I've been travelling (and working remotely) for over 1.5 years at this point and during that time my work setup has evolved. Here's how it currently looks like.
Here's what I love/hate about each item
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My source of income, knowledge and entertainment. I can't imagine life without a computer (and the Internet). My life would not only be different, it would also be worse. I'm lucky enough to have one hell of a PC.
- (love) the performance. A 6-core, 12-thread CPU has handled everything I've thrown at it with ease. The RTX 2070 MaxQ GPU runs all the modern games with excellent quality.
- (hate) the cooling. During gaming the laptop gets very hot and causes the CPU and GPU to throttle. I still get a very good gaming experience, but not a good user experience. Thankfully, the cooling system performs very well during workloads.
- (love) the design. The matte black, the metal, the light up logo, the RBG keyboard. My MacBook wielding friends often mix up their PCs because they look so alike. I don't have that problem
- (hate) the display resolution. 16:9 is great for content consumption, but bad for productivity. The next laptop I buy must have a bigger, taller, higher res screen.
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I don't understand why more people don't dual (or triple?) monitor. It's a game changer. Even when I became a digital nomad I made a choice to lug extra weight around and so far I've had no regrets.
- (love) the productivity boost. Apart from obvious benefits, it's been very handy having a second monitor when sharing my screen in virtual calls. Notes, chats and other secret things can be put away on my second monitor and allow my viewers to focus only on what I want them to see.
- (hate) the stand. It's clever and light, but terribly unergonomic. The monitored can be position in several ways on a desk, but all lead to next strain.
Microsoft Designer Bluetooth® Desktop Keyboard
It's what I'm typing this post on. I've had a lot of keyboard over the years and this one is my favourite so far.
- (love) the keys. Low profile, quiet, comfy.
- (love) the design. Great layout, great looks
- (hate) the battery life. It doesn't last me more than 3 months. 3 months is good, but not great
Mousepad
It's just a generic one I bought online. Nothing noteworthy, though a big improvement over working on a bare surface
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- (love) this mouse. Not great for FPS gaming but other than it's splendid.
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My laptop's built in mic is decent, but since I spend a lot of my time in video calls, I decided to upgrade to this mic.
- (love) the audio quality
- (love) the portability
- (hate) the mini USB port it uses
Nextstand portable laptop stand
- (love) the portability. It folds and unfolds easily. Light and compact.
- (hate) the ergonomics. Although it's a massive improvement over using a laptop on a desk (or a lap), I find that it pushes back the laptop screen too far. Nothing a cardboard box to prop it up can't fix
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- (love) the sound quality. A big improvement over my laptop's speakers
- (hate) the portability. Every time I move I need to set it up all over again.
A DYI monitor stand
The one my ZenScreen came with is terrible, as I mentioned before. A cheap foldable stand from eBay on top of box of some kind sort has worked surprisingly well. Do yourself a favour and lift up your monitor to eye-level!
Despite going around the world twice in the past year or so, i've managed to stay productive and to grow professionally. In no small part thanks to the technology i've just described to you. I hope this post will help you achieve the same.