It has been 2 years since I last posted a workstation/office update. If I am honest, posting regular updates about my “daily drivers” was not something I ever planned, but I am always trying to refine and improve my work tools. I find it interesting to take a look back at what has changed over time and document the changes.
Earlier this year I took on some new challenges when I moved from Castos to work at Delicious Brains as a Senior Technical Writer. This has led to quite a few changes in my current setup over the course of this year.
But first, the obligatory photo.
As you can see, quite a bit has changed.
4k All The Things
The biggest change, literally, is the 32 inch LG 4k monitor. The main reason for the new monitor was the laptop upgrade (more details below) and to support taking Retina-supported screenshots at higher than 1920×1080 resolution. The fact that I’m not constantly writing and testing code anymore also meant I could move away from a triple monitor setup to a larger single screen.
Macbook M1 Air
My job now requires me to test tools and functionality across all three major operating systems and take screenshots of the relevant user interfaces. I also need to ensure that any code snippets and terminal commands I’m putting together for content or documentation work on all platforms. Adding Windows to my current setup was as easy as installing a second SSD hard drive in my workstation, and dual-booting Ubuntu and Windows. macOS on the other hand is a different story. After thinking about it for a bit, I opted to replace my Asus Zenbook with an M1 Apple Macbook.
Keyboard and Mouse
I actually went through two keyboard and mouse changes this year. Initially, I purchased a Logitech G102 gaming mouse, and a Logitech G213 gaming keyboard for the office and a Cooler Master Master Set for home use. However, the keys on the Cooler Master keyboard are so loud if I’m ever working on my home PC at night, that it keeps my kids awake. So I switched them around, and I now have the Master Set at the office.
USB Switch
With the addition of the MacBook, I wanted to find an easy way to switch between my workstation and the laptop. As my new monitor supports three different inputs, all I needed was a way to connect the keyboard and mouse to both computers. The UGreen 2in 4out USB2.0 Sharing Switch Box turned out to be a cost-effective and highly functional solution to that problem.
New Office Mascots
Just after I got back from my leave, I saw someone on Twitter posting that they had Elephpants up for adoption, and all that was required was to bid for them, with the winning bid donating those funds to Protect Earth. I’ve been wanting to start my own “herd” ever since I discovered they existed, so this was a great way to get started. Bluey and Bingo (yup, named after one of my kid’s favorite shows) now join R2-D2, the Lego Minifig from my first year organizing WordCamp Cape Town, and the Star Wars rebel kit I got as a speaker gift from PHPCapeTown.
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