Last year LifeHacker posted an article, Top 10 Superior Tech Products You’ll Never Go Back From. I’m just now seeing it (it was buried in my Pocket queue) but I’m reading it like “yeah…mmhm…I agree…”
I don’t know if I could assemble a superior list, per se, but here are some of my essentials for working…
1 // iPhone (5S, 64GB, Champagne)
Obviously they’re on to the 6 and 6 plus but I have ye olde 5s and it does me well (minus the fact that I’m running out of space).
2 // Bose Soundtrue Around-Ear Headphones
I LOVE these headphones. They’re perfect for listening to music while working or for watching Netflix on your second monitor while you write. I have the mint edition (thanks, V) and treat them well like a baby. I do not, however travel or carry them around frequently because of that.
3 // Lenovo W-series Mobile Workstation
I had a W530 for work for two years and that thing was a BEAST. It had the highest specs you could get put in it…the battery lasted forever…the little three-button clicker was my best friend…and you could bang that thing around (not that I ever dropped it, for serious) and not worry about it.
At work I’ve always had a laptop plus two additional monitors setup. It’s kind of my favorite (although seemingly somewhat exorbitant) and when I lived at home (with my parents) I also had an external monitor with my laptop. But when I started living on my own 2.5 years ago, I just had my laptop…and if I really got desperate, I would plug my laptop into my TV (which is, to be fair, HUGE). Sometime last year though, V gave me his Acer monitor and it’s perfect for my desk.
I store almost EVERYTHING on here. It’s either on here or in cloud storage (GDrive, OneDrive, or Dropbox…I use all three). Cloud storage is usually for current working documents and the external harddrive is for archived files or photos (unfortunately I have hundreds of GBs of raw photos).
Early this year I had V clean up my old (2011) HP Envy 14. He put a solid state drive in it and installed windows 8. But WOW what a difference an SSD makes. That thing is ZIPPY. Plus my laptop was already pretty loaded up on specs so running programs (photoshop, etc.) is a dream on my laptop. (If only the screen resolution were better!)
Almost three years ago I bought this DSLR because my friend who was also getting into photography had a D3100. We could learn together and share lenses. I’m still in love with this guy (he’ll always be my baby!) but sometime when I do plan on upgrading, I’ll be switching over to a Canon (hopefully a 5D Mark iii)
I say I spend just as much time at home as I am NOT at home. I’m always on the go, whether it be to work, events, downtown, or somewhere else. This backpack has served me well. While I’m NOT a fan of all the pockets (I only use the big compartment, the top small zip (for my wireless mouse and such), and the large front zip pocket (for my laptop plug)…and there are 6 more!), on top of my tech stuff, I can also cram in an extra pair of shoes and enough clothes for 3 days.
9 // Premium Services
I hate to pay for things that you could get for free elsewhere…but as I get older I’m becoming more and more of a fan of CONVENIENCE. So I pay/paid for Spotify Premium, Netflix, and Adobe CS. I don’t pay for DropBox, Wunderlist, Feedly, or Pocket (which all offer a premium experience) but I’m sure in the future I will.
I don’t actually own an iPad : ( but I have used them for work…and they definitely make my life easier (for the things I do). I spend a lot of time reading and watching things on my iPhone and an iPad, while unnecessary because I have an iPhone and a laptop, would ease my eye strain in bed at night.
Have I left anything off?