My Gear and Tools

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This page has a bunch of info about stuff that I own. I’ve mostly put things that I recommend on this page, and tried to provide useful feedback/advice wherever possible. I constantly try to find gear, tools, and systems to smooth out the day to day bumps in my life. Hopefully this page gives you some useful ideas/inspiration in that regard. I was inspired to create this page by Alexey Guzey’s similar page.

Hardware Gear

  • Laptop: Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (i7, 256GB storage, 16GB RAM)
  • Tablets:
  • Phone: Samsung Note 20
  • Watch: Samsung Galaxy Active 2
  • Backpacks
    • Thule Stravan backpack:
      • Good backpack, water resistant, decent layout.
      • I recommend for build quality but not for form.
    • tomtoc shoulder bag:
      • Lightweight and carries the essentials.
      • I recommend.
    • Adidas Sackpack:
      • These are the premium versions of the inexpensive sackpack category (without the premium price).
      • Highly recommended: I really like these when on vacation and for day trips.
  • Desktop (i5 8600K, 2070 Super, 32GB 3200MHz RAM)
    • Displays
      • LG 34″ ultawide (1440p)
        • For my personal use, I think 34″ is the maximum that is useful. I think there are a few cases where a larger monitor (e.g., 49″ ultrawide) could be useful (e.g., if you are comparing many things at once in tab or tabular form), but for most cases, I recommend 34″.
        • I would recommend getting a 3440×1440 monitor if you go this large. The pixel size would be a bit too large if you chose 1080p at this screen size. Also not that at 34″, the vertical height of the monitor is the same as a 27″ 16:9 monitor.
        • A good screen management software, like PowerToys, is key to maintaining sanity.
      • LG 29″ ultrawide (1080p)
      • I use a vertical dual monitor stand, which I like a lot better than having side-by-side monitors. The stacked layout makes the upper monitor less intrusive. I can have things up there for occasional reference that aren’t nearly as visually distracting but are still near.
    • Peripherals
      • Keyboard: Logitech G610 (mechanical Cherry MX Brown switches)
      • Mouse: Logitech G604, just upgraded from G502
      • Headset: Sennheiser GSP 302
  • Audio
    • In-ear: Samsung Buds+ (recommended)
    • Wired over-ear: Audio-Technica ATH-M40x (recommended)
    • Bluetooth on-ear: Audio-Technica ATH-SR5BTBK (not recommended)
    • Nice mic: RØDE NT-USB mic, which I don’t use much in my 1 bedroom apartment because of the background noise it picks up 🙁
  • Desk chair: Tempur-Pedic 6400 Fabric
    • blah blah blah
      When the pandemic hit, I started spending double digit hours in my desk chair everyday. After a few months of back pain, I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade. I tried a bunch of different options, and finally settled on this one. It’s not the most aesthetic, but it is comfortable for all day sitting, it’s reasonably adjustable, and it’s held up very well over the last year of daily use. My only complaint with the chair is the armrests. They aren’t good at all. They wobble, though they are strong, and they aren’t adjustable enough. The headrest is less than ideal, but I’m not complaining…though I would be if I was much taller as it would be in the middle of my shoulder blades.

Software Gear

Various Software Tools That I Use A Lot

  • Graphical Design:
    • Affinity Designer (paid: $25 on sale)
      • In short: capable, very nice interface, great functionality, costs money
    • Inkscape (free)
      • In short: capable, adequate interface, doesn’t costs money
    • I noted down some differences when I switched to AF Designer from Inkscape (after years of using Inkscape).
  • CAD
    • Onshape (free for educational/personal use)
      • A few general notes: 100% browser/cloud based, Very easy to share/collaborate on projects with others, Clean, intuitive user interface, Built in version tracking/control
      • I really like Onshape, and I recommend it for most casual users (or beginners) who ask me.
      • The one downside I’ve run into is that simulations like a static stress analysis are a little more clunky here as compared to Fusion 360 and others.
    • Fusion 360 (free for educational/personal use)
      • Interface is nice, and I was able to pick it up quickly.
      • Simulations are straight forward and provide nicely presented results (e.g., a detailed, formatted report or an autogenerated animation of the simulation).
      • Local install, which is kinda clunky, but “it’s what it is.”
  • Xodo: PDF reader/editor
    • I’ve tried a bunch of different PDF viewers/editors, and Xodo is the one that just works. I’ve use it on a number of different platforms
  • Table generators (LaTeX, HTML, Markdown)
  • Text changer for when you’ve got chunk(s) of text to upper/lower case.
  • Meld
    • Nice for comparing the differences between files for debugging code or just seeing the updates in a document.
    • TIP: Go set line numbers to show under Preferences.
  • ScreenToGif
    • Saves a short video of whatever is on your screen.
    • Very easy to capture/edit.
  • PowerToys

Chrome

  • Google Messages: Allows you to text from your browser
  • Chrome Remote Desktop: simple, reliable remote desktop software for your own machines
  • Google Dictionary: double click on any word on any page, and you’ll get a little pop-up with the definition
  • GoFullPage screen cap
    • Easy save to PDF to preserve webpages for short or long term use
    • Example use cases: LinkedIn profile, online form that you filled out, educational webpage

Organizing my life

I put “used since” labels in this section because recommending an organization tool necessitates an in-depth endorsement.

  • Notion (used since 2019)
    • Notion is a very flexible and powerful tool, but it is a blank slate.
    • It’s free for personal use.
    • I’ve written about Notion resources and 5 useful Notion pages that I use all the time.
  • Todoist (used since 2017)
    • Todoist is a task manager (todo list software) that has just the right amount of functionality.
    • So many other task managers that I’ve tried are clunky and beg for a lot of overhead, but Todoist is designed to minimize that.
    • I’ve been a pro subscriber for several years, so there isn’t much of a bigger endorsement I could give than that.
  • Raindrop.io: Better bookmark manager (used since 2020)
    • General: Free, aesthetically pleasing, multi-platform
    • Allows you to have layers of structure (collections of folders)
    • Icons on folders
    • Tags for bookmarks
  • PocketCasts (used since 2019)
    • Podcast app
    • There are other podcast apps that are nice, but this one has a great interface, low price ($0.99/month), great syncing across devices, auto-download for subscribed podcasts, and has a great web interface.
  • Pocket (used since 2016)
    • Free, though there are functional limits to the free version…mainly that you only get 3 highlights per article.
    • Strips the junk (ads, overblown styling, etc.) out of articles/webpages.
    • Helps organize articles by using tags and archiving for later reference.
    • The downfall of this tool (for me) is becoming overzealous with saving interesting articles. “Oh, that would be cool to read/looks interesting! Let me save it…”
  • LastPass: Password manager (used since 2016)
    • I used to recommend LastPass a lot, but with their recent move to essentially forced premium, I’m not sure it’s worth it now.
    • LastPass notwithstanding, you sure get a decent password manager right away…and set up two factor authentication on everything starting with the most important stuff.
  • Google Drive (used since 2013)
    • Use Google Docs or Sheets instead of Word or Excel whenever possible. Why? Because they’re free and more flexible (use on any device, easily collaborate), and they autosaves to the cloud.
    • Set up Google Backup and Sync (or whatever Google’s desktop to cloud sync is currently called). There are a few types of files that don’t play well with Google Drive auto syncing, but I’ve never had any major issues on any of the projects/files that I use Google Drive for, which is basically everything.

Tools

  • A note on investing in good tools: I grew up working with inadequate tools. In the middle of working on the car and need a 13mm socket? You’ll have to make a trip to the store! Underneath the car in the middle of removing a bolt? Snap! Goodbye cheapo ratchet. It’s not just a matter of convenience either. While building our house, we had a framing nail gun that double fired when you pulled the trigger (read: malfunctioned), which eventually resulted in a large framing nail going into the side of my dad’s finger. From these experiences in the first two decades of my life, I learned the value of having the right tools to do the job, and I’ve invested in the tools even when I “didn’t have the money.” The key is that it is an investment rather than a “necessity”, which is just about perspective.
  • 3D printer: I’ve written more about my 3D printer and the tools I use (here, here), but I highly recommend getting one if you’re interested.
  • Workbench: see more