How many and what devices do you use on a regular basis?

Community General Discussion
21

Resurrection time to see where everyone is after a year(almost, and because I didn’t update this a year ago).

For me not much has changed in a year.

Still using my:

2020 Macbook Pro: This runs my Windows VM for work primarily and for general web browsery-ness while at my desk. I occasionally use it for non-work software development and zoom calls.

2020 iPad Pro 12.9: This is primarily my art device right now. I also use it for writing, but I’ve mostly had several art projects going on since around Christmas and I don’t think I’ve even had the Magic Keyboard on it for more than a couple hours in the last 4 months.

Google Pixel 6: Personal and work phone. This is my main social media device, but also use it for occasional work calls, zoom, etc. I also do very light writing on it, and research for writing or art. I honestly don’t remember when I got this to replace my Huawei Mate 20X, it was around a year ago, but before that, my Mate 20X was my primary on the go art device as a small sketchbook and the IPP was only an at home device, but now I find myself taking the IPP with me more places since the Pixel doesn’t support pen and wouldn’t be big enough if it did.

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22

Same here, except that I’ve added:

  • Kindle Scribe — this has pretty much replaced an older Kindle Paperwhite, as well as a large stack of paper and notebooks
  • Wacom One — this is plugged into my MacBook, and makes it possible for me to use the same stylus on any one of my devices

Having the ability to use a Wacom EMR stylus on pretty much everything I own (I need to find out if the Wacom One would work well when connected to the Raspberry Pi 4) is pretty much a dream come true. Highly recommended.

23

For me it’s still the usual suspects, and two devices kind of dropped off the rotation.

Still in regular use:

Surface Laptop Studio – i5 16GB 2TB, main machine for work and play

X1 Yoga 3rd gen with eGPU – relegated to just VR gaming until I move that to the SLS

Galaxy Book 2 – Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Disney Plus. The OLED is just so good.

iPad Pro 10.5 – Mostly for casual reading and music recording.

iPhone 12 mini – All the phone stuff, taking pictures, and tbh too much TPCR browsing. Recently got a Magsafe power pack to boost the battery life when needed.

Apple Watch Ultra – Setting Siri reminders, tracking workouts, checking the weather and (gasp) the time. New: and scuba diving! Any day now. :grin:

Surface Duo 1 General news and reddit time waster, nighttime reader, media player when used as travel companion.

Basically abandoned:

Kindle Paperwhite 2021 – Basically unused because I’ve been too busy during the day, and I use the Duo at night.

Sony DPT-RP1 – Great for outdoor PDF reading and markup, but I haven’t had too much time even for leisurely outdoor work sessions.

24

WOW - a lot of changes since my April 2022 post -

MacBook Pro 14 (16gb/1tb) Surface Pro 8 (i5/16gb/1tb/LTE) My work and home computer. The conversion (escape) from Windows is complete, as the SP8 awaits a willing buyer. Three U-Turns since April 2022 and I am back to the SP8 as my daily driver that I use at work with two 32" 4k Samsung monitors (bargains at $325 each - thank you Best Buy), and a 27" LG Ultrafine at home.

M1 iPad Pro 11(512gb 1tb/5g) This is my note taker, as well as most things mostly recreational (web surfing, reading, videos/streaming, board games), but not getting a lot of use except as a second screen for my SP8 thanks to Duet Display. This one may be for the long haul, unless Apple relents and allows dual booting with MacOS (I’m also waiting for the sun to rise in the west). If the sun were to peak out my west morning window, it will be replaced with the highest spec 5g M2 iPad Pro 11 with Magic Keyboard, and both the current iPP11 and MBP14 will be retired.

iPhone 13 Pro (256gb) The do everything device - mostly camera, texts, email triage, web surfer, FaceTime, and oh yeah, occasional phone calls. It’s also my backup mobile hotspot. for the Watch, iPad and MBP14 - great automatic connection without any intervention on my part. I can’t overstate how much it is my primary camera - my Lumix FZ300 is gathering a lot of dust has been used twice since April 2022 - so much so that I’m already accumulating coins for the 15 (with periscope zoom).

Apple Watch 7 I consider this as much a part of my tech gear as any of the others - critical in triaging calls/messages, as well as monitoring heart rate and being my workout companion.

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

Thanks to a lot of patient guidance and counseling here, I have given up on a MacPad - I have come to the conclusion that h#ll will freeze over first before Apple gives up the revenue from selling two necessary solutions for the same problem…and

I’m almost as jaundiced about a WinPad. Wouldn’t life be great with a Surface Go X - same size, 11" OLED, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd, 5g, type cover with pen slot -

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Well, maybe Parallels will get beyond brave and VM WOA on an iPad Pro; or not

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25

I’ve switched half of it.

Surface Laptop Studio — my desktop replacement. It’s an i7 with 16GB RAM 2TB SSD RTX 3050 ti and thus fully capable of running the games I like to play and with a screen large enough for occasional game modding with developer tools (e.g. Bethesda Softworks Creation Kit, TES5Edit, Wrye Bash, etc.). The easy conversion to tablet makes it an ideal artistic doodling platform. Since I’m retired, I don’t do much in the way of serious computer work anymore, aside from taxes and such.

M2 Pro Mac mini — all my desktop things and also Windows gaming via CrossOver, emulation with Dolphin.

iPad mini 6 — for most of my visual content consumption (videos, reading ebooks), browsing, and couch doodling. Photo editing. Will be my outdoors note taking device as a National Park volunteer this year (the iPad mini 5 did well last year).

M2 iPad Pro 12.9 — easily gets the most % of daily use. Browsing, media, some ebooks two-page landscape, screwing around with the Pencil & art apps, photo editing. Shares some gameplaying with the Mac mini via Sidecar. Also is the wireless pen display for Rebelle 5 on the Mac. Used in portrait mode with external keyboard when writing (Ulysses app).

iPhone 13 Pro — does all the usual smartphone functions and supplies the hotspot for everything else. The only camera I use and it’s sufficient. A belt clip keeps it handy on hikes and outdoors volunteer duties. For all audio consumption (music, podcasts, audiobooks).

Apple Watch 6 SE Nike version — health & fitness monitoring, easy notifications while on the go, simple text and email responding (dictation works surprisingly well), driving navigation (haptics reminders of next turn is great), … etc., etc. and a growing etc. Heck, it’s even my cooking timer. This thing is becoming indispensable.

Honorable mentions which get used at least once a week:

Kindle Paperwhite (6.8”), Steam Deck, and Microsoft Duo Uno. The first two for the obvious purposes, the Duo now only for reading my J-Novel chapter releases for the light novels & manga I follow… and sometimes I do that in two-page view on my iPP 12.9 so I don’t think it’s going to last in the stable much longer. Honeymoon over, divorce likely due to loss of interest (+dislike of Android). The Steam Deck on the other hand is on the rise.

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26

I wish I could get even “comfortable” with Android, but it is even harder for me than the Windows to Mac switch I keep trying. There is no doubt the MacBook Pro 14 is an incredible laptop, and the ecosystem is a great benefit, but in my workflows the Surface Pro 8 just handles things more smoothly. Call it muscle memory or whatever, it’s just easier for some reason.

Still…gotta love the screen, speed, screen, keyboard, screen…integration…you get it…

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27

I would argue that Android as an operating system itself in a vacuum has gotten mostly up to par with Windows and iOS in terms of features. The issue is not the OS itself then but the applications, the way the application development community treats Android as a second-class citizen with a devil-may-care attitude compared to Windows and iOS. Many of the applications (e.g. Office, readers, browsers) I have used on Android are stripped down and neglected in one way or another compared to their Windows and iOS versions. One popular specialized reader program I use has a 5-year feature gap between the Android and the Windows and iOS versions with no ETA on the feature being integrated in the near future. This app quality gap is the biggest bane to Android at the moment for me, and now that my Duo had the infamous display failure yesterday on the eve of the last day of my return period, I am ending this experiment and adjusting my sights back to Windows.

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28

Piggybacking off your conclusion in the Scribe thread, I’m curious how do you divide your mobile tasks between the Fold and Duo?

Do you use the Duo primarily for reading? And is that why you don’t find much additional value in an e-reader?

And most importantly, Duo/Fold in the left pocket or right pocket? :smiley:

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Exactly, Fold 3 is the daily driver (right front pocket) while Duo fills all other roles. Actually, I occasionally swap the devices since I’ve got all the same apps installed.
Where the Duo shines is Note-taking in onenote during meetings or class discussions and of course reading bestseller in the Kindle, play books and Scribd apps.

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30

My changes:

The Go2 is now officially replaced by the Pro X. It goes to work with my and comes home in my briefcase. I miss the size of my Go. It was a tablet that doubled as a laptop in a pinch. The Pro X is a laptop that doubles as a tablet in a pinch. The Pro X seems to have the power to handle my workload better, except for any video intensive task.

The Note 10 remains but I am seriously considering an upgrade. I think I’m ready for 5G. Just waiting for a deal that I can’t say no to.

The Boox is seeing a lot more use, as I’ve actually started reading again, something I haven’t done much since starting to practice law. Have gotten through most of Grant’s memoirs in a week.

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31

How did I miss this post?

Desktop (My gaming machine) Custom built AMD Ryzen 5 5600X with 16 GB RAM and a RTX 3060Ti. I use this for everything in my home office - gaming, writing on Scrivener, Office 365 including Outlook, Affinity Photo and Designer, Standard Notes, and TickTick for keeping track of stuff.

Laptop (Open Box discount from BB) 2021 Asus Zephyrus G14 with a Ryzen 7 5800HS and RTX 3060 with 16GB RAM. Everything above (including gaming on the go) and Azure Remote Desktop for remoting into my day job from my work shed.

Tablet (goes everywhere) 2021 12.9" iPad Pro M1 - writing in a pinch in Scrivener, note-taking and the like (Notability for that). But mostly consumption and searching the web for research and programming stuff (its always with me).

Phone - iPhone 13 Pro Max. Phone stuff LOL.

I used to have a macbook, but got tired of managing mac as well, when Azure desktop would not allow me to truly get rid of it–the M1 Mac version doesn’t work with smart cards and even the virtualization options for Windows admit that you can’t use them for remoting into other environments. So now I am selling it after a couple of weeks with the Zephyrus.

What I really like about this is I get to take advantage of what companies are good at truly. Windows is versatile so I can use it for everything–from Azure remote desktop, to AI, to gaming. And I use apple for iOS and iPadOS–which it is exceptional at that.

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32

Coming in August, your Galaxy Z Fold 5 with clip on S Pen holder, around $1000 with your Note 10 trade in (they usually have insane trade ins even on old gear if you get in on the pre-release reservations and discounts) BUT as you know all too well, good luck with their CRAPPY website…

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33

I am leaning S23U ATM. But, I am flexible if Samsung comes up with something tempting.

That website is so frustrating and I am more and more impatient.

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And if you get through all that you have to cross your fingers that your trade-in gets through the process and is credited to you. I had to fight for my iPhone trade to be “found” at their warehouse. It took about ten phone & chat sessions. The Apple Watch I traded in was also “never received” and then “found” and then rejected for being an ineligible device. Even more phone & chat sessions. I’m currently wearing that one. It took six months for it to make the round trip and they discarded the Nike band ($80) which I had to buy again. :angry:

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ALL company trade-in programs are a nightmare crapshoot. We traded my daughter’s iPhone X in to Apple and a few months later got billed the balance of the trade value because after inspection it was “damaged” - a “crack” in the edge of the camera lens that I could not see even with a magnifying glass.

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36

My Samsung trade-in was almost clean. They received it and sent an email saying I would hear back within a certain number of days if there were any problems. When there had been no updates on exactly that day, I open a support chat and asked if they could confirm the acceptance since the time to reject it had passed. The chat agent had to manually put it through, but that was that. I got more for a tab s6 lite than I paid for it after two years of use.

I’ve had a lot of success walking trade-ins into BestBuy because they do it all in person then hand you gift cards. Prices aren’t terrible for apple or samsung stuff.

And to stay on topic, my regular use devices include a rotation. My GalaxyBook2 360 is usually docked to my desktop set up, but sometimes it’s my zfold and sometimes it’s the tab s8. And then I accidentally bought a Surface Pro X, so that’s been getting a lot of desk time lately.

For carrying around the house to read, it’s usually one of my surface duos. I get tired of the camera bump not letting the 2 close back all the way, then I use the uno until I get tired of the bigger gap and slower performance (the uno will freeze, the 2 never has). The uno is currently booted into windows 11.

For carrying out of the house, it’s the zfold since that has my phone sim. Then sometimes the duo 2 because it has a data sim in it. Then an alternating cast of Surface pro x (with brydge keyboard), tab s8, galaxybook 10.6, or even just a lapdock depending on what I think I might want to do while I’m out. Sometimes I need full windows onenote and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I want something that sits well in a lap, sometimes I don’t need lapability.

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37

rofl

And I thought I was the king of tech excuses…

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38

My local BestBuy currently has a smoking deal on a “satisfactory” SLS. Do you know how hard it is for me to not go buy that?

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39

Same here, but it is an open box excellent M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14 16gb/1tb for $1719…

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How many times have you bought and returned that device?