Complete Guide to Outfitting Your Home Office

You've got a desk, a place to sit and a computer system. Now it's time to fill in the blanks. You can add accessories like a digital camera, Zip drive, business card reader, speakers or scanner, depending on your business needs. Two items on nearly every entrepreneur's list are a printer and a PDA. With a rainbow of possible suspects to fill these roles, you'll want to invest a little research time into your choices.

In the spirit of the laptop or desktop question, you have to ask: laser or inkjet? If you can live without color, personal laser printers can be purchased for less than $200. The biggest advantages over inkjets are crispness, speed and lower consumables costs. Replacing inkjet cartridges every month can really add up over time. Still, the low initial hardware cost and color capability of inkjets are big draws. Both Trainer and Zbar use multifunction fax/scanner/copier/printers. All-in-one machines are convenient and space saving. If you go that route or are considering a stand-alone fax, Zbar recommends choosing a model with a separate phone handset.

For many entrepreneurs, PDAs have jumped from the cool gadget category to the business essential category. Says Trainer, "My number-one favorite tool of all time is the Palm VII and the software that goes along with it." She often substitutes the wireless Internet-capable Palm for her laptop on the road. That one device helps her keep track of scheduling, contacts, e-mail and note-taking with an add-on keyboard. If that's all you need, there's a bevy of sub-$200 Palm OS handhelds from which to choose. Windows PocketPCs like the Compaq iPaq H3835 that try to put a Windows desktop in your palm are up around $600. Be sure to budget in for the monthly cost of wireless access if you expect to use that feature.

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