Field Notes · Note 05
The setup that started with an iPhone 6
A small history of the Apple devices that became part of how I work, make, and pay attention.
Before I was all in
My Apple story started before I owned an iPhone. Around 2009 or 2010, I had an iPod touch: a small, exciting window into a new kind of computing. It was a music player, a pocket full of apps, and a first glimpse at how naturally hardware and software could belong together.
An iPad came next, somewhere in the years between that iPod touch and my first phone. It made the Apple experience feel bigger and more useful. Reading, browsing, watching, and trying things out all had more room to breathe. Even then, I was collecting more than devices. I was learning a preference for tools that felt approachable without feeling limited.
The iPhone 6 changed the center of gravity
In 2014, I got my first iPhone: the iPhone 6. At the time, it felt like a genuine step forward from the iPod touch and iPad. It was thin, polished, and immediately personal in a way the other devices had not been. The computer in my pocket was no longer an occasional companion. It became the device that connected everything else.
The iPhone 6 was where Apple stopped being something I enjoyed using and became the platform I wanted to understand. The camera, the apps, the gestures, the way notifications and continuity fit into a day—those details made me curious about what was happening underneath. Eventually that curiosity became part of how I build software.
The iPhone 6 was not just my first iPhone. It was the beginning of a way of working.
A watch for the in-between moments
The Apple Watch extended that relationship in a different direction. The iPhone asks for your attention; the watch helps you decide whether something deserves it. A glance at the time, a message preview, a workout, a reminder to stand up—small interactions became available without opening a larger world in my hand.
That distinction stayed with me. The best technology does not always give you more to do. Sometimes it gives you just enough information to keep moving. The watch made the Apple ecosystem feel less like a collection of screens and more like a set of tools with different jobs.
The setup I have now
By 2026, the setup has grown considerably from that iPhone 6. My iPhone 17 Pro Max is still the center of gravity: the device I carry, photograph with, and use to stay connected. An Apple Watch Ultra handles the moments when a glance or a quick action is better than reaching for a phone.
My MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro chip and a 14-inch display is the development machine. It is where ideas become code, where the details get tested, and where the work can expand across a proper screen. Alongside it, a new 11-inch iPad Pro with the M5 chip gives me a lighter, more immediate space for reading, sketching, reviewing, and thinking away from the desk.
It is a lot of Apple hardware, but the through-line is simple: each device has a role. The phone keeps the world close. The watch keeps some of it at a distance. The Mac gives the work room. The iPad makes room for a different kind of thought.
The long view
Looking back, the interesting part is not the jump from one product generation to the next. It is how a few early devices gradually shaped my expectations. The iPod touch made software feel playful. The iPad made it spacious. The iPhone 6 made it personal. The watch made it ambient. The current setup makes it possible to move between those modes depending on what the day needs.
I have been all in on Apple since 2014, but that commitment was never really about owning the newest thing. It came from finding a group of tools that supported the way I wanted to live and work. The setup keeps changing. The reason I return to it has stayed remarkably consistent: when the pieces are considered together, they help me focus on making something worth keeping.