Hardware

Laptop

I’ve been using MacBooks since 2011, with very oscasional stints on the Surface Pro. Every time I’ve switched to a windows based machine, I’ve felt less productive somalways end back up with Apple.

My current machine is the 2018 MacBook Air (i5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD). This was a switch from the 2016 MacBook Pro 15” (i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD). The reason for the switch was that the 15” felt a bit big for travel and couch usage. The Air has been plenty powerful enough for my needs.

Desktop

I haven’t had a desktop machine for a long time and have solely been working from laptops. When in the office, I “dock” (well, plug in the USB-c) into a LG 27UD88-W 27” display with the laptop sitting on a Twelve South Curve stand. I use the Apple Magic Keyboard, Mouse 2 and Trackpad 2 in Space Grey.

Tablet

Current tablet is the Apple iPad Pro 11” with Smart Keyboard Folio. Upgraded from the 10.5” iPad Pro last year. Generally keep up to date with iPads due to having to test compatibility with them for Hula Booth.

This iPad is amazing to work with. The keyboard is fantastic, combined with the battery life and 4G inbuilt, its a perfect device for using on the road and in meetings. And also when focus is required as the iPad makes it a bit more difficult to multitask versus a laptop.

With iPadOS coming out, I think the improvements over the next few years may make it feasible to drop the laptop in the future. Potentially.

Phone

Have been fairly strictly iPhone since I imported the original model from the USA in 2007, with the occasional switch to Android. But always find myself coming back for battery life or getting away Samsung bloat.

On the iPhone XS at the moment and have no reason to look elsewhere. The FaceID and no home button took a bit of getting used to coming from the iPhone 8, but now it feels normal.

Smart Watch

I never had the inclination to get a smart watch, but for my 30th birthday I was struggling with gift ideas (apparently I’m hard to buy for). So ended up with an Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) 42mm. It’s actually been more useful than anticipated, especially with being able to go down to the shops without a phone and use Apple Pay. Having Siri on your wrist is handy as well.

Headphones

I’m not a big headphones guy. Was using some cheap Bluetooth in-ear ones from Amazon, but just upgraded to some Plantronics BackBeat GO 410 noise cancelling in-ear headphones. The reason for upgrade is because of a fair bit of travel, and the noise cancelling really helps.

Still have a pair of Bose QuietComfort 15 that have served well (which got super cheap second hand in 2013), but they are a bit bulky to travel with and keep in my bag. Also not being Bluetooth is a bit of a pain.

Software

Won’t go into too much detail here, but the quick list:

• Email: Google G Suite (personal and business) with Superhuman
• G Suite as it just works well.
• Superhuman as makes email super fast with keyboard shortcuts and auto advance.
• Storage: Google Drive and OneDrive
• Office Suite: Google and Office
• Google is mostly good, but sometimes need proper Excel.
• Tasks: Asana
• Use for all project management and personal tasks. Find it works mostly well and haven’t had a reason to look at changing.
• Notes: Bear
• Just easy writing that is simple and works. What this is written in before going to WordPress.
• Notepad Calculator: Soulver
• Love this app. It’s like a hybrid notepad and calculator. Handy for quick calculations and number doodling.
• Clipping and Reference: Evernote
• Can’t seem to shake Evernote. It’s a great dumping ground.
• Messaging: Telegram, Slack
• Still rocking Telegram personally. Also a bit of Facebook Messenger. Not in as many Slack communities anymore, they have definitely died down, but still good for business.

Kind of using a Notion, but can’t figure out how this fits into my workflow. To be determined if it stays in the list. Starting to make some tables and whatnot in it.

Compared to my 2016 software edition, have dropped a few.

Dropped:

• Todoist (use Asana for personal tasks now)
• Trello (upgraded to Asana)
• Dropbox (solely OneDrive and Google Drive now)
• Adobe Creative Cloud (replaced with Sketch, Figma and Affinity Designer)
• Streak CRM (sold a business so don’t need a CRM so much, but Notion fits the bill)
• Quip (went back to Google Docs and Sheets)
• MailChimp (now use MailerLite)
• Wave Apps and Reckon One (solely Xero).