What I use...

Here's a list of the things I use on an almost daily basis to build software, stay productive, or to play around with new stuff!

Workstation

  • 14” MacBook Pro, M1 Max, 64GB RAM (2021)

    I moved to the 14” model from the 15” i9 MacBook Pro, and it couldn't have been better! The 15” was always warm (sometimes hot) to the touch, and the battery never lasted very long. I've only noticed the fans once, when I was working from my kitchen in the dead of night!

  • Dual Apple Studio Displays

    Apples Displays are always a thing of beauty, crisp, bright and vibrant, and this display stands true to that - including great speakers and sub-optimal webcam.

  • CalDigit TS4

    There's nothing better than connecting one cable to your laptop and having all your prehiperals connected and working. The TS4 from CalDigit does just that.

  • NuPhy Air75 Mechanical Keyboard

    I change keyboards quite a bit, but i'm currently using the Nuphy AIR75 with NuPhy Wisteria switches.

  • Logitech MX Master 3S

    Decided I should get a proper mouse as the Magic Mouse looked out of place next to my Keychon Q1. I didn't realise how bad the Magic Mice were in terms of ergonomics.

  • GradientPage Wallpapers

    I've always strugged keeping my desktop and wallpaper minimal, but then I discovered GradientPage. These wallpaper packs are clean, minimal and great - check them out! (Affiliate Link)

  • Secret Labs Titan 2022

    I got my first Secret Labs (Omega 2021) chair during the COVID pandemic, as my dining room chairs weren't really up to it. That char is now at my gaming desk in my living room. But this one is just as comfortable!

Development tools

  • JetBrains PhpStorm

    My go-to IDE for any PHP based projects. I probably spend most of my time in here.

  • JetBrains GoLand

    I've been learning GoLang in my free time, and it made sense to continue on the JetBrains journey.

  • VSCode

    I use VSCode to edit smaller files (configs etc), or really large files (CSVs etc) that don't really need the functionality of a full IDE.

  • iTerm2

    iTerm2 was the first terminal replacement I used, and it's stuck around, so it must be doing something right.

  • TablePlus

    TablePlus is a great database tool, I use it daily to connect to various database engines; mongoDB, MySQL/MariaDB, Snowflake etc.

Productivity

  • Alfred

    Probably one of the first things I install when I set up a new Mac. It's a great productivity tool that has integrations with pretty much every other tool.

Home Lab

  • OPNSense DEC2700

    When I upgraded to gigabit fibre, my old EdgeRouter-4 couldn't handle QoS at the speeds so was causing a bottleneck. The DEC2700 handles it without breaking a sweat.

  • UniFi Enterprise Switch - 24 Port PoE

    Kinda of overkill for what I need, but I wanted some of my networked devices running over 2.5gig...

  • Synology RS1221+

    Houses 8 x 12TB IronWolf drives, the fans have been replaced with Noctuas and a 10gig SFP+ card installed. Home to all my TimeMachine Backups, Plex Media and Proxmox VMs.

  • 12th Gen Intel NUC

    Running on a 12th Gen Intel i7-1260p, 64GB RAM and a 500GB NVMe this runs all my virtual servers - most of the VMs are stored on the NAS over iSCSI.

  • PiKVM

    Sometimes stuff goes wrong and you need to hard reset something, or access a remote system like you're sat infront of it - the PiKVM allows me to do that.

  • 2 x UniFi U6-Enterprise

    They do the WiFi for my house. Pretty well.

  • APC Smart-UPS (750VA)

    I've had this years and only replaced the battery once! It's a great little UPS, gives me around 28-30 minutes runtime, so just enough for those small power-cuts and to ensure everything shuts down nicely.