2017: My current setups for home and mobile and tech

Happy 2017! well, i guess it is feb already so yea, a bit late. Sorry for the lack of posts; lifes been.. busy and i really need to get up a few of my Windows 10 image creation articles since I've been successful in creating a fully customized default profile image of Windows10 for our new X1 Yoga laptops at work and finally moved to a hardware agnostic approach. ;)  however that will be coming later once we rollout Win10.  Today though I plan to just give an overview of my currrent tech setups; i like looking back 5-10yrs from now and seeing what i was rocking.

Desktop Setup:

In Dec 2016, I decided to sell my beloved late 2012 Mac Mini server (had the core i7 quadcore, 16gb ddr3 ram, 1tb ssd, 2tb hdd). the last good Mac Mini one could upgrade. I sold it for what i paid for it back in 2012 (apple hardware does retain value esp a model that is still considered the best model w/the current one's included!!).  I love tiny desktop pcs that can perform just as well as a full sized tower (played that game already and am over the huge pc.. i'm refined nowadays.. hehe or something!).

I finally settled on a Gigabyte Brix S GB-BSi7HT-6500. This desktop is a barebone that one can fit in their jacket pocket; makes the Mac Mini look huge!  My main reason for this model was that it has a Thuderbolt 3 port that can do external GPUs (eGPUs).  I then upgraded ram to 32GB of DDR4 along w/a 1TB m.2 ssd and moving over of my 2TB Samsung 960 Evo (WHICH I LOVE!!!!!).  So far it's a great productivity desktop but lacks in the video/gpu area.  Also the costs of eGPU enclosures are still WAY TOO expensive.. so... i plan to actually upgrade to a Zotac EN1080 10th Anniversary Edition mini pc that rocks a GTX1080 and is liquid cooled w/quadcore i7 cpus!! The hard part now is actually finding it to buy; seriously how is it that i have the $2K ready to pay for it but no one has it in stock?? ;)

Mobile Setup:

I finally spoke w/my wallet in regards to my disgust in Apple's lack of undestanding their customers and sold my iPhone 7 plus and Apple Watch for about the retail price I paid for my iPhone 7 Plus.  After selling the Mac Mini I felt it was time to do a total ecosystem change since I'm a kungfu master of Windows 10 (with the image creation project) and wanted to get back into Android as my main mobile os.

I decided on a Samusng Galaxy S7 Edge unlocked due to: external microSD (added a 200GB card instantly), water resistent/IP68 rating, amazing camera in low light, unbelievably amazing OLED screen and qi power charging.

So far I am very happy w/my S7 Edge and like the camera better than the iPhone 7 Plus; that says a lot since iPhone cameras have been my go to the last 4 years.  As much as i had hoped sony's Z3 series would beat the iPhone's camera; they didn't, close but still not as a good as apple or samsungs offering (given your samsung ironically has the sony sensor. hehe.. my s7 edge does!).

So there's a quick 2017 tech recap!