My Tech Picks (Early 2026)

Happy New Year! It’s the first of the year. That means it’s time for an updated look at my tech picks. If you read this site often, you probably already know that this time, I have some pretty major changes to report.

It’s no secret that I’ve been expressing frustrations with the direction that Microsoft has taken Windows in the last several years. It’s a term that many in the industry call “enshittification”. In the case of Windows, it manifests itself in the form of Microsoft pushing unwanted software and subscription services on their users. This push is done using tactics like annoying pop-ups that can’t be disabled, automatically installing software without user input, etc. These types of tactics are not anything new. But in the past, there was always a way to disable this behavior. However, in recent Windows 11 builds, this is no longer the case.

When Microsoft moved to the “Windows as a service” model, a certain level of this behavior was expected and even acceptable. But it has now reached a point where I personally find it no longer tolerable. To a degree, I was previously shielded from a lot of this nonsense. I was one of those people who actually subscribed to services like Microsoft 365 and Xbox Gamepass Ultimate. But, once Microsoft 365 starting force-feeding AI into every corner of their Office applications and Microsoft decided to double the monthly price of Gamepass Ultimate, I took a stand and cancelled my subscriptions. Once these subscriptions were cancelled, that’s when I started noticing all of the warnings and pop-ups appearing in my control panel – telling me that I should “consider resubscribing”, etc – with no way to turn off these alerts. To combat this, I decided to try reinstalling Windows using a local account instead of signing in to the OS with my Microsoft account… But guess what? The newest version of Windows 11 25H2 has finally nuked the ability to install Windows with a local machine account only. You cannot escape the ads.

That was the final straw for me.

So, I was faced with a choice. If I was going to abandon Windows for another operating system, what was I going to switch to? Lots of people these days are migrating to Mint Linux or  Bazzite Linux (Linux has become a phenomenal choice for gamers). But, before I could even ask myself the question, I already knew the answer. My heart lies in Mac OS.

The very first personal computer that I ever used was an Apple Macintosh and I loved it at first sight. Years later, once I started viewing personal computing as a hobby, I migrated to DOS and Windows machines. And even though I became an expert with them, a part of me always yearned for that Apple experience. Eventually, in the late 2000’s, I purchased an iMac for myself and fell in love all over again. The only reason I switched back to Windows was because I found myself doing more gaming on the machine than productivity work.

So, with this in mind, when faced with the decision of switching to another OS, the answer was obvious. Now, I’m not suggesting that everyone reading this should abandon Windows and buy a Mac. This decision was personal for me. Mac OS is radically different than Windows, and if Windows is all you know, Mac OS might not be the right choice of you. Not to mention, Macs are not nearly as user-serviceable and they can get quite expensive. And of course, we have the other elephant in the room: gaming.

How can the “old game hermit” abandon the PC for a Mac and still consider himself a gamer? Well, the answer is simple – I still have my gaming PC.

This is something that may change in the future. Ultimately, I’d like to ditch the PC in a few years and hopefully replace it with a Steam Deck or Steam Machine. But right now, certain online games that use Anti-Cheat software are still incompatible with Linux (and therefore the Steam hardware) so we’re just not to the point where I’m comfortable doing that yet.

So, with all of this in mind, I’ve beefed up my PC to make it a little more future-proof for gaming and integrated Mac into my daily life. Let’s a take look at my current tech picks. Naturally, I’ve had to revise the presentation below to match up with the hybrid set-up I’m currently using.

Computer Platforms: Daily Use – Mac / Gaming – Windows PC – As I mentioned above, I’m currently using two machines. My Mac for daily tasks (web browsing, office work, music, etc), but I still have my PC for gaming. To optimize space on my desk, I still only have one mouse and one keyboard. To make this setup work, I’ve added a KVM switch to my desk. This is a little box that I plug my mouse, keyboard, webcam, and monitors into. The switch is connected to both systems, and it allows me to flip between them with the click of a button. This means I can use the same hardware on my two different machines without having to plug and unplug every time I want to switch.

• Mac OS: Tahoe 26.2
• PC OS: Windows 11 Pro (64 bit Version 25H2)

Hardware: When I decided to switch back to the Mac for my daily tasks, I had to decide what type of Mac was going to work best for me. I’ve owned iMacs in the past, and I love them. But, considering I still plan on holding on to my PC for the time being, I didn’t feel that an iMac was the right option at this time since I wanted to keep my current monitors. This left me with one obvious option: the Mac mini. Until recent years, Mac minis were often seen as the less powerful brothers to the standard iMac. But since the Apple Silicon has entered the scene, this is no longer true. In fact, modern Mac minis actually outperform their iMac counterparts, even at the base level.

For my gaming PC, I upgraded my GPU from a GeForce RTX 3070 to an RTX 5070. There’s no doubt that I could have got by with my 3070 for a while longer, but with the AI-armageddon driving up the prices for memory, SSDs, and GPUs, I decided to pull the trigger now while it was still affordable. Also a side note, I was forced to replace one of my monitors with a nearly identical version due to some technical problems. 

Mac Specs:

• Model: Mac mini 2024
• CPU/GPU: Apple Silicon M4
• Physical RAM: 16gb
• Sound: Internal Apple DAC/Chip
• Storage: Internal: 512gb Apple NVME SSD  External: Western Digital Black SN850X NVME (Thunderbolt Enclosure)
• Networking: Integrated LAN, Bluetooth 5.3, WiFi 6e
• Power: Apple 70 Watt Internal PSU

PC Specs:

• Mainboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E
• CPU: Intel i7 10700k @ 3.6Ghz (5.1 turbo)
• Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce RTX 5070  (12GB)   (PNY Geforce RTX 5070 OC)
• Physical RAM: 32gb  –  (Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz)
• Sound: Creative Sound Blaster AE-5 Plus
• Storage:  Main: 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVME SSD    Secondary: 500GB Samsung EVO 970 NVME SSD.   Storage: 2TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
• Networking: Integrated LAN, Bluetooth 5.1, WiFi 6
• Power: EVGA 850 watt PSU

Monitors:  ACER XV272U 27″ (1ms FreeSync) & ACER VG272U 27″ (1ms FreeSync)

Media:  External DVD RW &  USB Memory Card reader

Mouse: Razer Basilisk v3 35k

Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow v3

Mousepad: Razer Goliathus Extended Chroma

Headset: Turtle Beach Recon 200 Gen 2

Webcam: Logitech HD Pro C920

Microphone: Razer Seiren V3

Mobile: iPhone 17 Pro (iOS 26) – Yes. Along with switching to Mac for my daily PC use, I also made the jump back to iPhone. Now, I want to come right out and say, there is nothing wrong with Android 16. In fact, there are still a few things that I think I like better about it vs iOS. But, when I watched Google’s recent keynote on the Pixel 10, I just didn’t see anything about the new hardware that excited me. On the other hand, the new iPhone options and iOS enhancements really seemed to speak to me. So far, I’ve loved everything about my new iPhone. But I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a Pixel to anyone who is fully in the Android ecosystem.

Tablet: Amazon Fire Max 11 – No, I haven’t switched to an iPad. My tablet needs are pretty basic. Mostly, comic book and PDF viewing. For these purposes, a jailbroken Fire Max is perfect. When the times comes to replace this tablet, I may very consider an iPad. But for now, there’s no reason for me to switch.

e-Reader: Kindle Paperwhite – No change.  The Kindle Paperwhite is an elegant and universal option that serves my needs perfectly. Yes, there are newer Kindle options available. But the Paperwhite remains my go to device.

Virtual Digital Assistant: Siri – With a new phone, comes a new assistant. I used to really like Google Assistant. But when replaced it with Gemini, it became dismal. If I’m being honest, Siri really isn’t much better than Gemini. But, I’m hopeful for the future. Rumor has it that Siri is about to be upgraded with Apple Intelligence in a pretty big way. Until then, I find Siri to be functional. But it’s not the AI assistant that I crave.

Web Browser: Safari and Helium – Before I made my switch to Mac, I started using the Helium browser instead of Chrome. Helium is a Chromium browser without any integrated Google services. It also maintains compatibility with uBlock Origin, whereas Chrome has quietly killed support for the ad-blocker. Helium is my go-to browser on Windows now. It’s Chrome without Chrome. I have it installed on my Mac, but I usually use Safari as my day-to-day browser since it offers sleek integration with the OS and the Apple ecosystem. 

Search: Google – Google remains my go-to for manual searches. But I’ve found myself relying on the AI suggestions in Comet more and more.

Email and Calendar: iCloud – With the shift away from Google, I have fully embraced Apple’s services. Using Apple Mail is nothing new to me. I used Apple services back in the day. (In fact, I still have my old .Mac email address.) Of course, I have thousands of messages archived in Gmail, so that Google account isn’t going anywhere. But, it was actually nice to have a fresh start. It feels good knowing that my email address isn’t on a bunch of darkweb breach lists.

Office Suite: iWork – One of the things I most looked forward to switching back to when I migrated back to Mac was the office applications. I used the iWork (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) back when I had my iMac and ever since I started using Windows again, I missed them. That being said, I fully recognize that Microsoft Office is more powerful than iWork when it comes to business collaboration. But, I don’t do any of that. For my needs, Pages is perfect. Plus, it’s elegant and runs like a dream.

Cloud Storage: iCloud – I have migrated all of my cloud storage over to iCloud. My Apple One subscription affords me 2TB of cloud storage. So, it’s an no-brainer for me.

Video Platforms: YouTube and Rumble – I haven’t been streaming as much as I was last year. I find it to be a very competitive space, and one that I don’t have a lot of time for. Still, when I stream, I use a combination of both Rumble and YouTube. I hope to ramp up streaming in the comings weeks now that I have a little more free time after the holidays. For on-demand video content, I post to YouTube exclusively.

PC Gaming Services: Steam – No change. For PC games, I’m pretty much a Steam-only guy. I do make a lot of purchases on GOG and I’ve even ventured into the Epic Store from time to time. But nine out of ten purchases are still done on Steam.

Music Management: Apple Music –  My switch to the Mac has found me embracing Apple Music. I used to be an avid iTunes user, but when Apple Music first rolled out, I found it to be a bit confusing. These days, things are different. Apple Music is both a streaming service and library manager. It took a minute to understand just how it works from both mindsets. But now that I’m using it, I’m loving it. Still, I have to admit, it’s not as power-user friendly as MusicBee – that’s just an AMAZING piece of software – But, Apple Music is just as good as old school iTunes ever was. (For streaming, I use Apple Music, Sirius XM and IHeartRadio.)

Wearables: Apple Watch Series 10  – As you might expect, with the switch to the iPhone comes a change from Pixel Watch to Apple Watch. However, instead of going with the new Apple Watch 11, I decided to go with the more affordable Series 10. It does pretty much everything the 11 can do with a lower price tag. Plus, I prefer the design.

Home Gaming Consoles:  Currently at our house we own the following: Nintendo Switch 2, Wii U, PlayStation 3 (slim), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X. 

Mobile Gaming: Both my children and I have still have an old Nintendo 3DS. I also have an old PSP.