Tech for everywhere you work
The lightest laptop ever and affordable, stylish earbuds are among 7 ‘best in class’ gadgets for working at home, at school and at the office
Shock-rocker Alice Cooper wrote the song lyrics “No more pencils, no more books” 50 years ago. And those words hit the mark today.
Instead of books and binders, students are now all about Bluetooth, blogs and broadband — especially with home-based learning still part of the equation as time may be split between the classroom and the kitchen table this fall.
Digital devices are more conducive for virtual lessons, annotating textbooks PDFs, and creating rich multimedia presentations.
Not surprisingly, these same productivity tools — laptops, HD webcams, backup storage, and wireless scanners — are just as relevant for parents getting back to the grind after a summer break, with the prospect of leaving home office set-ups and heading back to the office for the first time in 18 months.
With this in mind, the following are seven “best in class” gadgets for back-toschool and back-to-work season.
> Size matters: If you (not so) affectionally call your old laptop the “Backbreaker 3000,” you’ll no doubt be impressed with Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go (from $759), the lightest Surface laptop ever at 1.1 kilograms (and less than 16 millimetres thin).
Whether it’s to tote around the house, condo or apartment, or to take back-andforth to school or the office, this Windows 10 PC — and with a free update to Windows 11 this fall — features a 12.4-inch touchscreen, 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, and up to 13 hours of battery life.
Some models offer a fingerprintenabled power button to instant authenticate you when powering on the device.
> Power play: If your work or school applications are more demanding — such as requiring more horsepower, faster graphics processing, or a larger display in which to better multitask — the HP Omen 15 (from $1,749) is a workhorse of a machine by day, and a cutting-edge gaming laptop by night.
Forgive the geek speak, but we’re talking
about an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics, 16GB of RAM (system memory) and 1 terabyte of solid state storage.
Speaking of gaming, the 15.6-inch full HD display offers a fast refresh rate to keep up the action. á What’s up, dock? Speaking of computers, the thinner these laptops get, the fewer the connectivity ports they have alongside of them.
Anker’s 5-in-1 USB C Adapter ($49.99) is a smart accessory, as this one hub lets you connect multiple devices to your Windows, Mac, or Chromebook laptop, so long as it has at least one USB Type-C port.
Specifically, this slender silver device offers instant expansion, adding two full-size USB-A ports, 1 HDMI port (to connect to a monitor, TV or projector), a micro SD card slot, and a regular sized SD card slot.
A travel pouch is included, too. á Pretty in ink: There are several pain points when it comes to most computer printers: Ink tends to run out at the worst times (like the night before a school essay or sales report is due), expensive cartridges don’t yield a lot of ink, and all that plastic could unnecessarily end up in a landfill.
Instead, Epson EcoTank printers (from $299) include enough ink to last up to two years out of the box (yes, you read that correctly). And when it’s time to replace it, they’re relatively inexpensive bottles that last up to another two years. Epson EcoTank models are also a copier and scanner.
You can print from several wireless devices and even use your voice (via a smart speaker) to print on demand, such as saying “print lined paper,” “print graph paper,” or “print a calendar.” á Sound advice: Wireless earbuds aren’t just great for handsfree talking in a group call with classmates (or colleagues) but also ideal for listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks while commuting to and from classrooms or an office.
While priced too high for most students, Sony’s diminutive WF-1000XM4 Wireless NoiseCancelling Headphones ($399.99) are best-in-class — yes, even when up against Apple’s AirPods Pro ($329) — but cost-conscious shoppers won’t be disappointed with House of Marley’s Redemption ANC True Wireless Earphones ($129).
Crafted from bamboo and exclusive Regrind silicone and wood fibre composite, Redemption ANC (which stands for active noise cancellation) delivers well-balanced low, mids and highs, in a sweatproof and weather-resistant design. Battery life tops five hours between charges, but stretches to 20 hours with the rechargeable carrying case. á Back it up: While not as sexy as a thin laptop or wireless earbuds, a backup solution is incredibly important for both students and employees.
Any number of things can happen in a flash: a hard drive malfunction, nasty virus, theft, fire, flood, or damaging power surge, and the next thing you know your computer’s important documents (and irreplaceable photos and home movies) are gone in a flash.
The WD My Passport 5TB USB Portable External Hard Drive ($149) is a smart offline solution since 5 terabytes (about 5,000 gigabytes) is a ton of storage; there are no monthly subscription fees to worry about (as is the case with “cloud” storage), and you can download free Western Digital software to automatically backup the contents of your PC or Mac every night when you’re not on your machine.
Plus, you can keep the drive plugged in to easily access files from it, as it offers up to 5,000 Mb/s data transfer speeds. á Speak to me: Finally, an affordable smart speaker like the Google Nest Mini ($69) is an ideal gadget for a dorm room or home office, as it dishes up an on-demand personal assistant, whenever you need one.
You know the drill: Wake up your Google Assistant by saying “OK Google” and then ask a question or give a command.
Your trusty virtual companion will answer you clearly in a soft female voice, as “she” provides homework help, calendar appointments, reminders and alarms, weather info, your favourite music, news and much more.
Or use your voice to control your smart lights, a Wi-Fi thermostat, and other supported home tech. Or make free phone calls to any Canadian or U.S.
number.
Can’t find your smartphone? Ask your Google Nest Mini to make it ring (even if it’s on silent). Available in a four colours (Chalk, Charcoal, Sky and Coral), Google’s latest doughnut-shaped (and wall-mountable) smart speaker is 40 per cent louder than its predecessor, and is now made from recycled materials.