As a devoted techie I regularly update my tech gear. Since I am in education I work most my tech around items that can help me communicate with my students or generate content for them. Here is my current edition.
Bag – Standard Targus Backpack - I like this backpack. Not only does this backpack have a significantly padded laptop pouch, it is just chok full of little pouches and cubbies that help me organize the ancillary equipment. In addition to tech duty, the bag also makes an excellent daypack and diaper bag for those tech free days with my daughter.
Primary Laptop – Dell Studio 15 (Best Buy edition) - I picked this laptop up earlier in the year as a replacement for my first generation (Dothan era) Centrio Compaq notebook. This laptop is my primary work machine (though not my gaming machine) and as such its primary characteristics have to be connectivity and battery life. The innards of the machine are pretty standard Centrino 2 fare (though not labeled as such due to Dell’s propriatary wireless card) and it preforms smoothly for all of my major tasks (office work, multimedia production, web editing, etc). The wireless card is phenomenally good at both reception and speed (even with my ancient home wireless router) and the Dell extended battery gives me a solid 6-8 hours of casual use.
Secondary Laptop – HP tc4200 Tablet PC – I recently purchased this laptop refurnished to help with presentations and serve as a digital whiteboard. The machine is a Sonoma era Centrino laptop that I have upgraded to 1.5 GB of RAM and Windows Vista (so much better for Tablet PCs than XP). This is a great machine for its purpose and serves well as a lightweight laptop when I don’t want to carry the larger 15 inch Dell.
Old-Fashion Tech – Steno Notebook and Papermate Pen - Something about the split Steno pads fit my note-taking style to a tee. The Papermate pens are cheap and write beautifully.
Presentation tech – IOGear Wireless USB to VGA kit - This wUSB addon gives me a range of about thirty feet on a standard PowerPoint presentation yet still allows for easy wireless access during the talk (wireless connection systems always screw this part up). This together with my tablet gives me a large amount of creative freedom during presentations.
Transfer – SanDisk Cruzer 4GB USB stick as Backup to Dropbox
Cellphone – Sony Ericsson z750a (AT&T, hacked to original SE OS) - Even though this isn’t a smartphone it has many of the features I need in a small package with a long battery life. The original SE OS has an excellent POP/IMAP client built-in (AT&T replaced this with a neutered Webmail App) and with the java GMail client (which can process Office files) my quick-email connections are covered on AT&T’s network. Adding Mobipocket for java allows me to use my phone’s QVGA screen as a quick and dirty ebook reader. The only downside is the lack of a dedicated keyboard, but with prerecorded responses I can handle probably 90% of student emails. In a pinch the phone also can serve as a modem for either of my computers or as a backup MP3 player.
Office Software – Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 – I like Office 2007 and the fact that I get a free load from work doesn’t hurt. One of the best programs is OneNote, since it makes for a great digital whiteboard that can be downloaded to the students as PDFs.
MP3 Player – Creative Zen 2 GB with 4 GB SDHC card – This little player has fabulous sound, light weight and allows for exanpsion.