Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.

I get asked a lot about the things I use to build software, stay productive, or buy to fool myself into thinking I’m being productive when I’m really just procrastinating. Here’s a big list of all of my favorite stuff.

Workstation

  • Dev/Gaming Machine - 12900K, RTX 3070, 32GB RAM

    I've been gradually upgrading my computer over time, so it's kinda like a PC of Theseus now. As a developer, I've always got a bunch of servers running, Docker doing its thing in the background, and tons of browser tabs open. Moving from a 7700K to a 12900K was a huge step up, and the 3070 GPU is just awesome. I'm using 32GB of RAM right now, but I might bump it up to 64GB soon.

  • Alienware AW3418DW 34" (x2)

    Once you go Ultrawide, you never go back. So I got two. 3440x1440 @ 120Hz is the sweet spot for me for productivity and immersive gaming experiences. Will definitely upgrade to the new QD-OLED monitors when I can find a good excuse to do so.

  • DROP CTRL Mechanical Keyboard

    I'm a bit of a keyboard hoarder, but this is my daily driver at the moment. Currently running Kaihua Box White switches (clicky) with HyperX Low-Profile PBT keycaps.

  • Logitech G Pro X Superlight Mouse

    As a former Razer Deathadder user, I was skeptical to try out a Logitech mouse, but I'm glad I did. The G Pro X is a great mouse, extremely light, great battery life, and perfect tracking - albeit quite pricey.

  • Herman Miller Aeron Chair

    If I’m going to slouch in the worst ergonomic position imaginable all day, I might as well do it in a nice chair. Do yourself a favor and buy one used from an office liquidator for a good deal.

Development tools

  • Visual Studio Code

    Pretty self-explanatory. I use this for everything code-related for web projects. I also made my own theme that is pretty popular, you can check it out here!

  • Windows Terminal

    Love the new terminal that Microsoft released with Windows 11. I use it for all my terminal needs because it's super easy to open terminals in different environments like Powershell, WSL, and Git Bash.

  • GitKraken

    Yeah yeah yeah I know, I'm a heathen. I use a GUI for Git. I've used the command line frequently in the past, but at this point I just like to look at something pretty to visualize commit history.

Design

  • Figma

    I use Figma for literally everything I can for design work. If I need to do something more complex, I use Photoshop.

© 2024 Eric Kelley | MMXII Live the Fourth