Taking stock of our array of (active) devices.

Inspired by Fluffy's article the other week [1] - we decided to go through and take an audit of the hardware we're currently actively using, at least - roughly listed in order of how much we use them.

interactive

These machines are all machines we interact with, paws actually on keyboard.

I was about to only count tablets and above, but that only adds a few devices here and there.

ghidorah - iphone 15 pro max (2023)

  • purchased: 2023
  • OS: iOS 18
  • general, daily

It's an iPhone. It does the things an iPhone is expected to,

It's our quick capture device when we're out and about. It's our podcast player. It's our most used gateway for what's going on with friends. It's the first thing we look at in the morning - even if we're trying to cut down on it being the last at night. It's how we might text friends when using one of the other devices here.

It's our primary camera - with that being our main reason for upgrading every few years, following the death of a relative in 2019 and the realization that I wasn't particularly happy with the photos we'd got to remember them.

It is also too fucking big. We switched to the larger size because of the 5x telephoto lens only being on the Pro Max, but it's substantially more awkward to hold and means a Popsocket basically lives on it except when it's charging. The 16 brings the cameras back in sync, so I'm hoping they stay in sync next year.

sirius ultra - apple watch ultra 1 (2022)

  • purchased: 2023
  • OS: WatchOS 11
  • general, daily

Companion device to Ghidorah.

Purchased used after the battery on our old Series 6 basically completely went and after seeing there wasn't much reason to get an Ultra 2.

We're probably never going mountain climbing, running a marathon, or going scuba diving (well, maybe the last of those would be possible sometime), but the battery life more than makes up for it, and I will never even consider a non-Ultra Apple Watch until that transfers to other models. (Realistically, this probably isn't getting replaced until at least ~2027 anyway)

It's here for notifications (including from work's on call app), workouts, sleep tracking, alarms, timers - and also fall detection, should our bad leg decide to give out. The main reason it gets this spot is because we try to never leave home without it.

athena - m1 pro macbook pro (2021)

  • purchased: 2022
  • OS: macOS Sequoia (15)
  • general, daily

Athena is the best laptop we've ever used. It's fast, it runs basically everything non-gaming or VM related that we need, the keyboard is wonderful, the battery lasts for ages, it has access to basically any developer tool or programming language we'd want to use. It has more power than we generally need - given most of our creative output is written rather than something that fully needs the horsepower - but we like having HDMI and an SD card easily accessible, even if we often don't use them, and the fantastic screen is only on the Pro even if it sometimes glows brighter than the Sun.

It isn't perfect. UTM is OK as a way to run some VMs, but it isn't really suitable for a homelab. Gaming should not be an expectation. MacOS has its quirks, even if we've adapted to many of them. And with it being that important to us, we often barely take it out of the house.

It's difficult to see replacing it for a long, long time - save possibly if we get a new travel computer and end up liking that more.

redacted (A, B) - various hp elitebooks

  • recieved: 2024, 2021
  • OS: Windows 11, Windows 10 (for now)
  • specific, daily (mon-fri + overtime)

These are both work laptops.

Redacted A was received a couple of months ago, and is one of those fancy Copilot Plus PCs. (All Copilot features I can access have been immediately turned off). It does feature a significant RAM boost over my old main work machine - which started struggling a lot with times after the mandatory Windows 11 upgrade.

Redacted B is there for a specific reason that we cannot disclose.

gamecube - custom desktop (2018, refreshed 2024)

  • os: Fedora (KDE Plasma) 41
  • specific, frequent

main article: xenia's xtended reality

GameCube is a custom desktop in a Silverstone mini-ITX case. Much like the actual GameCube, it isn't actually a cube, but it's close enough.

When it was built, it didn't end up being used for much beyond a Linux server to experiment with (in that case Ubuntu). I made the decision early on that it wasn't getting Windows, but Proton support wasn't the same as it is now. It just had a spare GeForce 650 Ti in it, and then the pandemic sent GPU prices through the roof making Windows gaming laptops the more sensible option.

In 2024, we finally got tired of the worst laptop we've ever owned (more on that later), and decided to upgrade GameCube to make it a capable machine for VR. So it now has a 3060, and a 5800X3D. The GPU might need another upgrade again at some point, but VRChat is often CPU bound - and the 5800X3D is one of the best ones for it.

It's alright. I would not recommend a Mini-ITX case unless there's no other option.

aether - apple vision pro (2024)

  • purchased: 2024
  • os: VisionOS 2
  • specific, frequent

main article: vision, professional?

We're still figuring out where Aether fits into our life (and still working on getting everything working with ALVR), but in the time we've owned it, it has already become the device we turn to for specific kinds of focus.

When we're on the exercise bike and watching cartoons with a friend, Aether is the device we turn to, because it will make those cartoons shine. We saw Batman - Mask of the Phantasm in the cinema a few months ago. The print wasn't great. I am pretty sure that we will probably end up preferring the experience in Aether (at least, the audio visual experience. It can't replicate having good company right next to you)

When I want to read through a comic, Aether lets us see the artwork as clear as is possible without pushing our eyes into paper or zooming in.

We haven't tried travelling with it yet, and I'm not sure if we will (do we want to be that entity on the train or plane?). But it'd give a larger more usable work monitor than any hotel TV.

Aether does not directly replace any other device. But it does augment them.

steamdeck - steam deck (2021)

  • purchased: 2021
  • received: 2022
  • os: SteamOS
  • specific, semi frequent

main article: just a computer

steamdeck is a Steam Deck. It lives in gaming mode 95% of the time, but our external DVD drive is attached to the dock, making it also pretty good for ripping CDs on desktop.

PROTIP: The touchpad on a connected DualShock 4 or DualSense can be used on Linux desktops.

We do keep debating upgrading to the OLED, but we'd kind of rather wait for a more substantial upgrade at this point.

We haven't played as many games on it this year as some years, but we're glad it's there when we want to.

arcturus pro - ipad pro 11in + magic keyboard (2020)

  • purchased: 2020
  • os: iPadOS 18
  • specific, previously frequent but now occasional

Arcturus Pro was a pandemic treat; figuring that if we were going to be at home a lot, we'd watch a lot of videos, and we wanted a nice screen to do that on.

Original plan for it - coming from a Microsoft Surface that we used for basically everything we could - was to use it as our primary device in a similar vein as Federico Viticci has done at points, and to VNC with a machine that will be mentioned later for things that couldn't be done on an iPad. As it turns out, there are quite a lot of things that we do all the time that either can't be done on an iPad or are extremely awkward.

Our budgeting app doesn't run on iPad. [2] We do a lot of coding in PowerShell, which we could maybe do with one of the text editors out there, but we wouldn't be able to run the scripts. We couldn't build ❤️'s website (maybe that's different with it now running on Eleventy). We can view source on websites we like with a workaround, but it's definitely not as convenient as being able to Inspect Element on a desktop browser.

Every year, we kept pining for some sort of Mac compatibility mode - to the extent that if they'd announced such a thing as available on the M4 model only, we would have immediately upgraded.

Adding to the problems is that at some point, it started draining power while idle a lot faster than it used to.

These days, it serves two main purposes - Procreate, and as our travel computer.

We are not artists, and don't do a lot in Procreate, but when we've bought a new VRChat avatar base and it only comes with a Substance Painter file, Procreate lets us paint right on the model so we can easily retexture without Substance Painter. (It's also nice for doodling sometimes).

I view 11 inches as the Goldilocks size for travel. It easily fits into our backpack, and we don't run into most of the limitations when all we care about is writing in Obsidian. The keyboard still feels great to type on, and we have access to all our normal shortcuts. The multitasking is just enough to read a book and make notes on it. Aether may have taken the role for home use, but while travelling, it's still a great screen for video.

With that said, we elaborate on this below, but all it would probably take is a good deal on a modern Macbook Air and we'd use that for travel instead.

iss - lenovo thinkpad x270 (2017)

  • purchased: 2024
  • os: Arch Linux (for now)
  • specific, occasional periods of hyperfocus

main article: fulfilling the stereotype

ISS is a small platform for experiments. For now it's running Arch as a way to experiment with that, but could just as easily be running something else. (Maybe we'll get Nix on there to have a way to reproduce the build?)

It's small (if chunky) and charges via USB-C, and the battery lasts for a long time (at least for now, where it's mostly running a fancy terminal). That's enough that it might get used as a travel computer if we have to do something more serious than Arcturus allows for.

aries - razer blade 15 (2021)

  • purchased: 2021
  • os: Windows 10
  • specific, occasional (but begrudged)

Aries is the first Razer product we've owned, and the last one we'll buy. We traded our old gaming laptop in after hearing podcasters say that "the Razer Blade is the Macbook Pro of gaming laptops"... and no. No, it isn't. (Maybe they meant one of the butterfly keyboard models?).

The keyboard feels awful to use. The vent placement feels inadequate - on the soft surface of a bed, it gets hot enough to be physically painful to touch, and ends up thermally throttling. It sounds like a jet engine no matter how much or how little is going on.

It being terrible was a big reason for upgrading GameCube.

Despite that, we keep it around because we don't really want to spend more money on anything to do with Windows. And it is still occasionally useful; with getting more into Archipelago recently, a lot of game randomizers can work on Linux, but there are still things that don't. [^archipelago]

I'm not yet sure what we're going to do once the Windows 10 end of support deadline hits next year. Our original statement was that we never wanted it (or any other device we own) to run Windows 11, and we were planning on turning it into a Proxmox server (even if it'll probably be bad at that too). But having a use for Windows again complicates things.

miyoo mini plus (2023)

  • purchased: 2024
  • specific, sporadic

The Miyoo Mini Plus is our current mini emulator handheld, and it works for quick bursts of retro games.

The issue is that we have large hands, making the Steam Deck more comfortable at home (particularly for longer sessions) - and out and about, it feels like a hassle; right or wrong, our perception is that we need to baby it a little and keep it in the protective case when not in use.

If we'd waited a few months, I think the Anbernic RG35XX SP would have been the significantly better choice; it's a lot easier to just carelessly toss a clamshell device into a bag when that also handles things like putting the device to sleep. But we're not sure if we want to upgrade now or wait and see what next year brings in terms of new retro handhelds (e.g. if there's a new version of the Retroid Pocket Flip?)

vela - ipad mini (2021)

  • purchased: 2021
  • specific, sporadic

During the period of trying to make Arcturus work as a laptop, Vela was intended as being simpler, for media consumption only, "to do just the things an iPad is meant to".

As a focused consumption device (and doodle notepad), it's OK, but we just don't have a lot of reason to pick it up over something else. Phones have gotten larger, towards the Mini's size - and while the Mini has multitasking and the iPhone still doesn't, the Mini is too small to multitask well, especially if iPadOS is trying to display the keyboard. A cheap third party keyboard case can allow typing, but it's too cramped to be comfortable - and if bringing an external keyboard, it makes more sense to just bring Arcturus.

The only time we really use Vela now is when we're travelling with just a sling bag rather than a backpack, and this isn't something we do often. The last time we really did this was Confuzzled in May, keeping the sling with us while wandering the convention hall, leaving the backpack in the hotel room.

non-interactive and headless

Computers where our primary interface is through VNC, ssh, or a web GUI.

jupiter - synology nas

  • purchased: 2020

Jupiter is our NAS after our collection of things we need to store grew too large for internal drives in the desktop that GameCube replaced.

We have full backups of profiles on various social media sites that we no longer use (thanks GDPR for forcing full exports as an option!), as well as a lot of the computers above we actially use. We have a vast array of legally acquired media, including CDs that we ripped in garbage quality WMA format on Windows 98 and XP, large parts of our DVD collection, and we're just now finally starting to get into 3D Blu-Ray rips. [3] We have our entire GameCube, Wii, and Wii U collections, backed up via homebrew. It's our Git server and means we're not going out to Github.

charon - raspberry pi zero w

  • purchased: 2021

Charon has one job - to run Pi-hole. (Previously it ran HomeBridge as well, but I haven't reinstalled that after having to reformat it). That's it. That's all it does. It might get replaced eventually but DNS feels important enough to have a dedicated physical device to.

centauri - m1 mac mini (2020)

  • purchased: 2021

Centauri is our server for anything that needs intensive work doing in the background - Jupiter was a more budget NAS, and so lacks some of the CPU grunt of newer Synology devices as well as the support for things like Docker - so Centauri takes on those tasks.

Right now, we're using it for running through Ansible for Kubernetes (including all the Docker and Kubernetes hosting), hosting the music part of our Plex library to make use of Plexamp's Sonic Analysis feature [4], and for starting to rip our 3D Blu-Ray collection and convert to MV-HEVC.

However, it is also the base model, making it... a little underpowered in terms of storage and RAM. And MacOS isn't great with fast access to SMB shares. And I suppose that brings us on to...

planned replacements

No setup is perfect, of course.

local compute

Centauri is decent, but we have run into issues before where certain containers would behave differently on ARM processors rather than x64 - and there's a lot less opportunity for general VMs compared to an x64 machine. (Also as mentioned, it being the base model comes with its own set of problems)

And so we would at some point like a local dedicated Proxmox box - most likely a used NUC or mini-PC of some description. The original plan was to use Aries, but as mentioned above, we had less of a use for Windows when we made that plan. There might be some way to easily take GameCube, virtualize everything about the OS and pass through hardware when needed, but our VR setup is already so far outside normal operation that feels like a very bad idea.

(GameCube also fails the "out of sight, out of mind" test we'd normally want from a machine meant to be on most of the time; it's not the quietest and some Noctuas would only partially fix the problem)

travel

We still haven't reached an ideal for travel, which is a problem when part of our Yearly Theme for next year is hopefully doing more of it.

During our most recent trip of more than a few days (which was Confuzzled in May), we used Vela and a third-party keyboard case, and that just wasn't great for journalling while sitting in the hotel restaurant after some very long days, even if it was alright for reading.

For our next big trip (Vancoufur in March), then it's clear that if we're going to bring an iPad then Arcturus is the better choice for now. However:

  • All of our creative workflows other than journalling and doodling are based around the Mac [5] (and journalling and doodling can be done in physical notebooks and transferred back)
  • Obsidian works on the iPad, but particularly with relying on iCloud Sync, there are some problems.
  • If/when we decide to travel with Aether (which definitely won't be on this trip), only Macs currently get the enhanced mode where the Vision Pro can act as a massive ultrawide monitor regardless of physical screen size - along with turning the physical screen off for privacy, and allowing the entirety of VisionOS to be controlled with the Mac's keyboard and trackpad. iPads can be streamed to Vision Pro, but it's just the exact same thing that's on the screen - and the iPad trackpad can only affect the iPad window.

And so my ideal travel computer would be a new equivalent to the 12-inch, "no adjective" Macbook or the 11 inch Mackbook Air, not great ideas at the time but they'd do a lot better under Apple Silicon (...and with modern keyboards) - small and compact enough to still be somewhat usable on a tray table, and can work as more local compute at home.

Athena is a bit big for this, and as our main machine, we don't really want to risk it while travelling.

The X270 might be a bit bulkier (and obviously, not a Mac), but it is also a "proper computer" which gives more options - and even if Obsidian isn't great under Wayland due to scaling issues, it can still make use of nb instead. It was also significantly cheaper than most devices mentioned other than the Miyoo Mini and so we wouldn't be too heartbroken if something happened to it. (Though right now the drive isn't encrypted, which is something that would need fixing).

So yeah, still undecided what we're going to do there. We do keep debating a (probably used) M2 or M3 Air, but the right time to look for one of those is after the M4 Air comes out.

footnotes

  1. This article was started actually a couple of days after reading it, but other things including work kept taking priority. ↩︎

  2. Granted, it's an ancient version of YNAB that only works on modern versions of MacOS due to modding it to change the Adobe Air runtime. We really need to find something newer at some point. ↩︎

  3. LG announcing their exit from the Blu-Ray drive business finally got us to get our ass in gear and buy something compatible with MakeMKV's LibreDrive before it's too late. ↩︎

  4. It is also hosting Navidrome as well, but since there was a Black Friday deal on Plex Pass we've decided to give Plexamp a shot - particularly as we might want to make use of Plex DVR at some point as well. We do like the algorithmic mixes, but it also still has all the metadata problems. ↩︎

  5. One example would be finding the iPad version of Affinity Designer more inconveniently laid out than the Mac version. ↩︎