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Recommended Tech for Students 🎧📱

2019-03-26 · Tech review, setup or bag tour · Ali · recording, 10:01 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Tools, apps and tech (also: Books and reading) · mode: Review and recommendation · tags: Aimed at students, His medical past, Family, Sponsor segment present

Junior doctor Ali recommends five pieces of tech for students and everyone else: a mirrorless camera (his Sony A6000, the most valuable purchase he has made, for its memories), a Kindle, lamps on remote smart plugs, noise-cancelling headphones and a Bluetooth speaker; he still calls a laptop essential for students and announces Not Overthinking, the new podcast with his brother.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Sponsor mention, intro, and why a phone and a laptop are skipped as essentials

  • ★ Ali introduces himself as a junior doctor working in Cambridge. — 00:00:00 · Cambridge
  • ★★★ Ali thinks a laptop is pretty much an essential purchase for students: you can just about get by with an iPad Pro, but with a lot of sacrifices. — 00:00:00 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali counts a phone and a laptop or tablet as essentials for every student, so he leaves them out of his list. — 00:00:48
  • ★ For the best of both laptop and tablet, Ali says students can get a Microsoft Surface. — 00:00:48
  • ★★★ Ali recommends a mirrorless camera rather than a DSLR, because mirrorless cameras are small and compact enough to take anywhere. — 00:00:48
  • ★★ Ali says the Sony A6000, a few years old, now costs less than $300, and a decent lens for it about $200 to $300. — 00:00:48 · Sony A6000

00:00:58 — First: a mirrorless camera, the Sony A6000, and the memories it captured

  • ★★ Ali's Sony A6000 let him make high-quality YouTube videos from the start and, far more importantly, captured a ton of memories from medical school. — 00:01:27 · Sony A6000
  • ★★ Ali says the iPhone XS Max has a pretty good camera, but it is not as nice as a real camera for capturing moments. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ Ali thinks a camera is the single most valuable purchase any student, or anyone, can make, because the memories it creates are priceless. — 00:01:56 · Sony A6000
  • ★★ Ali calls a camera worth every penny and says the earlier a student gets one, the happier they will be in the long term. — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — Second: the Kindle, friction to reading, sleep, buying books, highlights and Readwise

  • ★★ Ali calls the Kindle the second most valuable purchase of his life and recommends it to everyone, not just students. — 00:02:26 · Kindle
  • ★★★ A Kindle reduces the friction to reading, Ali says: kept in a bag or on the bedside table, it is as easy to take out as a phone, so you read a book instead of scrolling. — 00:02:55 · Kindle, friction
  • ★★ Reading a Kindle in bed improves sleep hygiene compared with a phone's light, Ali says; for the last few years he has read in bed until tired, then fallen asleep. — 00:02:55 · Kindle
  • ★★ Reading on his Kindle in bed gets Ali at least half an hour of reading every day, and over his six years at university a ton of books that added value to his life. — 00:03:24 · Kindle
  • ★★ A Kindle also reduces the friction to getting a new book, Ali says: whenever he hears a recommendation on a podcast or from a friend, buying it on Amazon takes him three seconds. — 00:03:24 · Kindle, Amazon, friction
  • ★★ Ali no longer looks at the price of Kindle books, because the possible return on investment of a book is so high. — 00:03:24 · Kindle
  • ★★ Ali read on Kindle the three nonfiction books from his video on books that changed his life; at maybe under five pounds each, their effect was worth the price of hundreds of books. (hedged) — 00:03:54 · Kindle
  • ★★ For non-fiction readers, Ali calls the Kindle's highlighting feature incredible: he highlights any passage that resonates with him. — 00:03:54 · Kindle
  • ★ Over the more than ten years he has used a Kindle, Ali has made about 1,500 highlights. — 00:03:54 · Kindle
  • ★★ Ali recommends Readwise, a website that emails you five of your Kindle highlights every day: not spaced repetition, he says, but a good way to come across ideas that once resonated with you. — 00:04:23 · Kindle, spaced repetition

00:04:30 — Sponsor read for Dashlane

00:05:32 — Third: lamps and a remote smart plug set for a warm university room

  • ★★ Ali thinks lamps are the single biggest thing that adds warmth to a room, especially to university rooms, which are often Spartan in decor. — 00:05:32
  • ★★★ Since being social is a good thing at university and people will hang out in your room, Ali says make the room welcoming and friendly; the big ceiling lights rooms come with are generally not good. — 00:05:32
  • ★★ For his six years at university Ali had at least four lamps in his room and pretty much never turned on the big lights. — 00:06:01
  • ★★ Ali recommends a set of remote-control smart plugs, which he bought about three years ago for about £20 for four on Amazon: plugging a lamp into one makes it a smart lamp. — 00:06:01 · Amazon
  • ★★ Remote smart plugs are a very cheap way to a smart lamp setup, Ali says, without spending hundreds of pounds on Philips Hue bulbs. — 00:06:31 · Philips Hue

00:07:00 — Fourth: noise-cancelling headphones, instrumentals and work mode

  • ★★★ Ali recommends a decent pair of headphones, preferably noise-cancelling. — 00:07:00
  • ★★★ Ali works only to instrumentals, as lyrics get in the way of working memory; the evidence suggests not listening to music while studying, but he finds it much more fun. (hedged) — 00:07:00
  • ★ Ali's Spotify playlist Study With Me holds his instrumentals from film and TV soundtracks and piano pieces. — 00:07:00 · Spotify
  • ★★★ When working Ali puts on his headphones with music such as the Lord of the Rings soundtrack to get in the zone, and finds a pair kept for the work zone really useful. — 00:07:00
  • ★★ Ali calls the noise cancelling of his Bose QC35 headphones amazing; they are a bit expensive, but cheap pairs exist too. — 00:07:45 · AirPods

00:08:10 — Fifth: a Bluetooth speaker, the UE Roll, for movie nights

  • ★★★ Ali recommends that everyone get a Bluetooth speaker of some sort. — 00:08:10
  • ★ Ali bought his UE Roll speaker for about £60 about four years ago; it went everywhere with him as a medical student and now sits in his bathroom. — 00:08:10
  • ★★ At medical school Ali and his friends held Game of Thrones nights around a laptop on placements or on the monitor in his room, always with his speaker connected. — 00:08:10 · Game of Thrones
  • ★★ Even with ten people around a laptop, Ali says, decent loud sound from a portable Bluetooth speaker magnifies the experience. — 00:08:40
  • ★ Ali recommends a proper set of desk speakers for anyone who spends a lot of time at a desk; otherwise a Bluetooth speaker can serve as the room's speaker. — 00:08:40

00:09:21 — Wrap-up and the new podcast Not Overthinking

  • ★★★ Ali says everyone, and especially students, should get his five pieces of tech: a mirrorless camera, a Kindle, lamps, noise-cancelling headphones and a Bluetooth speaker. — 00:09:21 · Sony A6000, Kindle
  • ★★★ Ali and his brother have recently started a podcast, Not Overthinking, at notoverthinking.com; one episode is out so far. — 00:09:21 · Not Overthinking, Taimur Abdaal

Threads in this video

  • restate · Can an iPad replace a laptop? — Ali thinks a laptop is pretty much an essential purchase for students: you can just about get by with an iPad Pro, but with a lot of sacrifices. (00:00:00)
  • restate · Which tech is worth buying? — Ali thinks a camera is the single most valuable purchase any student, or anyone, can make, because the memories it creates are priceless. (00:01:56)
  • refine · Which tech is worth buying? — Ali says everyone, and especially students, should get his five pieces of tech: a mirrorless camera, a Kindle, lamps, noise-cancelling headphones and a Bluetooth speaker. (00:09:21)
  • restate · Should you read on a Kindle, on paper or by audiobook? — Ali calls the Kindle the second most valuable purchase of his life and recommends it to everyone, not just students. (00:02:26)
  • refine · How do you read more books? — A Kindle reduces the friction to reading, Ali says: kept in a bag or on the bedside table, it is as easy to take out as a phone, so you read a book instead of scrolling. (00:02:55)
  • restate · How do you read more books? — A Kindle also reduces the friction to getting a new book, Ali says: whenever he hears a recommendation on a podcast or from a friend, buying it on Amazon takes him three seconds. (00:03:24)
  • restate · How do you sleep better? — Reading a Kindle in bed improves sleep hygiene compared with a phone's light, Ali says; for the last few years he has read in bed until tired, then fallen asleep. (00:02:55)
  • refine · How do you decide whether a purchase is worth it? — Ali no longer looks at the price of Kindle books, because the possible return on investment of a book is so high. (00:03:24)
  • restate · How do you remember what you read? — For non-fiction readers, Ali calls the Kindle's highlighting feature incredible: he highlights any passage that resonates with him. (00:03:54)
  • refine · How do you remember what you read? — Ali recommends Readwise, a website that emails you five of your Kindle highlights every day: not spaced repetition, he says, but a good way to come across ideas that once resonated with you. (00:04:23)
  • refine · How do you make the most of university? — Since being social is a good thing at university and people will hang out in your room, Ali says make the room welcoming and friendly; the big ceiling lights rooms come with are generally not good. (00:05:32)
  • restate · Should you listen to music while studying? — Ali works only to instrumentals, as lyrics get in the way of working memory; the evidence suggests not listening to music while studying, but he finds it much more fun. (00:07:00)
  • refine · How do you improve your focus? — When working Ali puts on his headphones with music such as the Lord of the Rings soundtrack to get in the zone, and finds a pair kept for the work zone really useful. (00:07:00)
  • launched · Not Overthinking, Ali and Taimur's podcast (2019) — Ali and his brother have recently started a podcast, Not Overthinking, at notoverthinking.com; one episode is out so far. (00:09:21)
  • refine · How should you set up your desk? — Ali recommends a proper set of desk speakers for anyone who spends a lot of time at a desk; otherwise a Bluetooth speaker can serve as the room's speaker. (00:08:40)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Kindle · Sony A6000

Also: People: Taimur Abdaal

Projects: Not Overthinking

Works: Game of Thrones

Organizations: Amazon · Facebook · Instagram

Concepts: friction · spaced repetition

Places: Cambridge

Products: AirPods · Bose QuietComfort 35 · Energie Remote Control Sockets · iPad Pro · iPhone XS Max · Microsoft Surface · Philips Hue · Readwise · Spotify · UE Roll

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