Updated July 2023
This is a list of most of the hardware and software I use on a daily basis.
These are the computers I own. With the exception of the Raspberry Pi, all of these were purchased used/refurbished.
Running Linux does wonders for older hardware. I owe it to Linux that I was able to run a laptop with 2GB of RAM and a Core 2 Duo as my daily driver until the summer of 2021, and I could probably still get by with it to this day.
My T450, which I got to replace the T61, is the most powerful computer I've ever owned (although I'm aware it isn't actually that powerful). It's the first time the amount of RAM I have has been in the double digits!
Someday, I'd like to build a very powerful Linux desktop workstation. For now, though, the hardware I have performs more than well enough to do what I need to do for school and work.
In my humble opinion, the Lenovo Preferred Pro 2 is the best mass-market keyboard available right now. It's cheap, utilitarian, good-looking (from the point of view of someone who loves ThinkPads), and, for a rubber-dome keyboard, quite clicky. I've entertained the idea of buying a Unicomp Model M, but I can't quite justify the price. In the past I used a mechanical keyboard, but I prefer the feel of the Preferred Pro.
My favourite mouse is actually the Logitech M100, but I use the M720 because it's wireless, and I can take it with me. I own two Logitech M100s that I use as backups, or when I'm working on a machine that I don't normally have set up.
Since late elementary/early middle school, I'd been using a Blue Snowball Ice microphone. I still have that mic, and it still works very well. Recently (July 2023) I went to Costco and was shocked to find the Logitech "Ultimate Creator Pack", containing a Blue Yeti Nano, a Logitech Streamcam, a webcam tripod, a pop filter, and a USB-C-to-USB-A adaptor, on sale for just $99 CAD. I picked it up, and can confirm that the Yeti Nano works on Linux, so long as the Pulseaudio sample rate is set to 48kHz (or any other rate the microphone supports). Also, this is the first time I've had a 1080p webcam.
I use VS Code for code editing because we used it for a project-based course, and after spending countless hours working in it for that class, I became quite comfortable with it. I only use it for writing 'big' software, i.e. programs that occupy more than one file, have unit tests, use Maven, etc. For smaller programming tasks, i.e. competitive programming problems, and for system administration, I use Vim.
I've heard for a very long time that Nginx is a better HTTP server than Apache, but I've been using Apache since I started this whole server operation in April 2020, haven't yet pushed it to its limit, and know how to configure it, so I don't plan to switch to Nginx anytime soon, if at all.