

Click to viewLifehacker readers range from the complete newbie to the most seasoned techie, but where do the Lifehacker editors stand? We polled our own editors for the computer hardware and applications they swear by and we're breaking it down for you here. This post is categorized into the software each editor uses on a daily basis, the operating systems we live in, the hardware we rely on, the peripherals we utilize on a regular basis, and webapps we need. Then we tell you exactly what kind of user we think we are.


Gina Trapani, Editor:



The Basics




Primary OS



It's changed over the years and will continue to shift, but right now I split my time about 80%/20% Mac OS X and Windows XP. I plan to increase my Windows time (and get Vista into the mix) to better serve Lifehacker readers, who are primarily Windows (about 70% at the moment, though this chart changes by the minute). Setting up a Hardy desktop is also looking more and more tempting.



Hardware



I used to use four different computers on a regular basis, but keeping them all maintained, synced, backed up, and up to date with operating system patches became too much. So last year I decided to simplify and pare down the machine I use for work purposes to one laptop (so I could take it with me when I travel), and chose:



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A 15-inch MacBook Pro to which I added a stick of memory, using Adam's guide Boot Camp and virtualize that partition

to which I added a stick of memory, using An ancient Dell Dimension tower which I launched Lifehacker on mostly goes unused now. For awhile I used it as a file server, but to reduce energy consumption, I decided keeping an always-on file server was overkill for the two people who live in my household.

which I launched Lifehacker on mostly goes unused now. For awhile I used it as a file server, but to reduce energy consumption, I decided keeping an always-on file server was overkill for the two people who live in my household. A G4 PowerBook , which was replaced by my MacBook Pro last year, lives in the living room. For a beat-up secondary computer, the PowerBook still does triple duty as a media center file server for my XBMC, a recipe reference in the kitchen while we cook, and my other half's main computer.

, which was replaced by my MacBook Pro last year, lives in the living room. For a beat-up secondary computer, the PowerBook still does triple duty as a media center file server for my XBMC, a recipe reference in the kitchen while we cook, and my other half's main computer. A classic Xbox running XBMC




Peripherals



Besides a stack of external hard drives, a Netgear router, an ink jet printer, and a widescreen Dell monitor I hook the MacBook up to when I'm at my desk, I've got:






Webapps



Even though I still like keeping important files saved to my local hard drive, I've moved most of my daily work into a Firefox tab (which makes it easy to access from the iPhone as well). I use dozens of webapps, but the primary ones are:






I also love MediaWiki and del.icio.us. Here's more on the apps that run Lifehacker's virtual office.



Self Assessment



I'm a late early adopter. I love to try out new apps, but after reviewing thousands over the years here at Lifehacker, I think long and hard before I actually work one into my daily workflow. I'm a big open source advocate—to the point of a tendency toward that "tinfoil hat" free software extremist mindset—but I will (and do) compromise for beautiful and easy-to-use software, too. It's great that you can do so much in the cloud these days, but I like to store and manipulate my own data and avoid webapp lock-in as well—so, for example, I back up my Gmail account via POP. I love tinkering with software, but I'm not as much of a hardware DIYer as my co-editors, many of whom have built their own computers.




Adam Pash, Senior Editor:

The Basics




Primary OS

I've been primarily operating in OS X since I built my Hackintosh, but I'm always running VMware Fusion (another must have) with Windows and (sometimes) Ubuntu.



Hardware

I'm using the Hackintosh as my main desktop, an aging MacBook Pro with OS X and Vista in Boot Camp, and an older Windows box that's a dedicated Media Center back-end. Then there's the Xbox 360, of course, which gets about as much tinkering time as the Media Center.


Both of my desktop computers (the Hackintosh and the Vista Media Center) were built from the ground up.


There's also my iPhone, which I use almost as much as my laptop these days.



Peripherals

After a weekend of watching a friend regularly reboot his router while I was visiting recently, I should give credit to my router, which is intermittently either running Tomato or DD-WRT. They're rock solid.


I've got a Logitech MX Revolution wireless mouse and one of the new slim Apple keyboards, both of which are very nice to work with daily. I've also got a cheap-ish Canon MP180 printer/scanner combo with a recently broken printer tray.




Webapps

Love Gmail

I'm also a big fan of Mediawiki Wikipedia




Self Assessment

I'm a big fan of anything I can build for cheaper than I can buy it. Hardware DIY gets easier and easier every year, and I've managed to do just fine for myself without ever picking up a soldering gun or anything of the sort. It's all much easier than most people think.



Kevin Purdy, Associate Editor:

The Basics




Primary OS

I honestly split my time between Windows Vista and Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04). Up until recently, I'd been almost exclusively running Hardy (which I've openly professed my fondness of) with a wirelessly synced iPod touch, but I can't get my dual monitor setup working in Hardy, and iPhone 2.0 put a nix on the second-for now.



Hardware



A five-year-old desktop I built myself , now doing light testing duty with XP installed

, now doing light testing duty with XP installed A Lenovo ThinkPad T61P (dual-booting Ubuntu and Vista)

(dual-booting Ubuntu and Vista) My parents' old desktop, turned into a multi-function home server (converted with help from Gina's guides this starting point

(converted with help from My wife's Compaq Presario laptop, which suffers its fair share of guinea pigging




Peripherals



Linksys WRT54G (ver. 6) router : Big mistake, considering I have to wince every time Adam finds a new Super Router firmware (like Tomato DD-WRT

: Big mistake, considering I have to wince every time Adam finds a new Super Router firmware (like HP Deskjet 825c : Hooked up to the home server for remote printing (from every system except Vista, of course).

: Hooked up to the home server for remote printing (from every system except Vista, of course). iPods : I've got an old 4 GB mini, the wife has a 4 GB nano, and I'm constantly tweaking my 8 GB touch.

: I've got an old 4 GB mini, the wife has a 4 GB nano, and I'm constantly tweaking my 8 GB touch. LG LCD monitor: Originally for the old desktop, now a dual screen for the ThinkPad.




Webapps

I use quite a number of them, but the main ones are:






Self Assessment

I'm obviously a big fan of open source and free software, as you can probably tell from the lists above. I chose and customized my laptop in large part for its Linux-friendliness, and I'll always favor software and webapps that can be accessed from any computer. In general, though, I can never leave well enough alone-a good trait in writing for this site, I'd think-and while I'm pretty satisfied with my current array of tools, I'm thinking a few lower-tech, real-world productivity tools-index cards, anyone?-could probably find a useful home somewhere in my system.



Jason Fitzpatrick, Contributing Editor:

The [Free] Basics






The [Paid] Basics





Primary OS

My primary OS is Windows XP. I'm usually in some state of tinkering

with OS X (working on a Hackintosh just for kicks), and Linux. I find as time goes on that with Linux I'm less tinkering with the limited free time I have to play with it and more enjoying it. Linux has really matured since I first installed it in 1994.




Hardware

I used to be an avid computer builder. As far as my primary machine for daily use goes, I usually just purchase a machine that's on sale and throw a bunch of RAM and hard drives in it. I don't game much anymore, so my rig doesn't need to bleed speed. All of that said I have a ton of parts and I often strip down computers before people send them off to be recycled so I have more than enough motherboards, hard drives, etc. to build all the random projects I set my mind too. The level of parts in my workshop has reached a saturation point actually, and it is extremely likely that my next computer will be built from them with a few newer pieces thrown in.



Peripherals

I don't really have any peripherals that I love... except my Logitech Trackman Wheel. I've been using a Logitech Trackman for over 10 years now and I love controlling the entire movement of the mouse with just my thumb. If Logitech announced they would no longer be producing the Trackman, I'd go out and buy a stockpile just to be safe. If we're being a bit looser with definition of peripherals, I'm quite fond of my Windows Mobile phone, the HTC Apache, it's a rather common WM phone but I like having a device I can customize and tweak to my heart's content. I frequently use the BuildOS program from PPCGeeks.com to rebuild my entire phone and try new things.




Webapps

The only web apps I use with any consistency are Gmail and Google Reader. I also use SmugMug to catalog and share media with family and clients and Mozy to back up data. For my Windows Mobile phone I use the service DashWire to conduct remote backups of contacts and other data.



Self Assessment

My computer usage reflects strongly on my general personality. I don't use many social networking tools, I'm not the kind of person that Twitters the minute details of their life. I share my personal pictures on a password-protected site only for family, not on Flickr. When I'm working I use a pretty Spartan set of tools which helps me stay focused. Google Reader to distill my feeds, Firefox to help fling me about the web, a simple calendar, contact list, and to-do list in Outlook to sync with my Windows Mobile phone. And when I'm goofing around instead of getting work done I'm all over the map experimenting with new software, dubbing foreign films, playing in Photoshop, building a TiVo clone out of spare parts from my workshop bins, trying out new tweaks on my XBMC, etc. I love experimenting and playing with computers, I've just come to a point in my life where I have enough of a time crunch that I have to be careful to fence off the "Let's see what we can solder to this!" part of my love for computers from my "Let's get some work done and pay the bills!" part.




Tamar Weinberg, Contributing Editor:

The [Free] Basics



Notepad2 LH favorite Notepad++

Pidgin : I'm a fan of purple penguins and find Pidgin's options easily configurable for my needs. I also use a very old version of AIM with DeadAIM because the GUI is oh-so-nice. By the way, Digsby is on my list of apps to try!

: I'm a fan of purple penguins and find Pidgin's options easily configurable for my needs. I also use a very old version of AIM with DeadAIM because the GUI is oh-so-nice. By the way, Digsby is on my list of apps to try! Irfanview

Firefox : Firefox 3.0.1 is a terrific browser, and unlike 3.0, this baby doesn't crash at all on my computer.

: Firefox 3.0.1 is a terrific browser, and unlike 3.0, this baby doesn't crash at all on my computer. VLC Media Player




The [Paid] Basics






Primary OS

My primary operating system at this time is Windows XP Pro. Ah yes, a Mac OS would be nice, but I've been procrastinating on making the plunge! Windows XP does what I need. Additionally, I run a Fedora 9 box in the corner of my apartment and am always SSH'd into it to tinker around with the system.



Hardware

My main computer is a Dell XPS M1710 laptop, but I built the two desktops I use (they run Windows XP and Fedora 9). I test Lifehacker software on another old Dell laptop. I also have a MacBook Air that I haven't yet used. I know Gina is going to kill me when she reads this.




Peripherals and Gadgets



Samsung ML-2010 : Really the family printer of choice, and we like it because of the network printing capabilities. I'm a big fan of getting up to gather my printouts days after I print them out!

: Really the family printer of choice, and we like it because of the network printing capabilities. I'm a big fan of getting up to gather my printouts days after I print them out! Flip video : I'm new to the video world, but the Flip has proven to be a small yet affordable camcorder that produces quality results.

: I'm new to the video world, but the Flip has proven to be a small yet affordable camcorder that produces quality results. Treo 755p : I've been using Palm OS for almost 10 years now and can't really fathom moving over to a Windows Smartphone.

: I've been using Palm OS for almost 10 years now and can't really fathom moving over to a Windows Smartphone. iPod touch : I once wished for an iPhone without the phone. Then, Apple announced the iPod touch. All it needs now is more storage space.

: I once wished for an iPhone without the phone. Then, Apple announced the iPod touch. All it needs now is more storage space. Lots of external hard drives: I've suffered way too many hard drive failures to risk losing data again, so I have more than a terabyte of data stored on external hard drives in the event that my main drives fail.




I don't use other peripherals on a regular basis primarily because my desk is my lap and my office chair is a couch. There's not much you can use here without things falling all over the place.



Webapps



Gmail : I really like Gmail, especially since it now supports IMAP. I have four tabs of Gmail for the three accounts I use (three of which are on Google Apps for Domains). Really, who doesn't like Gmail?

: I really like Gmail, especially since it now supports IMAP. I have four tabs of Gmail for the three accounts I use (three of which are on Google Apps for Domains). Really, who doesn't like Gmail? Flickr

Twitter Twhirl

WordPress MovableType

FriendFeed

Carbonite




Self-assessment

Much of what I use revolves around my work behavior, since I'm tremendously focused on using the computer for all work and no play (if I play, I'll go with a console of some sort-my Wii and Xbox360 get some nice face time when I have a spare moment). I'm somewhat old school but I love to try new things provided that I don't have to install them on my computer (well, for the most part).



Now it's your turn...

Readers, what are your preferred freeware, shareware, and commercial apps? What gadgets and peripherals tickle your fancy? Which webapps do you use consistently? Share your all-time favorite recommendations in the comments.