mini. Use it as a file server and fax server. I turned it on when I bought it and the only time I shut it off is to restart it after a software update.
For full backups and just for an extra hard drive, I use a Western Digital Firewire hard drive. You have to have full backups and a bootable backup also.
My main computer is a 14″ iBook. I do plan to replace it with a new MacBook sometime after the first of the year. I have talked a lot about the virtues of the Mac, so I won’t bore you with that again. But, it just works. I have it loaded with tons of software that also makes my life so much easier. We will discuss software very soon, but not in this post.
Well, I think that is everything. Please post comments and let us know what you have in your office. Lets keep the conversation going.
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