This week hardware is on my mind.

I'm sure that most of you that work in software development have hardware needs. Perhaps it's a single development workstation (laptop or desktop) that you use on a regular basis and have configured to meet your needs. In many of the companies where I've worked, the developers have often had the best hardware, to allow them to compile software as quickly as possible. That doesn't always work out well as this practice has masked performance issues that clients experience, but I certainly have enjoyed getting more RAM, larger monitors, and fast disks sooner than most employees.

I think many of us that work in technology are hardware geeks. We like the idea of working on the latest and greatest computer technology available. Early in my career, I negotiated for a larger monitor when interviewing for a few jobs, getting a large 20" beast back when most people had 14" (or smaller) CRTs. At Redgate, we try to spend wisely, but we don't skimp on hardware. I've had some nice laptops across the years, which doesn't please my wife. I end up spending personal money to upgrade my desktop so it continues to match (or exceed) laptop performance. I wrote about a rebuild last year, and I may actually add a new (4th) monitor (to match a recently acquired video card).

Some companies actually give employees a hardware allowance every year or two. That's quite nice, and it's a great perk if you can get it. I think this is mostly from smaller companies, but in larger companies I have had managers that will let me upgrade my systems periodically. Outside of new monitors, your upgrades of RAM or storage won't incite jealousy in your co-workers. That being said, on one of my first visits to the Redgate Software offices I saw people with three monitor. One of the first things I did when I returned home was to visit MicroCenter and purchase a third monitor (and a new video card).

I have no shortage of friends that regularly upgrade their hardware. When I want a desktop upgrade, I usually ask Glenn Berry for advice, and he's published some thoughts on his blog. I'd like to see him do this regularly as there always seems to be someone looking to upgrade or replace their system. My son got advice a few years ago from Glenn on building a gaming machine and the hardware bug bit him. He didn't go as all out as Erik Darling wrote this week, but he did spent over $1200 last year upgrading his setup. Fortunately it's his money, and he doesn't have to explain himself to anyone. I'm slightly jealous of his hardware right now.

A few months ago Allan Hirt blogged about his mobile lab, which is always interesting to me. Allan travels a lot and it always concerned with power and weight. He's one of the people I usually query about mobile hardware when I'm looking for something new. While I don't need the number of VMs that Allan runs, I do find myself starting to need 3-4VMs running for some presentations and keep an eye on Allan's setup. This week I also found Klaus Aschenbrenner had assembled a new mobile lab for his workshops. With 128GB of RAM!! I don't need that much, but at 1500g (3.4lbs), that's quite impressive. I'm drooling a bit, although I don't really need that much power. I might settle for 32GB and run three VMs with 8GB each.

It's kind of amazing how hardware continues to change and grow. While I am not as active as others in the hands on replacing of hardware, I do get excited by upgrades. However, the system ultimately just needs to work well for me. I learned long ago to treat servers like cattle and not worry too much about any individual set of hardware. The system just needs to work and should be easily replaceable. I've started to treat laptops this way as well. As much as I want fast, reliable hardware, I work to ensure my data and configuration is backed up so that I can quickly change to a new (faster) machine and be up and running quickly.

If you're a hardware geek, let us know what your setup is and what you recommend. If you've got a blog, write a post and leave a comment here with a link back to your setup.