What I Use: January 2025 (Premium)

We’re in Mexico for what could be about three months, we’ll see. But it’s a new year and a good time to take stock: Here or abroad, I tend to use the same tools each day to get work done.

It’s been a while. I do often publish What I Use posts tied to trips–the two most recent being Mexico City (October/November 2024) and Berlin 2024–and I will sometimes write up individual apps, services, or hardware. But a straight-up What I Use post? The latest one I can find is from five years ago, if you can believe that. And what the heck, here’s one from 2007, or 18 years ago(!) for a bit of context. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Computers

Thanks to all the laptop reviews I write, I usually move from PC-to-PC throughout each day, week, and month, and switch between different machines on a rolling basis. Heading into this long trip, I faced an interesting dilemma in that I had received several PCs for review late in 2024 and, in the process of reviewing them, it occurred that I might actually be able to come to Mexico without bringing any of them. That is, could I possibly review all the hardware before my mid-January departure?

I almost did it. The only PC I didn’t review is the I one I couldn’t bring with me, the desktop-bound HP OmniStudio X All-in-One Desktop AI PC. So that’s in my home office in Pennsylvania now, and I will ruin the eventual review by telling you now that it is terrific, and that the Lunar Lake-based version HP announced at CES a few weeks back is probably even better.

But in almost achieving this rare feat in a reasonably timely manner, I also coming to Mexico for the first time ever without any review laptops. And that means I was able to travel lighter than usual, and actually bring the two laptops I bought last year. Both of which I remain very happy with: The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Generation 15-Inch and Apple MacBook Air 15-inch M3.

In Mexico, I use a More Mobile setup centered around an HP Thunderbolt 4 Dock, a Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse Set, a 24-inch Dell P2422H Full HD (1080p) display, a Dell 4K webcam, and an Audio-Technica ATR2500x-USB microphone on a KDD microphone boom arm stand. The laptop rotates in and out based on what I’m reviewing at the time. And though I’m sure I’ll get at least a few review laptops during this trip, I came here with nothing. And so I’m using an 11th generation HP ZBook Firefly 14.

Tablet

I read daily on a 2024 Apple iPad Mini with 128 GB of storage. I like it, but I suspect my next move will be to a larger entry-level iPad. It’s definitely better for my needs than the 13th-inch iPad Air M2 I purchased earlier last year.

Phones

I move between ecosystems, but as I write this, I’m using an Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max with a Lake Green Apple Silicon case and a 46mm Jet Black Aluminum Apple Watch Series 10 with a Lake Green Sport Loop. But I can and almost certainly will switch to the dark side as needed. Which, in this case, is a Google Pixel 9 Pro XL with a Hazel Google Case and a 45mm Google Pixel Watch 3 with a Wintergreen Performance Loop Band.

Entertainment hardware

We use an Apple TV 4K in both of our homes, Pennsylvania and Mexico City. In Pennsylvania, it’s paired with a set of Apple HomePod smart speakers, which provide very good sound and Dolby Atmos/spatial audio. In Mexico City, it’s paired with a set of HomePod Mini smart speakers.

We have several Sonos speakers in Pennsylvania. I use a pair of Sonos Play:5 speakers with a Sonos Sub in the living room, a pair of Symfonisk Wi-Fi bookshelf speakers in the kitchen, a Sonos One in the bathroom, a Sonos Move in the bedroom, and a few others. We can mix and match these with each other and with the HomePods in the living room as needed.

We have a pair of JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth speakers in Mexico City that we mostly use for music on our balcony as a stereo pair.

Earbuds and headphones

I’ve cycled through several sets of earbuds over the past few years, but find them less than ideal because they routinely fall out of my ears. My go-to when traveling now is a pair of Deep Brown Beats Studio Pro active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones that are bulky but worth the effort. I always bring a pair of Apple AirPods Pro 2 and (first generation) Bose QuietComfort Earbuds along on trips just in case, as they take up little space and can be used more conveniently in some cases.

Desktop software

I very much prefer Windows to macOS, but I’m comfortable with both. And I don’t feel strongly about the Windows 11 Home vs. Pro; I just use Windows 11 on PCs, and it’s usually fine. That said, I did upgrade to Windows 11 Pro on my Surface Laptop 7 for a variety of reasons. I pretty much stick to the latest stable version of the OS, but I do enable “latest updates” option in Windows Update, so I install preview updates two weeks before they hit stable. On macOS, I’m running the latest Developer Beta build so I can keep up on Apple Intelligence.

Windows

I use the Windows Package Manager (winget) to bulk install apps on each PC I use, and I always choose the Microsoft Store version of each app when available. The standard installation set now includes Google Drive, Google Chrome, Typora, Git, Notion, Discord, and .NET 9 from the winget (web) repository, and Brave, Visual Studio Code, Grammarly, Skype, Zoom, Slack, Greenshot (screenshots), ImageGlass 9 (image viewing), and Affinity Photo 2 from the Store. I also install Visual Studio 2022 (latest stable version) and PowerToys manually from the web after the fact, but will add them to my winget script soon.

A couple of notes on apps.

• I use OneDrive and Google Drive, but Google Drive is more reliable, in my experience, and preferred.
• Typora is my default app for most writing, though I write my books with Visual Studio Code because of its folder management capabilities. In both cases, this work occurs in the plain text Markdown format.
• I use Notion exhaustively, mostly for notes. This would be a viable alternative to Typora for general writing. But I love Typora, and Notion is a document-less app that doesn’t support a true offline mode, it’s only real issue.
• I use LanguageTool and Grammarly for spelling and grammar checking. I prefer the former, but like to have multiple levels of oversight.
• I use Proton Pass for password management everywhere.
• I use Slack, Teams (the version built-in to Windows 11, now that it supports both commercial and consumer accounts), Zoom, Skype, and Discord for messaging as needed. None are “great,” but all are sadly necessary.
• I use Git for version control with all my books (via a command line) plus my Visual Studio projects (via integration with the app). I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with this, but it’s not a mainstream tool yet. I install .NET 9 for my Visual Studio projects, especially .NETpad.
• I move between web browsers. Generally speaking, I advocate for Brave because it is not made by a Big Tech company with advertising-related strategies, and because it has great built-in tracking and ad blocking. But in recent months, I’m surprised to report that I’ve switched to Microsoft Edge. That said, I always install a standard set of extensions to protect myself and improve the browser’s functionality: LanguageTool AI grammar checker and paraphraser, AdBlock Plus (ad blocker), Bonjourr (New tab page replacement), Dark Reader (dark mode), Instapaper (read later), Privacy Badger (tracker blocking), and uBlock Origin (ad/tracker blocking).
• For images, I use Affinity Photo for editing, Greenshot for screenshots, and ImageGlass 9, which I paid for and use for viewing images full-screen and, as needed, converting images to a format Affinity Photos can use.
• I use a few PowerToys utilities every day: Awake (to keep the PC and/or screen on for specific time frames, Find My Mouse (to help find the mouse cursor via a Ctrl key double-tap), Keyboard Manager (to remap the Copilot key and, when needed, PgUp and PgDn keys), and PowerToys run, an app launcher I remap to WinKey + Space. I’m always tooling around in PowerToys to see whether it makes sense to add more of these things to my daily workflow. (I use a Registry file to disable Caps Lock as well.)

Mac

I don’t use the Mac regularly, and I don’t have my MacBook Air with me here as I write this, but most of the apps I use are identical to those in Windows. With a few notable exceptions.

The basic list will look familiar: Typora and Visual Studio Code for writing, Notion, Microsoft Edge/whatever web browser (with the same extensions), and Affinity Photo 2. And the Photoshop Beta so I can test new AI features. I also use iA Writer on Mac for writing, another Markdown editor, and one that’s better on Mac than Windows. Arc browser is also much better on the Mac, though I’ve moved away from that for consistency’s sake across platforms.

The big difference is that Mac multitasking/app switching is inconsistent and functionally lackluster compared to Windows, even with the addition of windows tiling in macOS Sequoia. So I paid for use a utility called Magnet for better window management. And I use another utility called altTab to access every window in every app in the switcher, as happens in Windows.

Beyond that, I use and highly recommend Parallels Desktop for Windows 11 on Arm virtual machines. (I still very much prefer some Windows apps to whatever Mac alternatives, for example Paint.) And I used Apple’s Image Playground app on Mac to make the emoji-like cartoonish images of my wife and me that we now use for our online avatars. That said, I don’t use any Apple Intelligence features regularly, certainly not on the Mac.

iPad apps

I very much prefer the iPad to any Android tablet, though to be fair, few of the apps I use regularly are exclusive to iPad. As with Windows, there are apps I use every day, and then there are apps I use occasionally.

My daily-use iPad apps are all reading-related: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Google News (for the tech news feed), Feeeed (which is iOS/iPad-exclusive, also for its tech news feed), Google (for the Discovery news feed), Instapaper (read later), Substack, and Amazon Kindle. I use Microsoft Edge mobile as my default browser now. I use Proton Pass for password management, and Proton VPN. And I will sometimes use Facebook, Instagram, Outlook mobile, various social apps (X/Twitter, Threads, Facebook Messenger, Bluesky, and Mastodon), Duolingo (language learning), audio apps (YouTube Music, Apple Music, and Sonos) and video apps (Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, and YouTube TV). I play Call of Duty Mobile more than I ever expected I would, it’s quite good.

Phone apps

My most commonly used apps on the phone include the stock Camera app, Google Photos, Google Maps, Microsoft Edge (default browser), Phone/Messaging (I use the default apps regardless of platform), Outlook Mobile, Facebook, Instagram, various social apps (X/Twitter, Threads, Facebook Messenger, Bluesky, and Mastodon), various messaging apps, Duolingo (language learning), audio apps (PocketCast for podcasts, Audible for audiobooks, YouTube Music, Apple Music, and Sonos), and others. When we’re away I use the Uber app frequently, and when we’re flying I use the United app. I use Microsoft Authenticator and Google Authenticator for 2FA, the latter preferably. And I use NextDNS to block ads in apps.

Less frequently, I use Airalo and Nomad (international eSIMs), Amazon, Eero (Wi-Fi network management in Pennsylvania and Mexico City), Hue (smart lights, Pennsylvania only), MyLVHN (health app, Pennsylvania-specific), OneDrive (secondary photo backup), Shazam (song recognition, not necessary on Pixel), and SongShift (song playlist transfer between services).

Online services: Productivity

I use Microsoft 365 Family (consumer), Google Workspace (commercial), and Google/Gmail (consumer) services daily, though the mix has changed a bit over time. I also have a Microsoft 365 Business Basic account so that I can keep up with Microsoft’s activities on the commercial side.

Google Workspace (paul at thurrott.com) is my primary online identity, though we have several accounts for work-related purposes. All my email is funneled to and from this account, and this is my only account for calendars and my primary account for contact management.

I also have a Google One subscription through my Gmail account. This gives me 2 TB of Google Drive storage, which I use for photos (Google Photos), current work, and my personal and work archives.

My Microsoft 365 Family account gives me full access to the desktop and mobile Office apps, Outlook with no ads, and 1 TB of OneDrive storage, which I use for secondary storage for photos and my work archives.

Online services: Entertainment

I have several important online accounts for entertainment and consumer consumption activities.

My Apple account is used on my Apple devices and with my Apple One Premier subscription, which provides 2 TB of iCloud+ storage and access to Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, and Apple News+ for six users (me and my two kids). I mostly use the storage for device backups and as secondary photo storage, and I use Apple TV+, Apple Music, and Apple News+ fairly regularly

My wife and I have an Amazon Prime subscription, which is used mostly for physical item purchases and shipping, both in the U.S. and Mexico. We haven’t used Prime Video since Amazon introduced ads.

I use the Microsoft account associated with Microsoft 365 Family with my Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. These days I mostly play games on a laptop (as opposed to an Xbox console), and mostly the latest Call of Duty (which I get through Game Pass).

We have multi-user subscriptions, all without ads, for Netflix, and Hulu, Apple TV+ that are shared with the family. But I also pay for YouTube Premium (through YouTube Music) and use that service more than the others combined.

For music, I pay for Spotify and YouTube Premium plans that work family-wide, and an individual YouTube Music Premium subscription, which remains my favorite/go-to for music.

More?

And I think that’s most of it. If I missed anything, let me know. As noted, it’s been a while.