My Gear 2025

You can take a look back at last year’s gear here:

My Gear 2024

there were/are some major changes happening with my assortment.

Surface Duo 2 – My ‘Google’ phone. This as a ‘secondary’ or backup phone. It has all the Microsoft apps installed on it and is connected to my Microsoft 365 production account. Most importantly, it has the Microsoft Authenticator app for MFA access for certain apps. I also have the latest Microsoft Surface pen which I really like. It is probably the best ‘electronic scribing’ device I have used.

Unfortunately Microsoft has decided to no longer support this device and effectively end support for it as detailed here:

The Surface Duo is dead

The Surface Duo has lamentably always been a bit of second class citizen in the Microsoft ecosystem and was never widely supported by consumers. Personally, I always liked the device but as a phone it wasn’t ever really going to work in that form factor and that severely restricted its penetration.

I will give credit to Microsoft for trying something different and trying a different approach from the standard form factor but who the Duo was aimed at was never really clear which did make it much harder to penetrate a very competitive market. I am sad to see it discontinued, but I understand why it has been.

Given that it is now unsupported means I need to start considering a supported Android device to replace this. I’m not going to throw away my Surface Duo 2 but I need to consider something that can maintain the latest version of Android so I can test with Intune policies. I am in no rush to do this but I will need to start thinking about a replacement.

iPhone 12 Pro Max – This remains my main mobile device still. It still has a number of cracks on the screen but it still does what it needs to do. The device lives in a Quad Lock case and I have Quad Lock mounts for both desktop and car, which I highly recommend and make life easy.

With Apple’s announcement of Apple Intelligence and its need for more powerful devices I was tempted to upgrade the phone but as I understand it the bulk of Apple’s new features are not yet available and when they fully launch they will require an even newer (as yet unreleased product). So, I’m still holding off upgrading this phone as it really does all I need to do currently and the investment in a new Apple device is not cheap. A basic iPhone 16 pro Max would be around AU$2,150 which I honestly feel I wouldn’t get full value from.

One thing that remains configured my iPhone for is default grey scale display. I do this for two major reasons, firstly to prevent the phone from grabbing and holding my attention and secondly to save power. With the colours disabled on your phone it is amazing at how les tempting it is to play with it and use it as a crux when you are bored.

The great thing I will say about about Apple devices is their battery life. My experience is that this allows them to work for years and years, providing great value.

So for now, unless this device breaks, I’m in no rush to replace it.

Surface Pro 9 – This is my travelling and demo machine and replaces the Surface Pro 6. Having a dedicated travel machine makes it easy to grab and also to only have the software on it that I need. By that I mean I’m not installing random stuff on it to test.

I like the size and also the fact that it comes with with a Surface pen, which is handy as I discovered that the Surface Pen also works on Surface Hubs! (Great when the Surface Hub pens don’t work).

I do most of my demos on this machine as well as Teams webinar work as it is nice and quick. This machine runs Windows 11 Enterprise.

I did consider replacing this machine with a Copilot+ PC but again can’t see the real benefits unless one of my other production Surface devices dies. Yes,Copilot+ PC is a better device. Yes, it has longer battery life, etc etc but am I really going to notice that day to day? Probably not. Starting at around AU$2,000, like a new phone, that is lot to pay for something for which I already have hardware that effectively does the same job and from what I understand there isn’t much software that takes advantage of the NPU. Of course, if one of my production machines were ti fail then I would certainly consider Copilot+ PC but for now, like the phone, I prepared to wait for later generations of devices to appear.

Surface Pro 7 – This is my main desktop machine. Being the same form factor as the Surface Pro 6, it just slotted directly into my Kensington SD7000 Surface Pro Docking Station I already have in place. This machine runs Windows 11 Enterprise.

A problem has developed with this device where the screen goes blank below where the mouse cursor is. That makes using the device really, really annoying. I have multiple monitors connected to this device but being unable to use one screen intermittently is a productivity killer. It doesn’t happen all the time but it happens often enough that I think I really should replace it.

The downside of going to another Surface device is that it won’t fit in my Kensington SD7000 Surface Pro Docking Station which I really love. So if I upgrade this machine, I need to do away with the docking station as well.

Apart from the screen occasional screen issue this machine does the job it needs to. Sure a newer machine might run a bit faster but is the extra purchase price justify what would probably be only a small incremental gain? Currently, I don’t think so. Thus, until this device gives up the ghost it will probably remain as my main machine.

Surface Pro 6 – My backup machine. I use it pretty much every day as an adjunct to my main machine. It lives on my secondary Kensington SD3500v docking station connected to a full screen and acts as my backup in case my main machine fails or is unavailable for some reason. This machine run Windows 10 but could run Windows 11. I haven’t upgraded as yet because I want to maintain at least one production machine on Windows 10. With the end of life of Windows 10 coming in October 2025, I will probably have to upgrade this machine.

This machine is becoming noticeably slower to work with and takes much longer to boot up and run applications. Once these are all ‘fired up’ it is fine, but it is noticeably slower than the more modern Surface machines I have.

I did have an Benq PD3200Q-T monitor on this device but the power supply failed and to replace it would cost more than a new monitor so it went to recycling. The replacement monitor, a Samsung 32 Inch S39C FHD Curved Monitor (1920×1080) bought from Amazon unfortunately being bought in a rush, doesn’t have the same screen resolution as the original Benq, which is annoying at time when I have to full screen the application window when I never used to. I bought a curved screen to see if they really made any difference to my viewing experience but feel it hasn’t really.

I would like a higher resolution monitor as I had before with the Benq (a lesson for next time), but for now the Samsung does the job and if I did buy a new monitor where would I use the Samsung? For the price, I’m happy enough with the Samsung but for the next monitor purchase I will be more careful about getting a monitor with a higher resolution.

Surface Pro X – I use this machine as a ‘lite’ travelling desktop as well as a whiteboarding machine for demos and training. Give that it comes with the Surface Pen and has a nice large screen and will lie flat it makes the prefect device for scribing. I also use this device for writing note into places like OneNote. Perhaps not the most effective use of the device but it beats the iPad when it comes to scribing hands down in my books. This machine runs Windows 11.

This is another machine that I haven’t used as much as I want to, however it is fit for purpose in the role that it plays for me now. Also, given it is an ARM processor I’m interested to see whether maybe I can get Copilot+ PC features on that down the track when Microsoft opens these up. I doubt it as the process isn’t probably capable enough but let’s wait and see.

Surface Pro 3 – Continues to work fine and function as a test machine in my production environment. This machine has now been removed from my production network and operates stand alone. It does this so it can run my IoT project work. I found that with the security I have on my production network that I could not easily operate the IoT software I needed so the simple solution was to remove it from the production network and use it stand alone. This machine is slow and clunky, but for now it is doing the job it needs to. This machine is not suitable for Windows 11 and thus still happily runs Windows 10.

This device is now around 10 years old! and has been great value over that time and continues to do so for me. It goes to show how long modern devices live for.

Surface – I have had an original Surface version 1 for many years now. The keyboard has long since broken by the system still works fine, although somewhat under powered with only 4GB of RAM. This machine is now a dedicated device on a separate test tenant. This allows me to test Autopilot and other settings on it regularly. This machine is not suitable for Windows 11.

iPad mini 5th Gen – I decided I wanted a smaller ‘notebook’ size table to use like a paper diary, amongst other things, so I went out and bought an iPad mini.

I also now use this iPad mini with the Apple pencil, which generally works well, although the Apple pencil battery is pretty much knackered. The secret is to get a good case for both the iPad mini and the pencil. My choice was:

Finite Case with Pencil holder

which I’d certainly recommend as it is flexible, tough and cheap.

The only major downside of the iPad mini is that battery life is a lot less than the full size iPad, which is understandable. I have however never run out of juice but you do notice the power levels fall away quickly when compared to the full size version. I like that the iPad mini comfortable fits on my desk, works will with the Apple pencil and is much more transportable than the larger version. I was a little concerned that the screen size would be too small to enjoy movies and read web pages, etc but that hasn’t proved to be the case. I happy use it lying back on the couch to watch a variety of programs and read web sites.

After a number of years the Apple Pencil doesn’t really hold a charge any more. That is disappointing, although I appreciate it doesn’t have a huge battery. This has again increased the friction with me finding a suitable replacement for a paper notebook because every time I want to write something down, I need to charge the pencil up which takes ages.

Here is another device that works well and really has no need of a replacement but I have considered upgrading to a current iPad mini but again, I’m struggling to justify the AU$800 cost when the existing device is more than fit for purpose. Even if I did buy a new iPad mini what would I do with the current device?

D-Link Wireless N300 Model Router DSLG225 – to allow connect to the NBN broadband network.

Ubiquiti – I have a variety of Ubiquiti equipment in place including a Security Gateway. All these have worked flawlessly and I can’t recommend this gear highly enough.

Docking station – I still love my Kensington SD7000 Surface Pro Docking Station. It is a really neat device, that suits most modern Surface Pro devices. It is slim, compact and now allows me to have 3 external monitors off the one Surface devices (as you can never have enough screen now can you eh?). I can plug in all my devices, microphones, phones, etc to it and all the cables are hidden at the back. I also like that you can adjust the screen up and down, a bit like a Surface Studio.

If I did upgrade my Surface pro 7 device it could not be used with this dockign station which would be sad. Seems to me all the docking station form factors have moved to just being external bricks rather than the elegance this solution provides. being unable to use this docking device upon a device upgrade is a major reason preventing me from upgrading if I’m honest.

The original Kensington SD3500v has now moved to work with the Surface Pro 6 and that is also working well

Xbox One S – Still use it to watch YouTube, Netflix and Amazon video and playing some games, but not many.

Apart from a new monitor for the Surface Pro 6 my gear remain pretty much the same and functioning reliably. Some items, such as the iPhone and iPad Mini, I am considering upgrading but struggle to justify that given the existing equipment is working fine. It is too easy to buy new hardware because it is new. I’ve tried to discipline myself to ask whether it will in fact make me more productive and what will I do with the old device, which more often than not is still working.

I do see the need to replace the Duo with a supported Android phone in 2025, but again I don’t see a burning need to do that. In short, unless something breaks I can’t see me buying any major new pieces of hardware in 2025.

Understanding AI

I am not a big fan of the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ because I really don’t believe what we see today can be truly be classified a ‘intelligence’ but for the sake of consistency I will run with the pack and use the terminology that is out there already.

Clearly, there is a lot of hype in and around AI. It permeates businesses from the smallest to the largest. The thing that we do know for sure is that no one can predict with certainly where the future lies. Honestly, this AI wave seems to be a lot like the cloud computing wave back in the early 2000’s. If this AI stuff follows the predictable historical pattern then my guess is that 2025 will see the peak of inflated expectations as most providers of AI try and generate real ROI for their AI investment dollars.

This, of course, doesn’t mean that AI is going away. However, I do feel that we will see greater ‘real world’ incorporation of AI into everyday business. I came across an idea that I believe will hold true in 2025 that every entity will soon have it’s own AI agent that will act of its behalf. This means individuals, businesses, brands, etc will have their own autonomous AI agents that will conduct business and manage things automatically and intelligently.

This shift to a world full of AI, to me, is a very similar to what I saw with the move to the cloud as I said. That means that in the long term AI is simply going to be a part of the technology landscape and we’ll take it for granted now as we do with using apps on our phone connected just about anywhere to our data. However, while we are still in the growth phase this represents a business opportunity I would suggest.

I was lucky enough to understand the change that cloud computing would bring to the landscape almost 20 years ago now and I see much the same opportunity today. You have to parse you way through the hype and drill down into the business benefits, but I do see them in the not to distant future for just about every business. The starting point I would suggest is to deepen your understanding about not only the technology but also its impact, especially what problems it will solve.

As always, education is the key and I have been doing my best to educate myself. So far I would suggest the following book as the best I have come across so far:

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma – Mustafa Suleyman,
Michael Bhaskar

and this interview with Mustafa as well, who in fact is now the AI CEO for Microsoft!

Mustafa Suleyman on the coming wave of AI

Unfortunately, as with the move to the cloud back all those years ago, I’m again seeing a hesitancy by SMB IT professionals, MSPs and technology providers from adding AI to their portfolio of skills and services. This, I feel will place them at a great disadvantage as the wave gathers momentum. It is much easier to ride in front of the wave than trying to paddle and catch it. Independent of any bet on the technology, looking at it in pure business terms, I would suggest it is largely green fields and if few are taking advantage then it is generally a risk that is well worthwhile. It is rare that you make good money doing what everyone does. Thus, doing what few are doing is probably the path to greater profitability I would suggest.

It seems to me that most SMB technology providers are most comfortable when they are doing what all their peers are doing. This leads to a commoditisation of these services are there is little differentiation between what different providers offer. I would suggest that you don’t need to throw away everything that you are doing today, however you should take a pragmatic approach and determine what is the least profitable part of your MSP business and stop doing that and replace with something few due, such as AI. We all know that to maximise returns, you should review your portfolio regularly and sell the loss makers. There is also room in most portfolios for an amount of risk. Not 100%, but a certain amount to potentially reap larger rewards. Was Bitcoin a risk back 10 – 15 years ago? Sure, but good judgement would have told you not to bet your house on it. However, a small amount of capital invested in this risk asset would have paid extremely handsome dividends today. As the old adage says ‘you need to speculate to accumulate’.

As I said, education is key and in many cases for traditional MSPs this will also mean a pivot from purely hardware, infrastructure and licenses to using code to solve problems. Luckily, there is an abundance of training and tools to be taken advantage of, with many being free. It is never too late to learn if you have the desire. However, desire without discipline is dreaming. Discipline is planning. Discipline is consistency. Discipline is the differentiator that will separate those who benefit from the AI and those that will again fall behind and struggle to keep up with change as it accelerates even faster than it did with the shift to the cloud.

Success is a journey. It is hard work but importantly it is achievable with nothing more than discipline. You have can give yourself more chance of success by supporting disciple with process, planning and review. If it is challenging for your business to adopt AI and pivot, then it will be the same for every other business. That should inspire you because it means if you can make it happen, then most will not because they fear that same challenge and will not take action. The funny thing is that the action required is generally far less onerous that you think once you actually get started. Overcoming the initial inertia is what keep most people rooted in place. Overcome that initial inertia and you are well on the way, and in fact I would suggest it will be mostly downhill from there. The trick is, just get started.

Fate provides us all with opportunities to succeed. Most procrastinate and say they will be ‘ready’ to begin tomorrow and thus it passed them by because fate waits for no one. You need to make yourself ready for the opportunity that something like AI provides. That comes with commitment and discipline as well as risk of course, but in my books it is a risk well worth taking because standing still is falling behind when it comes to technology. I have seen it before and the chances are that it will play out in a similar way. No one knows for certain but what you do for sure is give yourself the best chance of taking advantage of that opportunity through something as simple as education.

It seems clear that, like the cloud, AI will make the technology landscape a very different place in a few years. However, the question is, will you and your business still be the same as it is now? The answer to that, I would suggest, will determine your success.

My Stuff 2025

This post is my annual post aimed at bringing the links to everything I have out there on the Internet together into a single place. Here we go.

About me

Summary – http://about.me/ciaops
Website – http://www.ciaops.com/
Email – director@ciaops.com
Microsoft Teams – admin@ciaops365.com

Social Media

Linkedin – http://www.linkedin.com/in/ciaops
X – https://www.twitter.com/directorcia
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/ciaops

Free Stuff

Regular technical and business information, tutorials, walk throughs, learnings, upcoming courses and more.

Blog – http://blog.ciaops.com

Here you’ll find currently almost 200 videos full of tutorials on SharePoint, Office 365, Azure and technology.

YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/directorciaops

Presentations and whitepapers for free download.

Github – https://github.com/directorcia/general/tree/master/Presentations
Slideshare (archive) – https://www.slideshare.net/directorcia

Documentation for older versions of SharePoint on premises, especially the free versions and those that came with SBS.

Windows SharePoint Operations Guide – https://github.com/directorcia/general/tree/master/Archive/WSSOPS

Cloud lecture series is a set of free tutorials, training session and so on that I have provided over the years:

https://www.ciaopsacademy.com/p/cloud-lecture-series

I have number of free GitHub repositories that include things like PowerShell scripts, pricing calculators, reference documents, helpful links and more. You will find all these at:

https://github.com/directorcia/

I maintain a GitHub repository that contains not only links to articles on best practices for services like Exchange Online but also contains configuration files and settings typically in JSON format that can be imported and used to configure your Microsoft 365 environment. You will find all that here:

https://github.com/directorcia/bp

With over 330 episodes and now in it’s 15th year, my podcast focuses on providing you news and updates from the Microsoft Cloud around Microsoft 365 and Azure.

Need to Know podcasts – http://ciaops.podbean.com

You can subscribe using iTunes or Spotify. If you’d like to be a guest or know someone who would, please let me know.

Need to Know webinars are held monthly and announced on my blog. These are conducted using Microsoft Teams on a topic around the Microsoft Cloud.

and subscribe to previous and upcoming webinar recordings and resources here:

Need to Know Microsoft 365 Webinars

You can join my free Teams shared channel. To do so follow the instruction here:

https://blog.ciaops.com/2022/07/29/join-my-teams-shared-channel/

here you’ll find a forum on the Microsoft Cloud along with up to date news and information.

I publish a weekly round up of Microsoft Cloud news in my CIA Brief here on my blog:

https://blog.ciaops.com/tag/cia-brief/

Commercial stuff

This stuff helps pay for free stuff above, so I appreciate your support for my paid work.

CIAOPS Online training academy – http://www.ciaopsacademy.com

Access to the CIAOPS community for technical support, product discounts and access to the best Office 365 and Azure information

CIAOPS Patron – http://www.ciaopspatron.com

You can also just buy me a coffee and support what I do – https://ko-fi.com/ciaops, which I would very much appreciate.

General Interest

Australian Battlefields of World War 1 France –http://www.anzacsinfrance.com/
Kiva Loan portfolio – http://www.kiva.org/lender/robert5824
CIAOPS Labs – https://blog.ciaopslabs.com/

I’m a big believer in supporting those who want to build their own business but just need a leg up to get started. Kiva is simply and easy way to provide this and I recommend this to everyone.

Being an Electrical Engineer by trade I enjoy building and solving problems with a variety of projects. This involves digging to electronics, IoT and 3D Printing amongst other things. I try and document all of those learnings over at CIAOPS Labs when I can.

Goodreads (reading list) feed https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/708903-robert

In 2024 I read over 30 books. That means I do a lot of reading on a variety of topics and with Goodreads you can follow along with the books I’m reading as well as those that I add to my bookshelf. I’ll have an upcoming post on my recommended reads, so watch out for that post coming soon.