What Brad Uses, 2019 Edition (Premium)

It’s hard to believe that 2019 and the 2010s are coming to an end. But as I have done for the past couple of years, I like to write down what I am using at the end of the year to see how things have changed. While each year doesn’t always involve dramatic updates, there are certainly things that do shift.

In no particular order, here is the hardware and software, that I am primarily using in 2019:

On the desktop side, the podcast box we use for First Ring Daily is a 7700K with 32GB of RAM with a GTX 1080. My video editing rig is an Intel 7900x with GTX 1080 and 32GB of RAM as well. For mobile/travel, as long as I am not needing to edit video, I have been taking the Pro X with me; the Surface Book 2 will make the journey when I need to edit content while traveling but that machine is really starting to show its age.

My keyboard for both computers is a Cooler Master MK750 with Cherry MX Brown switches because I work at home; during the day the dog has to deal with the noise. I quite like his keyboard, it does have RGB but you can turn that off, and there is no loud branding…a simple mechanical keyboard that has held up well. As for the mouse, I bought the MX Master 3 this year and highly recommend both of these peripherals.

On the gaming side, using the Xbox One X with the newly released Elite V2 controller. It’s a bit tough to recommend either of these devices now for various reasons. The Xbox One X, if you can find it on-sale is a great machine but you may be better off saving your dollars for the Series X at this point. And the Elite V2, while it is the best controller ever made for the Xbox One, it’s far too expensive for a controller; again save your dollars and stick with the standard controller.

The monitor hasn’t changed and is still U2718Q, which works well for productivity tasks, but the lack of 144hz support isn’t as good for gaming. I only use one monitor right now but may add another when I move my office to another room sometime in the first half of 2020 (hopefully). Microphones that I use are Blue Yeti for both podcasting and meetings; it’s a good quality mic that can be found for under $100 when on-sale.

Smartphones are an iPhone Xs as my daily driver and a OnePlus 6T for using with xCloud testing and other various needs on Android.

As for software, I primarily edit video in Adobe Premiere Elements and Premiere Pro when needed; PhotoShop for editing images We record the podcast with xSplit and VoiceMeter, music is with Spotify, and email client is Newton Mail but this may change next year; Newton is ‘alive’ but the app hasn’t been updated since being re-released and feels a bit like abandonware.

Two changes this year on the software side is that I have gone back to using Word to write posts as the syncing with OneDrive works better than trying to accomplish this same task with other clients, and my browser is now the new Edge most of the time. I still need to use Chrome as the backend of YouTube sometimes doesn’t like Edge for reasons only known to Google engineers.

I stopped using Ditto this year in favor of the built-in clipboard history tool in Windows 10. I also moved away from using LastPass and have gone all-in on using 1Password.

On the digital assistant side, still using Alexa but our use has decreased it feels like in 2019. The primary use of the tool is to play music, the weather, and setting timers. These features are available on every assistant and we are in no way locked to Amazon or loyal to it.

Home audio is all Sonos. The speakers are great, you can swap digital assistants if needed and they tie into most major platforms; they are expensive though which is a big downside.

On the smart home side, most of my lights are from the Phillips Hue family which works well (most of the time) and a Chamberlin garage door that can be opened with my phone is a serious convivence. No more lying in bed wondering if the door is up or down, and it’s set to auto-close every night at 9PM. I also have a couple of Nest Cameras on the outside of my house, no cameras on the inside.

The camera we use for ‘Behind the Scenes’ is an EOS M6 and the cameras used for First Ring Daily are Logitech C920s.

On the wearable side, it’s an Apple Watch Series 4 with LTE. And occasionally I use an HP VR headset to play around with Universe Sandbox as my daughter loves looking at the planets.

This should give a pretty good look into what I use each day to work/live. Nothing really all that outlandish but it works well for my needs but I am always looking to improve my workflow.