Vincenzo Raco

Uses

The hardware, software, AI tools and games I use day to day.

Workstation

  • 16” MacBook Pro, M1 Max, 64GB RAM (2021)I was using an Intel-based 16” MacBook Pro prior to this and the difference is night and day.
  • Windows, 32GB, i7 14700K, RTX 4080 OC 16GBI've built this desktop to have a private local AI.
  • Uquinix MQ80My current keyboard.
  • Apple Magic MouseHated by many, it still is the best mouse for an Apple computer.

Development tools

  • PhpStormFor me it is a complete IDE with great support, fast adapting to changes in PHP, with everything I need for development of a large project.
  • ZedA very fast, lightweight code editor. I use it for code review and simple changes.
  • KakuMy terminal.
  • TablePlusGreat software for working with databases.
  • TableProA solid alternative to TablePlus. It runs on every platform and the free tier is more than enough.
  • UTMI keep my freelance and personal work separate. Each gets its own VM, and both share a folder on the host OS.

Design

  • TailwindUII am not a designer. I rely heavily on tools that offer a great design that I can copy-paste and adapt to my projects. TailwindUI is by far the best at design and inspiration.
  • shadcn/uiCustomizable UI components I can adapt to my projects.
  • ReUII bought the Pro license and I'm very happy with it. The blocks are polished and work out of the box, and the free components are excellent. Happy to support the project.

Productivity

  • SafariFor personal browsing.
  • HeliumFor development.
  • TinkerwellIf you are a Laravel developer, you will be amazed by how much time Tinkerwell saves you!
  • FastmailI used Fastmail for years, switched to Proton Mail and regretted it. Now I'm back and loving it.

AI

  • ClaudeI'm not a fan of "vibe coding" and never will be, but I like having a personal assistant and code reviewer, and for that Claude is the best so far. I delegate some coding to it, but I always review the result.
  • ChatGPTI used to use it because it's cheap, but Lord, the stress it causes. It's like talking to someone constantly distracted, who understands half of what you say, has no expertise in any field, yet acts like a know-it-all.
  • OllamaAI is being used a lot, but privacy is a concern of mine. Ollama offers great features to use a local AI.

Games

  • World of WarcraftPlayed a bit when I was younger, I rediscovered it with the launch of the Dragonflight expansion.
  • EA Sports FCI've been a FIFA player since 2000.
  • No Man’s SkyA space exploration game.