On occasion I get asked what tech stuff I use, so here’s what I currently use for personal stuff (last updated March 2025). This stuff is what works for me, but your mileage will vary!
Computer: My personal daily driver is a Space Black 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Max chip and 128 GB RAM. This is an insanely overkill computer, but fantastic for the types of creative projects I do. The Space Black color looks pretty cool, but then my work issued me a Space Black 14-inch MacBook Pro as well for work stuff, so now I'm in the silly situation of having two visually identical laptops on my desk. Maybe I should have gotten the silver color for my personal laptop after all. For Windows and Linux dev, I have a custom-built PC with zero RGB lighting.
Mouse: At home, Logitech MX Vertical. I’ve found that vertical mice help a lot with reducing wrist strain. On the go, Logitech MX Master, just because it’s a little bit smaller and therefore travels a bit better.
Keyboard: Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad. Super boring and vanilla, but at this point my muscle memory is just baked in too deep; in our house, my wife is the one with all of the cool fun mechanical keyboards.
Headphones: AirPods Max or Audio Technica M40x, depending on what I’m doing. The AirPods Max are nice and convenient, while the ATH-M40x is probably the best studio-style sound one can get for the price.
Monitor: Philips Brilliance 27B1U7903. Definitely a clunky name, but the monitor itself is fantastic. It’s a 27 inch 4K monitor, but its main party trick is that it supports 1400-nit HDR using a mini-led array with 2304 dimming zones, which is incredible for doing photography and CG work. Essentially a miniature Pro Display XDR for a fifth of the price, and the design is nice and understated, unlike most of the crazy over-the-top gaming monitors out there.
Editor: Mostly VSCode, but sometimes Sublime Text or Neovim. For web stuff, Nova by Panic.
Reading: Feedbin for RSS with Reeder Classic as a desktop app, Instapaper for read-it-later, Bookends for collecting and organizing academic papers. Physical books whenever possible, Kindle Paperwhite otherwise.
CG Software: For personal art projects, I mostly use a combo of Maya, Blender, and Houdini, and render everything using Pixar’s RenderMan.
Camera: Nikon Z8 for most things, Fujifilm X-M1 when I need something small that I can just throw in my backpack. Or, if I don’t want to carry a camera around, just my phone running Halide.
Lenses: My go-tos are the Nikkor Z 50mm ƒ1.4 (an astounding fast prime for the price) and Nikkor Z 24-120mm ƒ4 S (really versatile), but my favorites are three manual lenses that all produce amazing swirly bokeh: the Helios 44-2 58mm ƒ2, the Asahi PENTAX Super-Takumar 50mm ƒ1.4, and a Zeiss Kipronar 105mm ƒ1.9 projector lens that I custom modified to use M-mount. I adapt the manual lenses to the Z8 using a Techart TZM-02 autofocus adapter, and to the X-M1 using a Fotodiox Pro PRONTO M-to-X autofocus adapter.
Photography Software: Adobe Lightroom Classic. I used to use Aperture but like many others fled to Lightroom when Aperture was discontinued.
Gaming: To be honest, I don’t have much time anymore to do much gaming, but when I do, it’s often just Minecraft Java Edition, or something fast and fun on Playdate, such as Gun Trails.