Gadgetory

- Hey guys this is Austin. I am always in search of my perfect tech setup, which, of course, doesn't actually exist. But what I wanna do more is share with you guys the kind of tech I am using on regular basis. Let me share the very first iteration of Austin's tech goodies, featuring the LG gram. Starting out with, we have my laptop of choice right now, it is the 2019 LG gram. If you guys have been watching the channel for a while, you'll know that I've done quite a few videos on the gram over the last few years. Of course, huge shout-out to LG for sponsoring this video. The gram, in its various iterations, have been in my laptop rotation for a couple years now ever since I first checked it out, and the reason is very simple. This is a very lightweight laptop that covers all the basics and, importantly, has killer battery life. Now, I briefly checked out the 2019 LG gram at CES where they have not only a brand-new 17-inch model. But, importantly for me, they also have a 14-inch model with a full two-in-one design. What's nice about this is that there's no penalty for using that two-in-one design. If you wanna flip it around and use it like a tablet, by all means go ahead! The gram is light enough and even does come with an included Wacom Stylus. But the important part for me is, if I wanna use it as a laptop, it is just as good as every other gram before it. And, of course, because this is a Windows laptop, it basically second nature for me at this point to wanna touch the screen. And that is definitely something this model will let me do. There's a lot more to like with the gram though. If we open it up, you'll see it's powered by the latest, 8th-generation Core i7 processor. It's backed up by not only dual-channel memory, one of which you can actually easily get access to, if you ever wanna upgrade it. But, speaking of upgrades, you also have a second M.2 SSD slot. This is not something you find on most laptops these days as the upgrade options are, well, basically non-existent. So, if you want to add more storage, it's a very nice touch. Speaking of very nice touches, we have a massive 72 Watt-hour battery with the gram. Now, this, for context, is bigger than what you are going to find on most gaming laptops, which are obviously way, way more power-hungry. With this huge cell, I'm easily able to get around 10 hours or so on a charge, and that's like max brightness and high-performance mode. This is absolutely an endurance champ, one of my favorite features of the LG gram. If you don't mind turning things down a bit, LG quotes the gram at a full 19 hours of battery for lighter use. Then, there's the other stuff. So, not only does it have a great keyboard as well as touch pad, but you also have a 1080p display, which looks nice. The only real downside here is, while it does have USB-C, this model does not come with Thunderbolt. I love to see a model with not only USB-C, but also a secondary Thunderbolt port on the side. But, the thing is, the gram really kind of serves most functions. It's not the most powerful system in the entire world like a gaming PC, but, for what I need it for, basic stuff like web browsing, writing videos, watching videos, listening to music, that kind of stuff, the gram absolutely deserves a spot in my bag. Speaking of that bag, right now, I am trying the Burton Tinder pack. This is actually something that Ken found. What it is is actually a surprisingly robust bag. It doesn't have a ton of features and a ton of extra pouches. On top of that, I also keep a pair of Final E4000s. If you guys watch Mystery Tech, you know that this is actually one of Ken's picks, well, like, six months ago or something. And I've absolutely been loving them ever since. So, on top of the headphones themselves, I also have to keep the good old dongles around because I never know what I need to plug these into. So not only do I have a USB-C headphone jack adapter, but also keep my Lightning adapter. So, no matter what device I'm testing, I can always use the Finals to listen to this music, especially if I'm on a plane. And because Myke Hurley is a terrible influence, I also have a Tornado Retro 1951. Now, I am by no means a pen addict, but, I've gotta say, I'm starting to get into it a little bit and this is one of the nicest pens I've ever owned. Get a little deeper in the bag and we have the first of a couple of little kits that we prepared. So, first of all, is the photography kit. Now, this is something that Ken originally designed for his many trips to Japan, but I've kind of expanded on it with my personal Sony RX100 Mark V. If you watch the channel for a while, you know all about this camera. But, essentially, this is my favorite pocket camera that you can buy right now. And, yes, this is the Mark V, not the Mark VI. I prefer this one, mostly because the lens is a lot brighter and it's got an ND filter. Now, on top of that, we have a series of Moment lenses, which are specifically meant, let's dig a little bit deeper in here, well, what's in this bag? With this Moment case, I can add one of the lenses, such as the telephoto, which is actually really, really quite good, and I can use this as my photo-taking machine. So, for example, a couple weeks ago, I went to the a Detroit Auto Show, and this is what I used to take all of my photos with, between the telephoto and the super-wide as well as the standard lens. So you may have noticed this giant pile of cables. Now, I'm not gonna go through all of them, but I try to keep cables for pretty much anything that I would regularly run into. So, USB-C, Lightning, Micro USB, pretty much all of that. Couple of exceptions, I do have a USB-C ethernet dongle, which is helpful. And this is the DragonFly. Now this is the, what is it called, the DragonFly-- - [Ken] Red. - The DragonFly Red. Oh, I see, red 'cause it's red. This is a really nice USB DAC and Amp, which is used to drive high-output headphones as well as to play some hi-res audio. Now, I don't always use this. Again, this is one of those things that Ken's like: 'Hey, give it a try'. But, honestly, it makes a big difference. And even with the Final E4000s that I use, it does sound way, way better. New issue is that it is a USB-A. So you use it, say, on the Pixel, you have to use an adapter. But something like the gram, I can plug it right in and be good to go. Of course you gotta have your chargers. So, first of all, I'm using the Anker PowerCore II. This has now a USB-A port, but it also has a USB-C, which is powerful enough to charge something like the gram or any number of phones. And, on top of that, we also do have, one of my favorite chargers right now, the Anker PowerCore Fusion. This guy has a pair of USB-A ports, so you can charge your phone and your watch at the same time. But, importantly, it also has a 5000mAh battery inside. So, all you do is plug it in and not only will it charge the battery inside the charger, but also will charge your phone's at the same time. This is absolutely a lifesaver. In this pouch, I keep a couple of other accessories. So you gotta have your USB-C dongle. This one, from Satechi, has been my favorite so far. Not only does it have ethernet as well as USB-A, but you also have Micro SD, full-size SD, you even have HDMI and Mini DisplayPort. This guy is absolutely killer. And, on top of that, I have the little Logitech MX Anywhere 2s. Now, I don't always use a mouse with my PC, but sometimes it's nice, especially if I'm sitting down for like a long session of like email or something, which sounds really lame and boring. A long email session?! But, yeah, this is helpful. For my long email sessions 'cause I'm apparently an old businessman. Next up, we have the good old-fashioned Nintendo Switch. Now, I'll admit I actually don't always keep this on me, but I usually, when I'm traveling, try to get a little bit of Switch time in. So, this case itself is really basic. It's just an AmazonBasics case. What I really like about my Switch are the custom Joy-Cons that we made as part of building the ultimate Nintendo Switch. These, I think, look so cool. I mean, yeah. We have a couple of other Joy-Cons I keep at the house, but these the ones that pretty much always on the Switch. Now, as far as games go, I actually try to buy most of my games physical, which is pretty much the only actual platform I do that with. But, it's nice to have everything I want right here and ready to go. Now, to keep everything topped off, we have the big guy, the Anker PowerCore 26800. Now, this guy has not only a pair of USB-A ports, but, importantly, it also has USB-C with enough power to keep the gram charged somewhat. You wouldn't wanna use it on like full load, but this will definitely help in a pinch. But, importantly, this will also keep your Nintendo Switch going for quite a while. And that my friends is everything in the current, portable setup. Like I said, this is something that changes on a very, very regular basis, but I wanna do a better job of constantly showing you guys some of the different setups I'm trying and hope that you'll get a few ideas for your own setup that you wanna build or This is not building the ultimate setup, right? That would be dumb. - [Ken] No. - Building the portable setup? - [Ken] Yes.