My Professional Toolkit

Preferences are preferences, but should you want a recommendation, here’s my current setup:

Hardware

• Mouse: Logitech G502 X - Wired mice only
• Keyboards:
  • K73 - custom keyboard, not available in stores.
  • Magic Keyboard for Apple users and Glorious GMMK for PC users (goofy name aside, you’ll need to buy key switches and keycaps).
  • Sanwa Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard for my Mac Mini, because you need a keyboard and mouse occasionally and I don’t like sharing peripherals.
• Headphones:
  • Conference Calls: Shokz OpenComm2 (2025 Update) - Bluetooth - Bone-conductive, lets my ears breathe. All-day battery. Ridiculous range. Fantastic noise cancellation. Minimal audio latency. Great for conference calls. Terrible for music. Had the old version 1, bought 2 of these. (1 for office, one for the travel office.)
  • Music: Sennheiser HD 599 SE - Open air, lightweight, excellent audio capabilities out of an unpowered 1/8” jack. (Disclaimer: I’ve haven’t used the HD599 myself, but my discontinued HD590 and HD598 have been in service for 15 years and 8 years, respectively, and I have 0 regrets.)
  • Travel: Apple AirPods Pro (Gen 2 USB-C) - Active Noise Cancelling works incredibly well for flights. Fantastic for music. Serviceable for conference calls. Can get a bit uncomfortable after about 2-3 hours of use, so if I’m expecting to take more than 1-2 calls I’ll also bring along the OpenComms from above.
• Displays:
  • Primary: 40” Dell U4025Q - It’s basically 50% more real estate over the 27” with slightly less pixel density. Oh, and it’s curved. (This model has been recently upgraded, so the one I have can be had for 30% off!). Considering this 52” Dell Monitor
  • Secondary (and Tertiary): 27” Dell U2720Q - I use a window manager to split the screen real estate into two parts. Others may prefer two monitors. One sits on the Mac Mini because it, annoyingly, needs a display.
  • Docks:
    • Anker Prime TB5 Dock - Upgraded the old dock to this because of Thunderbolt 5, which drives the 120Hz 40” 5K2K Dell Monitor AND the 27” 60Hz 4K Dell monitor… and everything else. Everything through one cable.
    • Dell WD22TB4 - Allows me to drive the two aforementioned displays, ethernet, power, and sundry USB devices to my laptop in a single cable. chefs kiss
• Laptop:
  • 2024 Apple MacBook Pro 14” M4 Max 128GB - I panicked about tarifs in early 2025 and upgraded my core work machine. No regrets—runs everything I need, including some smaller local LLMs, without too much sweating.
  • 2021 Apple MacBook Pro 14” M1 Max 32GB - Space Gray lives at home to keep work out of the home. (Also, given that my livelihood depends on technology, the redundancy has been super-helpful on the rare equipment failure.)
  • Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano - I actually have two of these: the 2020 model and the 2022 model. At the time, I was able to pick them both up for about $600 USD. Each machine weighs 2lbs, has a 2K display, and runs Arch Linux without a hitch. My only complaints are screen brightness and battery life, but then that would add weight and these don’t go very far from a power outlet or one of these I might carry around. Very worthwile tradeoffs. 90% of my software engineering happens on one of these things.
• Cellphones:
  • Primary: iPhone 15 Pro - I wish it were smaller, but it is exceptionally reliable and has great battery life.
  • Backup: iPhone 13 Mini - With a 120Hz screen and more battery life, this would be my primary phone.
  • Weekend (future): Light Phone III - I have a small investment in this company. If Light Phone III can get iMessage and a 2-factor authenticator app on here, this would contend as my primary phone.
• Tablet:
  • Creation: reMarkable 2
  • Consumption: iPad Pro 11”

Software

• E-mail client: Mail.app (MacOS’s default e-mail client). Thunderbird for Windows/Linux.
• Calendar: Fantastical - desktop app that’s a fantastic calendar.
• Window Manager: Divvy - cheap and good
• Note-taking:
  • Apple Notes - almost what I’m looking for, but not pro enough
  • Actively seeking help here

Important desk accessories

• A Desk Mat - an infinite mousepad. You can find them in all sorts of patterns.
• Lighting:
  • Elgato Key Light - clunky, expensive, but provides sufficient lumens and temperature controls via app.
  • Lume Cube LED Desk Light - inexpensive but wholly adequate.

Furniture

• Chairs:
  • Herman Miller Embody - Swapped to this because I found myself wanting to sit more cross-legged these days, and the Aeron doesn’t make that easy.
  • Herman Miller Aeron - Modern (not classic) edition, fully loaded with arm rest and lumbar adjustments. Size B and Carbon or Mineral color for me. Be sure to read the details carefully as there are many editions of this chair and it’s not always immediately obvious which is wich.
• Footrest: Get one. I use this as it came free with an old desk.