🧰 Uses

A collection of hardware and software I like to use (almost) everyday.

Hardware

MacBook Pro 14“ M1: I spend majority of my day working on this thing. Unlike it’s predecessors, the Apple Silicon variant is significantly more powerful despite it’s small form factor. macOS is good enough for me to do everything I need to do and with virtualization getting better I have a lot more options to run headless Linux variants.
Kindle Paperwhite: A have the 10th generation Kindle and it has helped me read a lot more than I used to before. Even though, I have Kindle application installed on my phone and tablet, it’s quite easy to get distracted when reading is the last thing the device was built for. It’s light rugged device that I carry with me everywhere.
Other daily used gear:
- iPhone 14 Plus: I use an iPhone primary for the following reasons:
  1. I get call notifications on other devices, especially on my laptop.
  2. Copy paste works across devices.
  3. Has a much longer software update cycle.
- iPad Pro 11“: I don’t like to carry my laptop with me if I’m not working. iPad fits the niche between MacBook and a Kindle for me to consume diverse set of content.
- Keychron K2: *Clickity-Click*. I have realized that I prefer low profile keyboards with minimal key travel. I wouldn’t buy such a keyboard again but more now I’m stuck with it.
- Sony WH-1000XM3: I could have these on for hours without noticing. I use these for all sorts of purposes: Zoom calls, Music, and Gaming sessions. Exemplary audio quality, I just wish I could carry these everywhere.

Software

VSCode/Neovim: I have two editors grouped together because one editor was never enough. Granted both these editors support modal editing.
- When working on a large codebase that requires extensive use of LSP and support several languages I prefer to use VSCode.
- Everything else is done in the terminal using Neovim. I have given up on yak shaving and use a minimal configuration file that provides bare minimum to get things working.
Obsidian: I document everything in Obsidian: design documents, todo list, reviews, links to review, daily/weekly logs, and anything else that I might need down the line. I have it running on all my devices and it has rendered multiple applications useless for me.
NextDNS: I’m on a path to minimize my footprints on the internet especially on networks owned by big tech. NextDNS helps me block all sort of traffic and control the internet use for kids at home. I have no complains but eventually I plan to move to a self hosted solution.
Other applications I use:
- Safari: I have been using Safari for all the work I do and it has been great for the most part. Laptop battery lasts a lot more longer, the memory footprint is significantly lower, and the history syncs across other devices.
- 1Password: Remembering passwords can be quite cumbersome, and using the same password for all your accounts is a recipe for future regrets. 1Password has the most intuitive user experience across all platform and I’ll happily continue paying for it.
- Orbstack: Its funny how Docker Desktop feels similar to running VMs in VirtualBox now. Orbstack is super fast and I can run headless Linux machines on Apple Silicon in seconds.
- Raycast: Alfred used to be the first application I’d install when setting up macOS, now I install Raycast. The core functionality and an excellent suite of extensions save me a lot of time everyday.
Dotfiles: I prefer having a reproducible setup, and my dotfiles enable me to configure a fresh macOS installation within minutes. While I work on the transition to Nix, a Makefile should serve the purpose for now.