Software, hardware and things that I use and like.

Inspired by Adam Wathan, Wes Bos, Freek Murze and many others I’ve put together this list of hardware, software and services that I use. I’ll keep this list updated as my workflow and equipment changes.

Some of the links below are affiliate links. By using a link I may get a kick-back. I am not endorsed by any companies to include their hardware or services.

Hardware

  • Apple Macbook Air (2022), M2, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

    I use the Macbook Air all of the time! I don’t need a "Pro" device for the work that I do. It packs a punch, even when editing videos and photos.

  • Mac Studio Display with Tilt Stand

    This screen is amazing. It’s smaller than my previous display (Samsung 34" Ultra-wide Curved) but it’s superior in every way and looks really crisp. The speakers are also surprisingly good.

  • Logitech MX Master 3

    The Magic Trackpad I’d been using had been giving me cramps, so I switched to the MX Master 3 and it’s really great. I do keep a trackpad around for photo editing or Sketch, where pinch to zoom is especially useful.

  • Keychron K3 Mechanical Keyboard, RGB Back-light, Low Profile with Gateron Red Switches

    My favourite mechanical keyboard! It’s slim-profile doesn’t clutter my desk and the Gareron Red switches sound like music to my ears.

  • Apple AirPods Pro

    I skipped the first generation of AirPods, but I use the Pros every. single. day. The sound quality is immense for such small in-ear devices. Admittedly, I’ve had an issue with "squealing" but Apple quickly replaced them for me.

  • CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt Dock

    This dock was highly recommended to me. I chose to go for the newer TS4 because I felt it’d last me longer and provide me with additional ports and power supply.

Business

  • FreeAgent

    I switched to using FreeAgent to manage my bookkeeping and VAT returns. I’d always kept my sales and purchase invoices in Google Drive, and then exported my bank statements, but FreeAgent makes this much easier and it includes invoicing too! I could also manage PAYE and self-assessments, but my accountant handles that for me currently.

  • Starling Bank

    Starling is a UK challenger bank and it’s been really great! I highly recommend checking them out. I’ve enabled their FreeAgent integration and have my bank statements automatically exported into my account so I can do my bookkeeping. Transfers are instant and the categories make it really easy to see a breakdown of spenditure from within the app.

  • Wise

    I use Wise so that I can accept USD payments. It’s also really useful when travelling as Wise takes care of all conversion rates and currencies. The FreeAgent integration is particularly nice and the automatic conversions have saved me some dollars.

  • Fathom

    All of my sites now use Fathom for website analytics. I can see more than enough information, it’s beautiful and it’s powered with Laravel.

Development

  • PHPStorm

    Having used Sublime Text for so long, I found moving to any IDE sluggish and painful. Recently I’ve stuck it out with PHPStorm for big projects and I’m just about becoming happy with it.

  • Laravel IDEA for PHPStorm

    This plug-in for PHPStorm completely transformed the way I write Laravel code. Suggestions are quick to appear and the code generation is really useful. Being able to click through to a view, event listeners, etc is really helpful for navigating large code bases too.

  • TablePlus

    TablePlus is the best SQL application around, plus I can use it on my iPhone to check on my databases while out and about without my laptop.

  • iTerm2

    This terminal is just really nice and has some neat features like being able to see images inline, linking hyperlinks, pane splitting and broadcasting to all pane which is especially useful for managing multiple servers at once.

  • Tinkerwell

    I was fortunate to have an in-person demonstration of Tinkerwell with Marcel Pociot (the creator) and was blown away by it. It quickly took its place among my daily workflows for debugging Laravel Forge issues and testing code snippets quickly.

  • HELO

    Previously I used Mailtrap, but when Beyond Code released HELO I jumped at the chance to have all my locally tested emails arrive locally to my machine!

  • Expose

    Expose quickly replaced my Ngrok subscription. It’s simple, easy to get started and best of all it’s free.

  • Ray

    Ray brings the process of debugging applicatins into 2022. If I’m coding, Ray is open.

  • DBngin

    DBngin is the best way to manage multiple databases locally. It’s easy to get a database server up and running, and the UI is really nice.

Productivity

  • Google Workspace

    I use a Google Workspace account to run my business. That means emails, document storage and calendar events are in one place.

  • 1Password

    1Password is the only service that I would ever trust to store my passwords and sensitive information. After years of embarrassingly using derivatives of the same password, I spent a few hours one day changing all of my passwords and adding Two Factor where possible.

  • ImprovMX

    ImprovMX allows me to setup forwarding emails for my different domains which means I can mask my actual email address. This is really useful for things like Happy Dev or where I’m signing up to a service but want to use a custom email address for Patreon, Paypal etc.

  • Trip Mode

    Trip Mode is an incredibly useful application for people who travel a lot, or often use their phone as a hotspot. It allows you to choose which applications have internet access, saving you money on roaming charges and data usage. I’m honestly surprised that Apple doesn’t include this built into macOS.

Design

  • Sketch

    I’m far from being a designer, but when I do need to design something, Sketch is the only application I’d consider using. The whole experience just makes sense to me and I love it.

  • Canva

    Canva is great for throwing a design together quickly, especially when using one of their many templates. I’ll use Canva over Sketch when I need some inspiration and something quick.

Screencasting, Podcasting & Audio

  • Screen Studio

    Screen Studio is a great tool for recording screencasts. It’s really simple to use, it does a great job of automatically zooming and following the cursor, which saves a lot of time and is packed with additional features.

  • Transistor.fm

    Without Transistor, I probably wouldn’t have a podcast, at least not a published one. It saves me so much time and I’m able to draft and schedule episodes very quickly. Transistor also provides a super basic, but functional website that doesn’t require any maintenance from me.

  • Samson Q2U Dynamic USB Microphone, Boom Arm and Pop Filter

    I’m no audio expert, but this microphone has been really good to me and I’ve had no complaints about the quality of my recordings from it. I really wanted something that I could plug and play with - that’s what this is.

  • GarageBand

    I lay out my podcasts across multiple tracks and GarageBand makes it super easy to just click record, drop a guest recording on and publish. I have no use for anything more complicated, for now.