Back in the days of my first failed attempt at blogging I wrote a post on the gear I was using for my day to day development since then I have moved to a fully remote job and gradually built up my office space.
I plan to write a post to reflect on my two years working fully remote (it has ups and down and is definitely not for everyone). For now though I want to focus on the tools of the trade.
Dell Precision M3800 (Work machine)
This is a pretty good work horse machine, it can handle the 4 or 5 instances of Visual Studio I have open on a regular basis without much fuss. However it does feel at the low end of the quality scale and certainly not a premium product and the trackpad is probably the worst I have come across on any laptop I have ever used (hint: always have a mouse handy).
MacBook Pro 15-inch 2017 (Personal machine)
It took a lot of careful consideration and justification to convince myself to fork out the Apple premium in 2017. The reality is that the competition has been catching up fast and the price difference is much harder to justify than a few years ago. Other options I considered were the Dell XPS 15 and Surface Book but in the end the deciding factor for me was that I was already bought into the Apple ecosystem. To be honest it is not a decision I have regretted.
Razer BlackWidow Mechanical Keyboard
First things first, if you work in a office do not buy one of these the noise will make you very unpopular, even working remotely over Skype can be an issue sometimes. Other than that I have yet to find any negatives with it - I still find typing on it a pleasure.
Logitech MX Master 25 Mouse
My latest purchase is this wireless mouse which can be used on up to 3 computers at a time simply by changing the channel it connects on but also has something called Logitech Flow which allows you to switch automatically between machines by moving the cursor off the screen. I've not yet been able to fully test it so a review post will be coming shortly.
Dell UltraSharp 25 Monitor: U2515H x 2
Picked up 2 of these fantastic monitors for a reasonable price a few years ago - can have no real complaints although would probably invest in a single curved monitor if I was buying now.
iPhone 6 (soon to be iPhone 8)
Mobile phones have peaked. That is a big statement but it is one I stand by, other than tweaking round the edges the iPhone 6 is not much different to the current crop of modern phones and has served me well for a good few years but the time has come to upgrade. It was also going to be a choice between the iPhone X or 8, in the end the price difference for the X was a little too hard to justify so in the very near future I will be the owner of a brand new iPhone 8.
Creative ChatMax HS-720 Headset
A decent (and wireless) headset is definitely my next big purchase, if you plan to work remotely I would encourage you to take the hit and get the best set you can. For now though I am making do with this relatively cheap pair I picked up a few years ago but I am on the hunt for something better.