If you need to carry your laptop with you from home to work or to the library to get some studying done, you’ll want a bag that can protect your computer between destinations. That’s where laptop backpacks come in. For those unaccustomed to laptop backpacks, let us ease your fears: They’re nothing like those tech briefcases that have to be lugged around by hand; in fact, many of them could pass as standard backpacks or even high-end outdoor gear. To help you find the best one for you, we spoke to frequent travelers, designers, and packing experts. Use the table of contents to skip ahead to what you’re shopping for or keep reading to find out how to choose the right laptop backpack for you, whether you need a good travel bag, a bag you can commute with, or something you can take to a coffee shop.

Let’s face it: A rainy day spent working from home can often become a day spent working from bed. But if you’re planning on working (or scrolling or streaming) semi-horizontally, you need to save your back from aches and buy a lap desk. They’re portable, so you can make a desk of any spot, and can be used for reading, eating, and jotting down notes from the comfort of, well, anywhere that’s comfortable. To find out the best lap desks to buy, we spoke to people who regularly type, scroll, and write physical notes using a lap desk.

It doesn’t matter if you play first-person shooters, role-playing games, or a sports simulator: What you hear is almost as important as what you see. Environmental noises like crackling leaves, running sounds, and bullets flying overhead place you (as literally as possible) in the game. If you’ve ever played Call of Duty, you have witnessed the importance of sounds firsthand when an enemy spins around faster than a roulette table as you approach from behind. That wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t heard you coming. And what helps them hear you coming is a great headset.

If you’re not backing up your files and photos to the cloud, an external hard drive is a necessity. It just might not feel that way — until you need it. “Regular, trustworthy backups have been a fervor of religious proportions ever since I witnessed a writer friend lose an entire screenplay on a faulty drive,” says Ross LaManna, the chair of the undergraduate and graduate film departments at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. “She never got over it, and, frankly, neither did any of her friends.”

As a quarantine-era Twitch streamer, I’ve spent the past year and a half immersing myself in the world of gaming — and with it, the nitty-gritty of equipment required for streaming an average of five hours a day, three days a week. From game-capture cards to professional microphones, there’s a laundry list of items to consider when creating a streaming setup, but one of the most important areas to look into is lighting.

Gamers, be warned: The longer you sit or stand in any one position, the more likely you are to sustain an injury by putting too much stress on a particular part of your body. A good gaming chair that supports you will help avoid these kinds of injuries — and can be used by non-gamers too. “There’s a perception that they’re only good for gaming, but they’re good for anyone who spends ten hours in front of a computer,” says Daniel Yamilkoski, a full-time, professional Overwatch player.

If you’re not a gamer yourself, it can feel next to impossible to know what to buy for the gamer in your life. To help you find a winning gift — whether they have a huge following on Twitch or just play for themselves — we talked to over a dozen podcasters, gamers, games journalists, professional D&D players, analysts, and streamers about the consoles, games, collectibles, and accessories they’re wishing for this year. (We also combed through our archives to find products gamer celebrities such as Mick Jenkins, Amelia Meath, and T-Pain can’t live without.)

We’ve written about lots of TV tech before — including the best streaming services and home-theater projectors — and here, we’ve rounded up the best outdoor TV antennas that you can find on Amazon, as praised by the site’s most enthusiastic reviewers.

We’ve written before about all sorts of home-theater equipment, including the best mini-projectors, universal remotes, and TVs under $1,000. But for those who are looking to take their Netflix viewing (or outdoor movie nights, or Halo 5–playing) to another level, here, we’ve rounded up the best home projectors as praised by the most enthusiastic reviewers on Amazon.