My Tech Stack

I own a desktop gaming PC with the following parts:

• Intel Core i7-9700k CPU

• Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT 8GB graphics card

• G.Skill Aegis 2x8GB DDR4 RAM @2666 MHz

• Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB NVMe SSD

• ASUS Prime z370-P motherboard

• Cougar MX331 mesh case, 3 Corsair RGB case fans and node RGB controller

• DeepCool AK400 CPU cooler, Thermaltake Purepower 600W PSU

• Internal WiFi, Bluetooth, USB splitter

I run Windows 10 on it, as the motherboard sadly isn't compatible with Windows 11. For peripherals, I use:

• Samsung 32" Odyssey G5 1440p 144Hz curved gaming monitor

• Razer BlackWidow V3 mechanical gaming keyboard

• Logitech G502 HERO gaming mouse

• Creative Pebble v2 USB-C powered desktop speakers

• EKSA E100 USB gaming headphones

• Logitech Brio 4K webcam

• Blue Yeti Studio microphone with boom arm and pop filter

• Blue Yeti X desk microphone

My favorite parts by far are the monitor and mouse. The monitor is awesome. I use it as a TV just as easily as I use it for work or gaming, and the mouse is wonderfully responsive and tactile. Currently, my favorite games to play are Fortnite, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and Fall Guys, but I probably don't game as much as the typical CS major.

If I were to upgrade my setup, I’d probably get another monitor for the legendary dual-monitor coding setup, I’d get a new motherboard so I can use Windows 11, and I’d swap out my AMD GPU for an NVIDIA GPU for the CUDA support and superiority on machine learning use-cases. Maybe I’d also swap my gargantuan monstrosity of a case for a more compact one.

For everyday tech, I use:

• Apple MacBook Pro (14", M2 Pro, 2023): I am absolutely in love with this computer. The decades-refined OS, the power and speed, the ports, the snappy MagSafe charging, the Touch ID, the crisp display, the speaker quality, everything about this machine is fantastic (except the $2,000 price tag).

• iPhone 15 Pro Max: I am absolutely in love with this phone. I’m a lifelong Space Grey/matte black fan, but the Natural Titanium color is perfect. After more than 8 years of (almost) uninterrupted Android use¹, iOS has finally caught up to the point that I decided to cave in and switch.

• Apple Watch Series 9 (44mm): A great smartwatch. Having notifications and weather on my wrist are very convenient. The glass scratches too easily and is insanely expensive to fix, though. Next time, I think I’ll get Silver instead of Midnight - it pairs well with more bands.

• Apple iPad (10th generation) and Apple Pencil (1st generation): I use these for anything requiring handwriting, like math and physics, and for tutoring. It's a lot more convenient than paper, and the GoodNotes app that I use is great.

• Sony WH-1000XM4 noise canceling headphones: Absolute must-have for college. The combination of active noise canceling, audio quality, and comfort has saved me many hours in distractions.

• AirPods Pro (2nd generation, USB-C): These are the best earbuds I’ve ever owned. They’re compact, the battery lasts forever, they pair seamlessly with my Apple devices, and the sound quality and noise canceling are incredible.

• Apple Vision Pro: I use this periodically, mostly for virtual monitors and watching videos. I wrote a full review on it.

Finally, software. I use Google Chrome as a browser, VSCode as an IDE (though I plan to switch to Replit once it's good enough), and iTerm2 as a MacOS terminal emulator.

I do almost everything in the browser. Some websites and apps I use all the time:

• Google Search (duh)

• ChatGPT for everything, but especially coding, learning new topics, and idea generation. The $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus is so worth it. I almost always use GPT-4 rather than GPT-3.5. I also sometimes use Gemini, Claude, and Copilot.

• X for social media, Substack for writing

• Apple Notes and Obsidian for notes

• Spotify for music

• YouTube for videos, Wikipedia for learning

• Google Maps for maps, Google Calendar for calendar, Google Drive for writing and productivity

• Discord, Instagram, WhatsApp, and iMessage for communication

• Reddit for news and social media, BeReal for social media

• archive.org for accessing old or paywalled websites, annas-archive.org for pirating books

• Wall Street Journal for news, New York Times for news and daily games (Mini Crossword and Connections are my favs!)

• Canvas and Outlook for school

• Apple Weather for weather (and WeatherSpark for weather history/climate info of different cities)

1. My phone history:

• Samsung Galaxy Core Prime: my first phone. Terrible but I loved it anyway.

• Samsung Galaxy S4: my dad’s old one, battery became too bad to use

• Back to the Core Prime

• Xiaomi Mi A1: loved the Pixel-like Android One OS, as opposed to the uglier, more bloatware-ridden Samsung one. Got water damaged and broke.

• Samsung Galaxy Note 5: my dad’s old one. This was my first “good” phone. It broke when I dropped it.

• Google Pixel 3a XL: I had this phone for a long time and loved it. Google still makes the best software for phones.

• iPhone 13: I briefly switched to iPhone for a couple months after I aged out of my Pixel phone. I liked it but wasn’t fully ready to take the plunge yet.

• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: This was my favorite Android phone of all time.

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: I was stupid to switch to this one, and still regret it.

• iPhone 15 Pro Max: I don’t regret switching to this one at all.