insta_photos/Shutterstock We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Whether something is slick is very much in the eye of the beholder. Some folks are happy tapping away on a laptop in the passenger seat of their converted 1991 Chevrolet Astro Tiger GT AWD Camper, while others want a full system with a widescreen monitor, separate keyboard, and indeed, an actual, dedicated space they can call an office. That reality is tougher to achieve for obvious reasons. Even large Class A motorhomes — ones big enough to require a CDL license – top out at about 600 square feet. That's huge for a New York City studio apartment, but in the rest of America, that's cramped, especially if you're sharing those square feet with another human and you're trying to accommodate actual living, cooking, sleeping, and so on. So let's focus on the elements that will add up to a pragmatically achievable slickness of your new mobile office. You'll need a dedicated place to sit comfortably and upright, and a way to align your screen or laptop and keyboard that encourages better posture. That's not just for comfort, but because you're going to feel like crap if you're crouched over a laptop on an air mattress all day. The site TravelFi, which sells mobile hotspots and routers, quotes chiropractor Casey Genna, who says the proper setup can save you from a slouchy posture. Speaking of slickness, you'll also need a steady power supply, the ability to print or copy, web access, some climate control in the form of an electric fan, and LEDs so your workspace doesn't feel like a cave. Let's break it all down. Space-saving is critical for a slick RV mobile office Etsy Space-saving solutions that preserve your posture can go hand in hand. For instance, Etsy sells what they call a "Murphy" desk, which hides your screen against the wall. You'd mount this wherever you could put a chair, such as this supportive folding office chair from Walmart. The advantage is that when closed, this kind of desk yields that space back to you, and when open, it becomes an instant desk and puts that monitor at a more ergonomic height than a laptop. There are other options, too, like this fold-down table from Vanlife Outfitters that mounts to the wall of your van or RV. If you already have a work surface and want the lower power draw of a laptop, you probably still want to raise its monitor and use a separate, bigger keyboard and mouse. Start with a desktop stand. These vary in size, and some can even elevate your computer to work as a standing desk, such as this one from DriftDesk. Still, none of that matters without power, and you really need to think about juice consumption and how often you'll be mobile or able to plug in to shore power, either privately or at an RV park. Finally, you'll need web access. You'll need to decide between tethering your cell phone if you mostly plan to be near civilization and using something like Starlink for a more reliable setup. It's not all rainbows and kittens in the land of van life, and we've already debunked a bunch of myths about it. But the good news is that sources like Far Out Ride have great guidance on figuring out safe power systems so you can do less voltage, wattage, and amp-hour math. Electricity enables mobility Ewg3d/Getty Images Far Out Ride's methodology for calculating power draw focuses on how much electricity you'll use throughout your day — not how much any single appliance or accessory needs. That's the right way to measure amper-hours (Ah). In their charts, they even include an espresso milk frother. You're not going to foam milk all day (unless, maybe, you're a mobile barista?), so looking at average power draws for items like your Starlink Mini, and using Far Out Ride's handy calculator enables you to see what kinds of power supplies you'll need. You could, for instance, run a couple of puck LED lights, and you'd only need those at night, a Starlink Mini to connect to one of Elon's 10,000 glowing SpaceX satellites, a MacBook Air that you charge at night, and a low-power-draw cooling fan such as this SEEKR model from Amazon — and you can run all of it off a portable 500W power bank, such as this Jackery Explorer 500 unit. According to our math, that battery would last you roughly 1.5 days, and you'd never have to go through the trouble of hardwiring your van. You'd even have the ability to pile on more accessories you might not use that often, like a nifty rechargeable printer. Keep in mind that power usage varies depending on temperatures and weather conditions. You still need a means of topping up that battery, but luckily, it has its own inverter, so a combination of charging while driving, plugging it into a wall socket at your friendly Starbucks, or tethering it to solar panels would do the job. All told — and assuming you already have a laptop — you're out $1,328.06 for the lights, fan, Etsy desk, laptop stand, and Starlink (including a month of service for $55). That's pretty slick — and not that expensive.
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