AI that actually works — tested on real tasks, with real numbers.

I'm Nick Blokhin, a software architect with 20+ years of shipping production systems. I test AI models and tools the way you'd actually use them — on real hardware, on real work — and tell you what's worth your time and money, and where it breaks.

A lot of that is AI you run yourself: local models on laptops, mini PCs, gaming GPUs, even a Raspberry Pi. The rest is the models and tools everyone's talking about, tested the same way, without the hype.

What you'll find here:
• Which AI models are actually worth using — local and cloud
• AI on your own hardware: what fits, how fast, what it costs
• AI coding tools in real work: Claude Code, VS Code, Zed
• Honest verdicts: can a free model replace a paid subscription?

One AI signal, one tool, one MVP idea — a practical 5-minute email every week → weekly.blokhin.us