I’m currently using a PC that I built earlier this year, mainly for gaming, labbing, and working on side projects. It’s an all AMD build, which does what I need it to do and some. This is the third (and most expensive!) PC that I’ve built and hopefully it lasts me a good few years. Currently, this PC is dual booting Windows 11 and Ubuntu (currently deciding whether I switch to Debian or PopOS ).
| Component | Model |
|---|---|
| CPU | Ryzen 9 7900 |
| CPU Cooler | CoolerMaster ML240L V2 AIO Cooler |
| Motherboard | ASRock B650 PG Lightning |
| Graphics Card | Gigabytye Radeon RX 6700XT Eagle 12G |
| RAM | 32GB (2x16GB) Corsair Vengance DDR5 5200MT/s |
| SSD (Linux) | Crucial P3 1TB |
| SSD (Windows) | Kingston KC3000 1TB |
| Power Supply | Corsair RM750x |
| Case | Corsair 4000D Airflow |
I don’t have a personal laptop, however, for work I’m using a 2019 16" MacBook Pro (Intel Core i7 + 32GB RAM) and I must say it’s pretty good. The only qualm I have about it is the keyboard, which as far as I know is known to be a bit flaky at times i.e. not registering key presses.
Both the PC and the MacBook sit at my desk connected to two Lenovo G27-20 monitors. Both use the same peripherals, the Logitech MX Keys keyboard and Logitech G Pro Wireless mouse - both of which I purchased at a huge discount.
When I’m working I’ll usually have Visual Studio Code , Firefox , and Slack open. Occassionally, I might use IntelliJ if I find myself working on any non-trivial projects using a JVM language.
Outside of work I use Vim to write notes (alongside a utility I wrote called nb ). I’ve tried using Obsidian in the past but I didn’t like the fact that it wasn’t compatible with GitHub flavoured markdown, though this could have been something that I did wrong.
Any files that I need to access across multiple devices are stored in Google Drive , and for convenience I edit documents using Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.
Otherwise, I use BitWarden to manage my passwords, Spotify to listen to the odd podcast, Steam to manage my games, and Discord to speak to friends.
I’m not someone that can spend prolonged amounts of time sitting in one place, that’s why I’ve got a standing desk - namely the TOPSKY Dual Motor Standing Desk (despite the name, it’s just a frame) paired with an IKEA KARLBY worktop. I opted for the KARLBY worktop as I wanted something strong and thick just in case I ever decided to drill any holes to attach monitor arms for example.
Currently, I have a Xiaomi 10T Lite with 128GB of onboard storage and a 32GB micro SD card that I’ve had for years - probably since my first smart phone around 8 years ago. For me it’s more than enough, I can usually get 1-1.5 days of use out of it before the battery dies.
I have a Xiaomi Pad 5 (128GB storage, 6GB RAM), and the Xiaomi Smart Pen to go with it. Generally, I use it to watch movies and YouTube, or read books - mainly when I’m travelling. The pen comes in useful when I’m reading something I want to annotate, or when I want to diagram or plan out projects that I want to work on.
I try to avoid bloating my devices with applications, I do this by using web applications if they provide a satisfactory experience. Hence the number of applications I install on my devices is quite low.
On my phone and tablet, I use the Google Workspace applications to organise, create and edit my cloud files and to organise my life (Google Calendar and Gmail). I use BitWarden and Authy to manage my passwords and MFA, respectively. As alluded to earlier, I use Gmail to manage my emails but I also use Outlook , eventually I’d like to have everything in one place.
Unique to my phone, I use Strava to track my runs (something that I’m trying to get back into), and that’s about it. Mostly everything else I use on my phone is through the browser: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube etc.
Similarly my tablet doesn’t have many apps installed. I use Concepts for diagramming and Xodo to read and annotate books and PDFs.