Software, hardware and everything in between that I love and recommend.

AOC U2790B / Dell P2414H

Not much to be said here, other than the fact that 4K screens should absolutely be standard for dev work -- they offer good image quality even on screens over 24 inches and in turn more space on a single screen. Oh and they also make fonts look fantastic even on Windows!

The AOC U2790B is a good entry-level 4k IPS screen with good image quality at an affordable price and a USB hub built in, but that's about it for fancy features. My old, trusty Dell serves as a second, vertical screen.

I use this combo paired with an Arctic Z2-3D monitor stand that I can also recommend.

GMMK Pro / GMMK TKL

After spending way too much time (and money) on trying out different keyboard, keycap and switch combinations I finally settled on using the GMMK Pro paired with Boba U4T Tactiles and a set of XDA keycaps. The build quality of the GMMK Pro is amazing, it's fully modular and is also compatible with QMK. Its 75% layout for me personally feels nicer than the 60% or the TKL alternatives.

As for the switches, I can't praise the U4T tactiles enough: the tactility on them is amazing (not even remotely comparable to mainstream Cherry Browns) and the sound they produce when combined with XDA caps is excellent, but not annoyingly loud.

My backup keyboard of choice is the GMMK TKL paired with Boba U4 Silents. These switches are absolutely amazing if you're looking for completely silent, yet very tactile switches for those situations where even tactile switches are too loud. The keyboard itself is a nice option for people looking for an "affordable", hot-swappable mechanical keyboard.

Razer Orochi V2 / Logitech G305

I've used Logitech's G203 and G305 (same shape, but the G305 is wireless) for 4 years before I decided to give a different mouse a try. I ended up picking up a Razer Orochi V2, because it looked similar to the G305 in terms of shape, but a bit lighter with slightly nicer build quality. After years of recommending the G305 to people, I'm on Team Razer going forward. The Orochi feels amazing all around and it's just a fantastic wireless mouse that costs about $55.

While I prefer the Orochi V2, the G305 is still an amazing mouse that I use regularly with my secondary PC. In terms of features it's basically on par with the Orochi, with the aforementioned slightly worse build quality, but then again it's also ~$15 cheaper than the Razer.

Win 11 with Ubuntu in WSL2 / EndeavourOS

While there's a lot to dislike about Windows, the unfortunate reality is that if you use basically any proprietary software or any non-standard hardware (such as a 4k screen combined with a non-4k screen), then Linux desktop, as much as I love it, at this point in time probably won't be good enough for full time use. Fortunately WSL is a nice middle ground for people that want to develop on Linux, but want to avoid the Linux desktop.

Personally I dual boot Windows 11 and EndeavourOS, because developing on Linux just feels so crisp compared to Windows. After using Arch Linux for years I decided to give EndeavourOS a try and I ended up sticking with it. Endeavour is still an Arch-based distro that's very lightweight, but it comes with a Calamares installer -- no more tedious command line Arch installs!

With that said, I find myself booting into Linux less and less, because stuff just doesn't work -- my microphone's software doesn't support Linux, NVIDIA Broadcast and thus noise cancellation in calls doesn't work and even with workarounds, screens with different scaling factors look terrible, even on Wayland.

Ubuntu in WSL combined with X410 however gives me 90% of the benefits of a dedicated Linux desktop, while avoiding every single downside.

JetBrains Rider

I've been using Visual Studio with Resharper for ~7 years both at work and at home, so when Rider was announced I was extremely sceptical about its usefulness and viability. When I gave it a try a few years ago it genuinely blew my mind, because it gave me all the niceness of Resharper and a JetBrains IDE, without the jankiness and slowness of VS and Resharper. It's also cross platform!

Visual Studio Code

VS Code needs no introductions, it's just a solid editor that supports just about any language and framework under the sun. While it could be better in terms of performance, it's still impressive for an editor built using Electron.

Cascadia Code / IBM Plex Mono

I've always had an unhealthy obsession with fonts, so I spent an unreasonable amount of time trying out various monospaced fonts. After years of bouncing between fonts I settled on IBM Plex Mono (patched with ligatures) and Cascadia as the two fonts I use. I'm not nearly articulate enough to describe why these two fonts look amazing, but they really do. Seriously, just look at them.

PowerToys

This suite of extensions developed by Microsoft is so good that I it should come with Windows by default. Seriously.

DisplayFusion

If you have multiple screens and potentially a TV connected to your PC you probably ran into a situation where you had to adjust which screen is turned on or off, what resolution they should be used at what refresh rate, etc. DisplayFusion allows you to set up profiles so you can streamline this process.

NVIDIA Broadcast

If you have an NVIDIA GPU and you spend any time on conference calls, you should be using NVIDIA Broadcast. Seriously. RTX Voice is amazing if you work in a noisy environment or you want to clean up other people's audio on calls.

X410

Even though WSL comes with WSLg by default, X410 provides a much nicer GUI experience on WSL. Dev tools forwarded via X410 are basically indistinguishable from their native Windows alternatives.

Hifiman Edition XS / Sony WH-1000XM3

I recently picked up a pair of Hifiman Edition XS headphones as a replacement for my good old Sennheiser HD600s and I was blown away by how good they are, especially for the price. If you're looking for a nice set of open back headphones for home use I can definitely recommend picking these up.

For travelling and office use I have my trusty Sony WH-1000XM3s. The noise cancellation on them is excellent, they sound OK and they don't leak sound either.

Shure MV7

The Shure MV7 is a really solid, excellent sounding USB microphone that also comes with the proprietary Shure MOTIV software suite, which allows you to customize the sound profile of your mic. While the MV7 is somewhat pricey, I can wholeheartedly recommend it to people that spend a lot of time on calls. I use it with a Rode PSA1 boom arm that's also excellent and affordable.

Topping DX3 Pro Plus

It's hard to review a DAC/AMP combo, considering its main function is just to enable higher gain headphones and provide clean analog output. With that said, the Topping I currently use is just solid all around and it even allows for Bluetooth inputs, which at times is surprisingly useful.