As nerds are wont to do, I thought I’d set up a page to list my current set of “gear”: what I’m using, how I’m finding it, and why I chose it in the first place.
Phone
The smartphone is obviously the centre of my computing life. I have the latest iPhone 16 Pro Max. It’s probably the first time since 2012 that I’ve had the most up-to-date iPhone. I’m typically a few years behind, using the non-Pro models. However, since becoming a dad last August, I decided that having the best possible camera made sense. After trying out the Apple Vision Pro, I was also sold on the idea of taking 3D photos and videos (although I’ll wait a few years for the weight and price to come down before considering getting one).
Having previously used the iPhone 12 mini, going back to a large screen was a revelation. I’d been missing my iPhone 8 Plus, and the Pro Max fills that gap. It’s a bit too heavy for my liking, but I’ve added a magnetic PopSocket to the back to make it easier to hold. I typically use my phone as my wallet, for listening to music while working, and for podcasts while commuting to London. I also use it for train tickets and make extensive use of the Express Travel Card option to buzz my way through the London Underground. I occasionally play games, but I have to admit that since becoming a dad, I fear my days of playing video games are behind me. The large screen also makes for a great reading device using the Kindle or iBooks apps. If I’m sat in a waiting room without my iPad, the ability to continue whatever books I’m reading, or pull up the latest issue of New Scientist, is something that, for someone like me who remembers life before the Internet, will never cease to amaze.
The best thing about the phone is that it’s also my main (and only) camera. I love photography, but I’m well aware that at my skill level, forking out several hundred pounds for a dedicated camera wouldn’t really improve the results I get. It’s also not worth spending over a thousand pounds for what I use it for. At this point, the limitation isn’t technical but rather my ability to take and edit a good photo! The iPhone 16’s Photographic Styles are fantastic and really give photos that professional, colour-graded feel. I do have the itch to buy a second-hand, old-school film SLR and process my own photos, but I think that will have to wait until the baby is a bit older!
Watch
I’ve been a watch nerd since I was 11 years old. I would spend hours reading instruction manuals for Casio watches or browsing the Argos catalogue, dreaming of owning the fancy digital watches that could store phone numbers, control the TV, and even connect to a computer to sync data. I’ve never cared for “fancy” watches big enough to double as a knuckle duster, though. They come across as tacky.
When the Apple Watch was released in 2015, I was very excited, and I’ve worn one nearly every day since. I’m currently using a Apple Watch Series 8, which I bought just after it came out in September 2022. That makes it nearly three years old, and it’s starting to show. The battery just about makes it through the day. I’ve noticed that when I’m in the office and leave my phone at my desk while wandering around for meetings, the watch connects to Wi-Fi, which really affects battery life. It wasn’t an issue when it was new – the battery has just degraded significantly over the past three years.
This is my main disappointment with the Apple Watch: its lack of longevity. Over the last decade, I’ve bought various models, from the cheapest aluminium versions to the fancy stainless steel cellular-enabled ones. The problem is that no matter how much you spend, you end up with a duff battery within a couple of years, and replacing it isn’t cheap or easy.
So, I’m starting to feel disillusioned with the Apple Watch, despite using it daily for notifications, general fitness tracking, and for monitoring my running and cycling. I don’t take my phone out with me when running, so I rely on being able to listen to podcasts using Apple’s built-in Podcasts app. While I’d love to upgrade to a newer model, I’m also not that keen on spending a lot on something that will show its age so quickly.
Headphones
I’ve typically enjoyed having two sets of headphones: earbuds and over-the-head, “proper” headphones – and that’s still the case now. I have a pair of AirPods Pro 2 that I use when commuting, running, cycling, falling asleep, or just doing the housework. I love the noise cancellation and being able to hear music even while mowing the lawn. I also own a pair of Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, which I use while working to listen to music or take calls. There’s something about having my entire ear covered that helps me focus when I really need to.
On balance, I’d say the AirPods sound better. And in all honesty, having both is a luxury – the AirPods do the job most of the time. Occasionally I’ll wear the XM5s when commuting, but they are very bulky, not waterproof, and a faff to get on and off. They do have fantastic battery life and a more immersive sound, however, which makes them worth the money for me.
Work Setup
Talking of work, my daily driver is a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro chip. Yes, it's a few years old, but I never really notice it being too slow. The large screen is great when I'm in the office without a dedicated external monitor. Since my office operates a hotdesking policy, I typically bring along a Logitech Casa "mobile desk", which allows me to raise the laptop and use an external keyboard and trackpad. Being a five-foot-eleven, forty-year-old, looking down at a laptop without a stand for more than a couple of hours leaves my back and neck aching. The Casa pop-up desk, while not cheap, helps avoid neck strain and has the added bonus of leaving something at my desk when I’m wandering around the office – meaning it’s less likely to be accidentally taken by a colleague! The trackpad isn’t quite as good as Apple’s built-in one, but then whose is? The keyboard is on par with the built-in MacBook keyboard and is nice and quiet too, which I’m sure my co-workers appreciate.
I also use my iPad in meetings to jot down handwritten notes, which I can then search easily. While I prefer writing notes by hand and enjoy using a good pen, the inability to quickly search a notebook or easily hyperlink notes to each other is just too limiting. So, digital note-taking in Apple Notes and an Apple Pencil wins for me.
I commute using the Pacsafe Metrosafe LS450 backpack. Its unique feature is that the compartments have an extra latch in addition to a zip, which makes pickpocketing more difficult. I had an Apple Pencil stolen from me in London a couple of months ago. My bag was open when I arrived at the office, so someone must have got in. I bought this bag in an effort to ensure my possessions are more secure in future.
When I’m working from home, I use the Logitech MX Keys Mini keyboard and Logitech MX Master 3S mouse. I prefer a mouse to a trackpad, except when travelling. While I’m far from the world’s fastest typist, the MX Keys lets me type at a decent speed. The lack of a numpad means my right-hand "mousing" arm doesn’t have to stretch too far, which is much more comfortable, and I only occasionally miss it.
The Mac gets plugged into a Dell dock, which connects to a 27-inch 4K monitor with a Logitech webcam on top. Neither is anything special, but they do the job and didn’t cost the earth.
Personal Setup
Outside of work, I do have a personal laptop: a 2020 MacBook Pro with an M1 chip. I use it for the occasional personal project and for recording CDs (yes, I'm still old-school like that). I use Parallels to run Ubuntu and Windows 11 in virtual machines. Linux is great for development projects, installing databases, and setting up various Python environments without adding cruft to my main macOS installation. I only really use Windows for running Visual Studio, as C# is still my language of choice for personal projects, and nothing beats Visual Studio for being productive quickly in C#. Thankfully, I don’t have to put up with using Windows beyond that.
Back in the Vista / Windows 7 days, there was a good case to be made that Microsoft was ahead of Apple in many ways when it came to creating a better desktop operating system. In recent years, especially since Windows 11, it seems as though Microsoft has somewhat given up on Windows and handed it over to the interns. Connecting Notepad.exe to an LLM API is not innovation – but if it keeps the shareholders happy...
I use an iPad Air (11 Inch) for most of my personal computing needs: spreadsheets for personal finance, writing blog posts like this, reading the news, and browsing RSS feeds and Substack while I eat breakfast, FaceTiming my parents, and reading books and magazines on the train. I do subscribe to the print edition of New Scientist and have done since 2007, but increasingly I find myself reading it on the iPad or even listening to the articles via my phone. I’ll also watch iPlayer and YouTube, and occasionally some shows on Apple TV or NowTV.
I also get a decent amount of photo editing done on it, thanks to the built-in Photos app and Pixelmator. I love the simplicity of iOS (sorry, "iPadOS"), but I’m forever frustrated by the fact that software is limited to what's available in the App Store, meaning certain tools will never be allowed. It would be nice to be able to use a package manager like Homebrew to install utilities like SyncThing or to install apps like Visual Studio Code. Using an iPad is like watching England play football: rewarding, but you’re always left doubting whether you're witnessing something reach its fullest potential.
Software-wise, I use Apple Reminders as my personal to-do list, with various shared lists for household items. I don’t have any social media apps installed, except for LinkedIn, because I find them too distracting and of little value.
I do make extensive use of ChatGPT, and it has replaced web searching for me in many scenarios. Yes, I know – hallucinations (I work in AI) – but it's generally good enough, and it's usually easy to get it to provide sources or double-check itself. There have always been websites full of rubbish too, and before you say "AI slop", the web has been full of slop for decades—mostly in the form of clickbait news and inane social media posts. So, in some respects, ChatGPT is actually an improvement, though I'm of course not oblivious to the potential downsides of AI either. It's also fantastic at writing code. For example, I had an issue with a cheap SSD that housed my photo library. It kept unmounting on my Mac and caused iCloud Photo Library to stop syncing. I was able to use ChatGPT to create a scheduled batch script that periodically checks if the drive is mounted and, if not, mounts it, then kills and restarts the iCloud sync process. Problem solved! (Well, kind of).
That’s the current state of my gear setup in 2025, I'll update this page as it changes!