I spent the last year fighting with my tools instead of using them, so in this video I walk through what’s actually on my MacBook as a software engineer in 2026—and why I’m keeping it simple. I’m still on a 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook, even though everyone’s obsessing over the M5. Honestly, it’s still a beast: I’ve built dozens of apps on it, it chews through heavy compiles/tests, and it even handles 4K editing with smooth playback. My takeaway: if you buy the right tool the first time, you don’t need to upgrade every year. Then I go through the setup that keeps my day-to-day calm: system tweaks like hot corners (lock screen + quick notes), a clean dock, and Bartender to hide menu bar clutter. For dev work I stick to the native stuff—Xcode and Android Studio—plus Postman for API testing. I also share my mixed feelings about Cursor: it’s great for refactoring and repetitive tasks, but I’ve had moments where it nuked random files, so I’m cautious. On the productivity side, I’m pretty allergic to the “productivity trap.” My rule is simple: if an app doesn’t save me significant time, it gets cut. Akiflow is the one that earned its spot because it pulls tasks (even emails) into a single calendar view with two-way sync, and it forces me to see my real capacity so I can stop overcommitting and ship more consistently.