My Everyday Tech
By: Joshua Beck
Tags: Gadgets, Google, Tech, Apple, Technology

My Everyday Tech

Around this time of year, I see a lot of Youtubers talk about what technology they use everyday. I’m no Youtuber, but considering I went through about a thousand computers this year and tried many, many different tech products, I thought what the hell. I want to talk about why I use the things I use.

Yeah… that’s about as much intro as I can see myself writing for this one. Let’s get to it.

My Computer

If we’re going to talk about the technology I use every day, we might as well get right into the device that I spent the majority of 2020 searching for: a laptop.

Up until this year, I’d generally used a Chromebook for my computing needs, and I never spent more than $300 on a computer. But finally, finally, I decided that I needed something a bit more substantial. I decided that I needed to drop a little bit more cash on my computer and get something that would work for me for years, not months. Something that could run all of the programs I needed (or wanted), had an excellent keyboard (I am, first and foremost, a writer), and had good battery life. I also wanted something slim and portable.

My choice, obviously, was the MacBook Air. But the first MacBook Air that Apple released this year was a bit wanting; it got too hot and too quickly and the fan was too loud and then it would get too slow. I searched around for months, bouncing back and forth between testing out the MacBook, a few Windows laptops from Microsoft and Lenovo (and one mistake from Samsung), and even Google’s Pixelbook Go (I still love Chromebooks). None of them were the computer I needed.

That’s because the computer I needed didn’t exist for the majority of 2020. It was the second MacBook Air, with Apple’s brand new M1 chip.

What I Like About It

I fell in love with macOS when I first tried out the MacBook Air. And despite my issues with the hardware, I never stopped loving it, especially when I tried out (and ran into bugs with) Windows 10.

But beyond that, I loved the sleekness of the laptop. I loved the thin and light profile. I loved the trackpad. And holy shit, I loved the Magic Keyboard. The only better keyboard I tried over the last year belonged to the Pixelbook Go (that Chromebook will always have a place in my heart, and despite Chrome OS not being what I needed, it was a close second choice). I never had the displeasure of using one of Apple’s disastrous butterfly keyboards, but this time around, they made one of the best typing experiences money can buy.

If I’m being frank, the main reason I chose the M1 MacBook Air came down to the lack of fan within its thin frame. I know, it is petty, but I hated fan noise on every computer I tried (with exception, again, for the Pixelbook Go). During Apple’s announcement, they had me at “no fan” and I’m not even exaggerating.

But I also love the M1 chip. Granted, I don’t do nearly anything that it is capable of doing, but I love that it rarely gets warm (the one and only time I’ve managed to get it to heat up was when I was moving hundreds of gigabytes of photos from Google Photos into Apple Photos- a task which crippled the Core i3 MacBook), and I love that it gives the MacBook Air battery life that I simply don’t ever have to think about.

What I Don’t Like About It

Since Apple is bringing support for iOS apps on the MacBook now, I wish that this computer came equipped with a touchscreen. That said, I’m sure now that a touchscreen MacBook is on the horizon.

I’m also a little bit leery about using a computer with such untested hardware. While Apple has a good track record with their processors in their iPhones and iPads, the MacBook has never run on one of their processors until now. And while I’ve yet to really run into any apps that I personally use that don’t work as advertised, I know that there are some specific apps that some users will need that haven’t been made to work with this computer yet.

While I haven’t run into any usage issues yet, I did unfortunately have to send my original M1 MacBook back to Apple, as after a couple of weeks I started to get a “Service Recommended” warning on the battery. I wasn’t seeing any dropped performance from the computer or the battery, but it was concerning that such a new device was already telling me there was a battery issue. While I think it was just a software bug, Apple wanted to err on the side of caution and replace the computer. This experience hasn’t put me off the M1 MacBook, but it has left me just a little more cautious.

My Specs

I went with the base model MacBook Air, which comes with 8gb ram, 256 gb storage, the M1 chip with 8 processing cores and 7 GPU cores. While it is available in silver or space gray, I went with gold because it looks nice and makes it stand out in a crowd of slate-colored PC’s.

My Tablet(s)

Since the MacBook Air doesn’t have a touchscreen, I need a tablet to go along with it. Before Apple announced the M1 MacBook, I had actually planned on using an iPad as my daily computer- I paired the 11-inch iPad Pro with its own Magic Keyboard and called it a day. And I loved it.

But as I got used to the new MacBook, I realized I didn’t really need all of that tablet power at my fingertips. I traded down to the new iPad Air, but even that was not getting much use next to my MacBook Air.

If I had published this story a week ago, my tablet of choice would have been the 5th generation iPad Mini. Sure, it’s not the newest (it came out in early 2019, and features the same bezel-heavy design and iPhone 10R processor that comes with 2020’s base-model iPad, albeit in a smaller body), but it was working for me. It had Apple Pencil support, it was large enough to do some photo editing on and small enough to hold in my hands for watching videos or reading books.

But as with the iPad Pro and iPad Air before it, I ended up taking the iPad Mini back to the store. For the first time in years, I am working iPad-free. The main reason for this is that I couldn’t justify the cost of it- iPads aren’t exactly cheap, even the miniature ones. If I were using it as I had intended to- for editing photographs and drawing, then maybe it would have stuck around. But I found that I still did most of my editing either on my phone or the MacBook, and I rarely picked up the pencil. No, I used the iPad Mini mainly for watching YouTube and reading books. And I already had a couple devices laying around the house that could do those tasks for me. And if I wanted to spend some money on a small iPad, I decided that I should wait to see if Apple announces a new iPad Mini early next year, maybe one with a better processor, smaller bezels, and Apple Pencil 2 support.

So, for right now, my tablet needs are split between two (sometimes three) devices that I already owned. For most every-day tablet tasks, I’m using Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet. If I just want to get down to reading, I’m using Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite. And if I need to draw something with a pen, I still have Microsoft’s Surface Go 2 kicking around. These devices- especially bundled together- are not cheaper than the iPad Mini- but they are cheaper to me, since I already owned them and they- unlike the iPad- were no longer returnable at Best Buy. Sometimes, the lesson isn’t learning to not buy what you don’t need, it is using what you have.

What I Like About Them

For the Kindle Paperwhite, it is easy: I love the distraction-free, e-ink display. It feels the closest to reading an actual book. And I love the 6-week battery life, so I rarely have to worry whether my “book” is charged. 2020 has not been a good year for reading for me, despite a growing pile of books that I desperately want to crack into and an endless amount of time sequestered at home. Picking up a Kindle again, however, seems to have changed that. Unlike with an iPad- which runs the Kindle app, as well as Google Play Books and Apple’s own Books app- or even Kindle Fire devices, the Kindle Paperwhite can only do one thing: display book pages (well, two things; it can also play audiobooks). That means when I pick up the Kindle, there is only one thing on my mind to do with it, and I won’t get distracted by Apple Arcade or YouTube or anything else. In a world where our devices can do everything, having one that only does one thing- and does it very well- is kinda nice. And the e-ink display is much better on my eyes after a few hours than a backlit screen. For my friends and readers who love real, physical books, don’t worry, I’m right there with you. I prefer a hefty, hardback book any day, and I love looking at my full bookshelves. But I do love having my entire library in a portable package. I just wish they sold books in a physical/digital bundle like they do with movies; for now, I tend to buy books twice, once for my bookshelf and once for my digital collection.

Onto the Duet: I really like the form factor. For the $299 I paid for it, I got a sleek, metal tablet with a soft-touch, blue, plastic accent running along the back, which just feels nice in the hand. I got a massive 128gb hard drive, which is double what the iPad Mini offers at $100 more, and it came with a keyboard (with a trackpad) and a magnetic back cover with a built-in kickstand included. That’s not a bad deal. One of the biggest hold backs from me using the iPad Mini more frequently was the lack of finding a good keyboard to pair it with, and none of the options for the Mini have a trackpad, despite it now being able to support one.

The Duet has a nice, big display, charges with USB-C just like my computer (so I’m not carrying around too many extra cables), and though I said Chrome OS was not what I needed in my main computer, it works very well as my main tablet.

Those are the two tablets that I will generally have in my computer bag (if we are ever allowed to go out and about again), but I do also use my Surface Go 2. Like the Duet, there’s a keyboard with a trackpad (though it is sold separately), and it has a built in kickstand, but unlike the Duet (or the iPad), it runs full Windows 10. I’m all in with macOS right now, but it is nice to have a device that is running Windows in case I need it, as I am still more familiar with that platform. If I ever run into something I can’t figure out on the Mac, the Surface Go 2 will work in a pinch. And if I need to do a drawing or write down some notes, I have the Surface Pen for that, too. Again, this package is not in any way cheaper than the iPad mini, but it is what I already owned. I also like that it will charge through USB-C (even though it comes with a proprietary charger) and that it has micro SD expansion.

What I Don’t Like About Them

For the Kindle, I don’t like that it charges with micro-USB instead of USB-C. That would mean I’d have to use a separate cable, but since the battery life is so excellent on the device, the times I’d need to bring that cable along would be few and far between (I really just need to remember to charge it before a trip). I do also wish it had a micro SD card slot. Not that I need more than the 8gb storage that it has- I only need a handful of books and maybe one or two audiobooks downloaded at once- but I like to have a lot of my library downloaded when I am off on an adventure (you remember adventures, don’t you?).

If there’s anything I don’t like about the Duet, it is the tablet’s occasional lagginess. Being a cheaper device, it doesn’t come paired with the fastest processor, and this is one area where the iPad Mini- even with it’s dated A12 chip- runs rings around the Duet. But it isn’t too slow to use; in most cases, it isn’t slow at all. Apps might take a split-second longer to open, but for the most part, it is a snappy experience. My only other big gripes are the volume and brightness. At max volume, it isn’t very loud. But most of the time, I’ve got the Duet paired with bluetooth headphones so that doesn’t matter; if I were to need louder volume- say, for watching videos in bed with my wife- I’m probably going to be using the MacBook instead anyway. The Duet gets plenty bright, but my issue with the brightness is that some times, for no reason, the brightness dims itself way too much. That’s likely a software bug that will eventually get fixed (and actually, I haven’t noticed it as often as I used to, so maybe it already has been), but I don’t like that Google doesn’t give Chrome OS the option to turn off automatic brightness.

My gripes about the Surface Go 2 are a bit more substantial, and really, I think they explain why this device isn’t always in my computer bag. I went for the cheap option, which means I only have an Intel pentium Gold processor, 4gb ram, and 64gb storage. People have long-derided Microsoft for purposefully crippling the base-model versions of their devices, and there are plenty of times that this shows on the Go 2. It can be slow to perform even basic tasks, and I rarely get more than 4 hours out of the battery. It works when I need it to, but it is just frustrating enough to use that I don’t power it on most days.

My Specs

I’ve brought up a few specs earlier, but here they all are again.

My Kindle Paperwhite is black (they have color options, but they never seemed to be in stock when I was buying), with 8gb storage.

My Lenovo Chromebook Duet is the 128gb model (there is a 64gb, but it is literally only $10 cheaper right now; $10 is worth double the storage). It has 4gb ram and a MediaTek Helio P60T Processor, and comes with a detachable keyboard/trackpad and a magnetic kickstand. It only comes in one color, which is like a space gray with an ice-blue accent along the top third of the device. The keyboard is also dark gray, and the kickstand cover is gray fabric.

My Surface Go 2 is the base model, with Intel’s Pentium Gold processor and 4gb ram, 64gb storage. It only comes in silver, but optional accessories like the Surface Pen and Surface Keyboard come in several colors; my Surface Pen is Poppy Red and my Keyboard is Ice Blue Alcantara.

My Phone

If you’ve read some of my past Medium stories about phones, you’ll know that, for the longest time, I didn’t know what I wanted (that seems to be a recurring theme, now I think about it). I’ve always loved Apple’s iPhone, but I’ve always had a thing for Android, too. I even went Windows Phone and dumb phone (almost the same thing) in the past.

In choosing the MacBook Air as my main computer, it made sense for me to stick with an iPhone as well. After all, I like it when my devices communicate with each other. I like being able to answer my text messages on my laptop. I like having my camera roll instantly available on my computer. It just makes sense to me.

In fact, what always seems to bring me back to the iPhone is the camera itself. Apple just knows how to make a good damn camera in a smartphone. So, my current iPhone is Apple’s latest, the 12… mini.

What I Like About It

The size. I mean, seriously. That is the main reason I went for it. As Apple announced the iPhone 12, I was impressed, but I wasn’t a buyer. Not until the mini came out of that tiny, little briefcase.

For backstory, my favorite iPhone- ever- was the iPhone 5s. I loved the size of it, how I could easily hold it in one hand, how it didn’t take up my entire pocket or feel like a brick weighing me down. I loved the flat edges. When Apple released the first iPhone SE, I traded my 6s Plus for it purely to get that size.

So when Apple announced the 12 mini, I traded my iPhone 11 for it without a second thought. But what I love about this one is that, unlike the original iPhone SE, the mini didn’t compromise on a damn thing. It has the same excellent camera that the regular-sized 12 has, it has 5G, it has the same processor, same storage, same (but smaller) excellent screen.

I love the MagSafe charger and accessories (I haven’t gone for the wallet, but I have one of Apple’s snap-on cases). I love that I can now use night mode when shooting portrait photos, selfies, and videos. I just love this phone so much. It is all the iPhone I’ve ever wanted. Not too much, and not too little.

What I Don’t Like About It

Ok, so there is one drawback to this device. Battery life.

It isn’t as bad as the dismal battery life the old iPhone SE would get. But it isn’t the exceptional battery life my iPhone 11 had, either. On most days, I’m down to around 30–40% by the time I go to bed. That’s not bad, but when you consider that I’m spending most of my days at home, it has me wondering how frequently I’ll need to charge it when life gets back to something resembling normal again.

Of course, I knew this going in; all the reviews said the iPhone 12 mini had worse battery life. But though nothing is available yet, I fully expect Mophie or Otterbox or even Apple themselves to release a MagSafe battery pack for the iPhone 12, and I’ll buy one as soon as it is available.

My Specs

I went with the 64gb Product Red iPhone 12 mini; the red on the 12 isn’t quite as rich as the red on the 11, but I like it.

My Headphones

Headphones are something that I started this year trying to find what I wanted, and I’m ending this year in the same fashion. Over the last few months, I’ve tried out several pairs of over-ear and on-ear headphones, like Beats, as well as some in-ear ones like Samsung’s Beans. And I’ve stared longingly at the AirPods Max, though I can never see myself spending that much money on one pair of headphones.

In the end, at least for right now, I have three pairs of headphones that I go back and forth with. Two are Apple-made, and one is Sony-made. Two have the word “Air” in them, and one has a name made out of a long string of letters and numbers.

What I Like About Them

Ok, let’s start with the AirPods. I have both the AirPods 2 and AirPods Pro, and surprisingly, I use them both frequently. I personally like the feel of the standard AirPods better for longer periods of time; they fit well in my ears. The AirPods Pro don’t fit as well, but I really prefer them when I need noise-cancelling (they come in handy while I’m working at home or mowing the lawn), and I love the new Spatial Audio feature. I also love how easy both are to take with me; their battery cases are super small, and with my usage I really only end up charging them once a week.

On the Sony end, I use their over-ear headphones, which are the aptly named WH-XB900N. I’ve seen a lot of YouTubers talk about Sony’s XM-4 headphones, and, well, the XB900N are kind of like their cheaper cousins. The XB in the name stands for “extra bass”, and they really deliver on this front (there’s an included app as well that lets you tweak the sounds and bass levels, too). They have active noise cancelling, which isn’t quite as good as the AirPods Pro but still works well enough that they help me tune out the television while I’m working. And they have some nice touch controls on the right ear-cup, allowing me to play/pause by double-tapping, raise or lower volume by sliding my finger up and down on, skipping tracks when I swipe left or right, and turning on ambient mode when I cover the ear-cup with my hand. The latter is nice when I’m listening to something and my wife says something, as I can instantly hear her without taking the headphones off or pausing the music. They charge via USB-C and have up to 30 hours of battery life, which is nice, and they come with a 3.5mm cable for use without bluetooth or power.

What I Don’t Like About Them

For the standard AirPods, there isn’t much I don’t like. They sound great, feel great, and are my go-to headphones when I just want to listen and I don’t need noise cancelling. I especially love them for phone calls.

There’s not much that I dislike about the Sony XB900N headphones, either, aside from the serial-number name and the plastic build, which does feel kind of cheap to the touch (though they still feel very well-made). Charging time is a little long with them as well; Sony says it takes a staggering 7 hours to get them from dead to 100%, but at least 10 minutes will get you an hour of use if you need them right away.

I can’t share the same unyielding love for the AirPods Pro. In every way, they are superior to the regular AirPods, but I can never get them to stay in my ears for very long, especially with Apple’s included ear-tips. In fact, Apple’s little ear-tip test in settings could not find a single combination of their three included sizes that gave a good enough seal. I solved this- somewhat- with a set of third party foam eartips from Amazon (Comply Foam Earbud Tips). This makes them not quite as comfortable as they are with Apple’s silicone tips, but they stay in better and provide a better seal for me. But they still fall out after prolonged use.

My Specs

What, exactly, is there to say here? I have the AirPods in white, and the Sony headphones in black. I didn’t opt for the wireless charging case for the standard AirPods. End of speech.

My Wearables

The only other gadgets that I use daily is my wearable tech. And right now- aside from some Bose Frames that I never, ever wear- the only tech I wear on my person is my Apple Watch Series 6.

What I like About It

Previously, I had an Apple Watch Series 3 and let me tell you what, the Series 6 is about the best damn upgrade you can get over the 3. I love the bigger screen, the always-on display, but more importantly I love the better health features that it packs in.

Now, I’m not as active as I should be, but whenever I get around to getting around, I trust the Apple Watch to track my stuff properly and give me all of the data it collects without the need of added subscriptions (ahem, Fitbit). In this pandemic world, I like having the ability to check my blood oxygen levels and take an ECG right on my wrist. I love having music controls there when I’m listening to something and leave my phone in the other room. Hell, I love having the ability to answer texts and phone calls on it in those same circumstances. I love that it wakes me every morning without making a sound, that it reminds me to wash my hands for 20 seconds, that it tells me what I need to know without having to whip out my phone for everything.

It is, quite possibly, the most useful gadget I own, and I never, ever thought it would be this integral to my day-to-day lifestyle.

What I Don’t Like About It

I didn’t like the price. I’ll be blunt about that; Apple Watches are not cheap. But by now, that hurdle is one I’ve already crossed, and I don’t think about it anymore. I also don’t plan on buying another one until we are at the Series 9 or something.

I also wish that it had better battery life; especially now with sleep tracking, I’m always having to find time to charge it during the day to make sure I have enough juice. Usually, I pop it on a charger first thing after I wake up or right before I go to sleep, but this often leads to me forgetting to put it back on. I’ve gone whole days with the watch just sitting on the charger before I remember to go get it (at least the iPhone now reminds you when your connected watch is fully charged).

My Specs

Of course, I went with the cheapest Apple Watch I could get, so I have the base model aluminum in space gray. I honestly wanted to go for the Product Red, but I figured a black watch would be more suitable for whatever I am wearing, be it casual or more formal. I did opt for the Product Red Braided Solo Loop band, which is extremely comfortable (previously, I had the Product Red Sports Loop, but the velcro hasn’t been sticking as well as I would like recently).

My go-to watch face is the Infograph face; I just love that I can have so many complications on one screen for easy access. I personally have mine set up with decibel levels, weather, music, and timer outside the ring, and with heart rate, ECG, and Blood Oxygen inside the ring. I also have digital time, because I suck at reading analog clocks.

What It All Goes In

The last thing to talk about, really, is the bag that all my tech goes into. I know YouTubers always seem to have exclusive bags or at the very least expensive ones, and while I spent a good portion of the year pining over a $180 Waterfield leather bag, I ended up with a good $40 bag on Amazon that has everything I need.

Personally, I prefer sling backpacks with only one shoulder strap, as with standard backpacks I never put the second strap over my other shoulder anyway (and when I do, they always feel too snug no matter how much I adjust them). I also just don’t like the bulk of most regular backpacks.

The one I found is nice and slim, but still had a main compartment large enough for my MacBook Air to slide into as well as one or two tablets, my headphones, and any other small accessories I need. There’s even a water bottle holder inside the bag, and a cable to attach to a battery pack with a USB port on the outside of the bag, so you can plug in your device without having to awkwardly carry the battery pack in your pocket (my battery pack of choice is Anker’s PowerCore Metro 20,000mAh, which is slim enough to fit into the battery pack pocket on my bag but still holds a considerable amount of juice).

At the end of the day, it isn’t the snazziest bag on the market, but it works for what I need.