6 minutes
Stuff I use - 2022
Devices
Phone : iPhone 13 Pro Max
So I’ve been back on the Apple Bandwagon for a number of years now, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the best phone they’ve ever produced and this is finally the model where you can take decent photos of the stars at night, I’m hoping this year we can get to Scotland to maybe be in with a chance of glimpsing the Northern Lights, and it feels like I should be able to get a decent image of that with this phone.
Battery Life is great, pretty much a full work day of calls & Teams chats, Wordle, Sudoku, Solitaire, Twitch & Twitter and I’ve usually got 40% + battery remaining by the time I put it on charge before bed.
Tablet : iPad Pro 11” (2021 model)”
After switching back to an iPad Pro back in 2019, I’d been using it for Teams and Zoom meetings throughout the pandemic, light admin work, I have also set it up for remote access to my work machine, it proved to be a great device to use on the go, however I wasn’t keen on the 12.9” model, so I switched that out for the 11” one, and with the new Magic Keyboard providing a not too shabby keyboard and mouse experience, this has become my favourite iPad model so far, battery life is great too and generally I get a full days work out of it.
More recently I’ve been using it to stream Twitch to my TV (via Apple TV) and it does that in the background, so it’s not mirroring the iPad screen and enables you to continue using the device for all other tasks, very impressed by the performance too, no slowdown under full load, but the laptop class processor should be able to handle all that, Apple have done well with their M1 CPU’s.
Fitness Tracker: Apple Watch (Series 7)
So, this is the latest iteration of their Apple Watch, and to be honest, if you have the Series 6, you don’t need to upgrade, the larger screen is nice and better for those of us that may have declining eyesight, but no major features to justify the upgrade cost.
However, if coming from another brand, like Fitbit for example, such a difference, even the setup process on Fitbit is a faff, the basics don’t work, all seamless with the Apple Watch, I’d definitely advise switching, having used models from Fitbit, Withings, Nokia, this is the one I keep coming back to.
The only thing I’d like to change about it, is the battery life, I think a week would be great, if they could sort a model with that, then that would be the perfect fitness tracker for me
Desktop: Mac Studio (2022)
This has only been here a few days (somehow got mine a week after launch despite an ETA of 8 to 10 weeks), so far, everything flies, which is to be expected, I got the M1 Ultra model, which is being targeted at ‘Studio’ audiences, however I’m going to use this to try out ML and running multiple VM development environments in Parallels in parallel, I’ve not got that all set up yet, but so far there is nothing that I’ve seen that suggests I won’t be even more impressed by this machine, I’ve switched from an M1 Mac Mini, which is entirely silent, and this model has slight fan whine, which is on a par noise wise with the Air Purifier I’m running, so not entirely silent, but not a problem at all.
Laptop: Lenovo X1 Carbon (8th Gen)
I had a Carbon X1 5th Gen for 3 years before getting this one, and it’s the same reliability, feel, love the keyboard, if you’re a thinkpad person, you’ll know what I mean, these devices just feel comfortable, and for me, running Linux on anything else just doesn’t feel right.
Having used it for the past 2 years now, it’s been reliable, problem free, light, a fantastic laptop.
This has been my daily machine for the bulk of the time I’ve had it and does absolutely everything I need, running Ubuntu, the battery life is decent, it’s light at 1.2kg, as with the majority of my other devices, it uses a USB-C charger, has 2 x USB-A ports and an HDMI port.
My only gripe, having switched from Macs is that no other manufacturer can come close to the Mac trackpad, so I use a small Logitech mouse with this I’m used to that and it almost feels odd using a trackpad now.
I think I would likely replace this with a new model X1 when the time comes that its no longer functional, although I do like the recent Macs and the 2021 14” MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro CPU is a great machine, very tempted.
Console: Xbox Series X
So having not played much in the previous years, I got back into playing Halo after I was given this console for my birthday, I now dedicate some time every week to this, I know there are plenty of critics of the new game, but I enjoy it, I feel like I’m a lot better than I used to be, I play all the game modes now instead of just SWAT (Tactical), I’ve also got into watching the Halo Championship Series, it feels good to be a part of this community, this game has been a part of my life for 21 years now, love it!
I’ve gone all out too, got the Elite controller, having the paddles makes such a difference, and the Arctis 9X headset provides a more immersive experience.
Car: Hyundai Kona 64kWh
So this is my 4th EV, I’ve now been driving Electric Vehicles for the past 7 years, so before it was cool. This is my first 300 mile capable one though, obviously that is the advertised range, so I’d likely get less than that, but over the winter months I’ve got 220 miles and I’d expect 270 in the warmer months.
This has been a great vehicle and all being well, will be undertaking a road trip to the highlands later this year, with the improvements in the charging infrastructure it shouldn’t be a problem, it feels entirely capable of handling anything we throw at it, so fingers crossed I’m not mistaken.
Headphones: Apple Airpods Max
Whilst I normally use these whilst travelling, I haven’t actually done any since I’ve got them, they are pricey, but I spotted a xmas deal offering £120 off, so jumped at it. These too have been great and the spatial audio is fun when paired with an Apple TV.
1139 Words
2022-03-25 18:45 +0000