2023 is almost over and 2024 is almost upon us, giving us a chance to reflect on everything that has happened in the last year. It is also a chance to be thankful for the things that we have and the people in our lives who have made a difference. I reflect over many aspects of my life at the end of every year and one of the more lighthearted and fun is my everyday tech devices.
These tech products have went everywhere with me either the entire year, or from the time I bought them until now. Even though I work from home, I still consider these items my “everyday tech carry” as I still work from various places around the house or when I travel to the office. Without further introduction, let’s get into everything.
MacBook Air M2
The MacBook Air M2 has been my favorite laptop I’ve ever owned after replacing the MacBook Air M1, my previous favorite laptop, earlier this year. Apple Silicon has been revolutionary for laptops since the M1 debuted in 2020. My air has battery life that lasts practically forever, has no fan and therefore no distracting fan noise, generates almost no heat unless doing something really intensive, has a great keyboard, and has a high resolution bright display.
Apple has the best laptop speakers and these are no exception. I enjoy watching videos and listening to music around the house and treat it as a portable speaker system. It also shares Apple’s excellent Force Touch trackpad that is the best in the industry. Seriously, it is one of the few reasons I have not been able to move to a PC (although this is changing with haptic touchpads becoming more common every year on PC laptops – hooray!).
It is powerful enough to tackle a lot of my workload which includes coding (Web apps, iOS apps, Flutter desktop apps, and a lot of light scripting), writing emails, typing documents, writing articles such as this one, working on one of my novels (which I may never finish), and other office tasks. There is some more demanding work that I cannot do comfortable on a 13 inch thin and light notebook. For that work, I use my workstation desktop.
Workstation Desktop
Building a custom desktop means that you get everything you want and nothing you don’t want. You get to choose the parts and assemble them in whatever case you choose. For my build, I chose the Intel 13700K, 128GB DDR4 ram, two 2TB NVME SSDs (Samsung 980 Pros), and an RTX 3070 TI that I already had. With this build, I can develop almost any software that I need to.
I put all of it in a Corsair 110Q case that is designed to keep fan noise out along with choosing quiet Noctua fans and a Noctua NH-U12A heatsink. No distracting RGB, no distracting fan noise, and plenty of performance. I often SSH into this workstation from my MacBook Air if I am in the house to run lots of the server side code for my web apps. This helps keep the load off my laptop and with remote development in VS Code and IntelliJ, it feels like I am editing straight off my laptop.
I run Ubuntu 23.10 on it at this moment although I have ran Linux Mint for much of the year on it. I find that Windows is just not for me for numerous reasons (lack of privacy, harder to setup dev environments, lack of customization, AI nonsense, etc…) and that Linux simply suits my needs better. I would buy a Mac but the thought of buying a desktop where I cannot even upgrade the RAM and storage is laughable. Also, my servers in the real world are Linux based so it makes sense to run the software in a similar/same OS where they will run in production.
LG Ultrawide monitor
In the middle of last year, I discovered that using multiple monitors was good for my day job but for my personal projects and research work, they are distracting. Therefore, I switched to a single monitor. The problem was that I often do need two apps side by side (especially when doing web development where having a browser open next to the code is essential) and both windows felt cramped on a standard 16:9 display. Therefore, I went and bought an Ultrawide monitor.
The LG-38WK95C is a 38 inch monitor with a 21:9 aspect ratio that is perfect for my use case. It allows me to comfortable put two windows side by side and see all content or put something in the middle and have it be the only focus. The lack of a bezel or gap between the two is also something I didn’t know I’d appreciate as much as I do. It also delivers passthrough charging via USB-C so I can hook my Air up to it if I need to do any Xcode development on a bigger screen (which I cannot do with my desktop). The only downside is that even this year, it is still expensive.
Nintendo Switch Lite
Switching gears (no pun intended) a bit, the Nintendo Switch Lite has been an absolute blast to play on. I have always been a Nintendo fan and have particularly enjoyed their handhelds since a child. I got a ton of use out of my GameBoy Advance, Nintendo DS Lite, and 3DS XL handhelds before this. When I first got my Switch, I thought it was super cool to play docked or handheld – one console to rule them all.
Then, the switch lite came out and I tried it in a store and realized that the higher weight and smaller size was perfect for on the go. Since then, my regular switch has become a permanent home console that I play with my pro controller and my lite is my travel companion. I take it between rooms, when I go on vacation, when I go out and know I’ll be waiting for a while (such as at the doctor), or pretty much everywhere. The Switch started out with a small library of games but it is very near the end of its life and has such a massive library of games that you will never get bored.
iPhone 13 Pro
I did not see any compelling reason to upgrade my iPhone last year or this year. The iPhone 13 Pro introduced a 120hz to the iPhone (which is insane considering it did not come before 2021) and that was enough for me to upgrade from my XR. It has been a fantastic phone all around that is very durable and has great battery life. On average I still only have to charge my phone once every two days but I am also not a power user on my phone.
I primarily do calls, texts, instant messaging through platforms such as slack, email, and some simple puzzle games here and there. Mobile gaming has never been a draw for me because, as I mentioned before, I just take my Switch Lite everywhere with me instead which has a much better game library and is more enjoyable to use. It also has great speakers for watching movies or videos in a pinch.
iPad Mini (Gen 6)
A good companion to a Mac and an iPhone is an iPad. Last year, I had the iPad Pro 11 (M1) but I found myself rarely using it as it was too large. I ended up giving it to my mother to use (who absolutely loves it) and bought an iPad Mini instead. It has been the perfect size for a tablet allowing me to sign documents, read articles and websites in bed, draw design diagrams, and play some causal puzzle games. I also have recently developed an addiction to angry birds again.
The main draw is of course its size. The performance of the A15 is plenty for any tablet tasks unless someone is trying to do some crazy video editing which should really be done on a proper laptop or desktop anyways. The only real drawback is the display which suffers from “jelly scroll” where one side of the display lags behind the other in a refresh which typically happens when scrolling through text. It gets the name from the jelly motion it makes when scrolling up and down quickly. Honestly, it is unacceptable for a company such as Apple to release a product with a price point such as this one with such a critical flaw, but there it is anyways. Despite that, I enjoy it very much – I just hope the generation 7 fixes this issue.
AirPods Pro (Gen 2)
AirPods are the go-to earbuds for Apple products because they work so seamlessly between them. I can be on a phone call with my iPhone and switch to a zoom meeting on my Mac and they switch over automatically. The pro version is better than the standard version for a variety of reasons which include having active noise cancellation, water resistance, and fitting easier in your ears.
My favorite aspect of these earbuds is “transparency mode” which allows you to hear everything in the background while listening to music or being on a call. This means that when I am walking in the park I can hear when someone approaches which is an important safety feature. It also means I can be in the office on a call and not when someone is calling my name from across the aisle. In short, transparency mode and the seamless switching between iPhone, iPad, and Mac are my favorite feature of these earbuds.
Kobo Clara 2E
A Kobo e-reader is the best alternative to a kindle e-reader. The Clara 2E is essentially a Kindle Paperwhite without Amazon (and Rakuten software instead). I often read with my iPad but my Kobo has much longer battery life, can be used in the open sunlight without issue, and is much easier on the eyes for long sessions. An e-reader is a good investment if you read a lot of novels.
So, why choose a Kobo over a Kindle? One feature that may seem insignificant but is a deciding factor for me is that I prefer to know how many pages I have left in a chapter. A kindle only tells me how much time I have left after trying to learn my reading speed. This is annoying to me because I often have to stop in the middle of reading something and will leave my e-reader open. Does it then think I read super slow? I also read at different speeds based on what I’m reading. I prefer to simply know how many pages I have left. It is super annoying that Kindle does not support this and thankfully Kobo does.
Backpack
No good tech carry is complete without a backpack and mine is nothing special. Since I don’t travel much, I mainly use mine for lugging things back and forth from the office about once a month, back and forth to my parents who live down the road, and from room to room or to my patio when I want to work outside. It is a simple cheap Amazon backpack (the brand is Matein which I’ve never heard of) but it has worked out really well for two years and you can hardly tell it has been used. It contains enough pockets for my needs and even has a slot for my battery bank.
Battery bank
To round out this list, I have a cheap battery bank that I carry with me. It is 10,000 mAH battery that charges via USB type C and can also discharge power from the same port. It also contains 2 USB type A ports for charing cell phones or lower powered electronics. It is a brand I’ve never heard of (INIU) that is probably Chinese. It gets the job done and has saved me a few times when my phone was getting low and I didn’t have a charging brick.
Conclusion
It is fun to try and improve my setup year over year and this year is probably my favorite one I have had. However, it is not perfect and there are a few improvements I plan to make in 2024. First, I plan to switch out the battery bank for a bigger one that holds more juice. Currently it can only charge my Air up about half way before running out. Next, I really hope Apple updates the iPad Mini so that I can get one with a better refresh rate. Lastly, I will likely purchase a MacBook Pro 16 to complement my Air since I plan to travel a little more in 2024 and I cannot access my workstation PC outside my home network. I have also considered using one of my raspberry pis to run Wireguard to vpn into my home network. We will see.
Last Note
Please let me know what your everyday tech setup is heading into 2024. I am always curious to see what other people use and draw inspiration and ideas from that. Also, if you like my content, please consider following me as I typically post at least once a month and your support means a lot to me.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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