Ben's Education & Tech Blog

I recently published my review/thoughts on the iPhone 6s Plus and I mentioned in that review ( found here ) that I had paired my Android Wear watch with my iPhone. That review was long enough and I thought that my thoughts on using Android Wear with iOS would be worth a separate post. 

I have been a fan of technology for as long as I can remember. In fact my job for the past several years deals directly with the efficient and effective use of technology in education. Being a fan of tech it might be interesting to note that I have never owned an iPhone. I have owned several Apple products including an iPad, but I haven not had that for several years now. iPhones and iPads are owned and used in great numbers by educators and people everywhere and they often have questions or issues with these devices like any other.

Recently, I switched jobs and I'm now working at St. Norbert College. (Also I do not speak for St. Norbert this is my opinion only) It's been a great move for me so far. I knew there would be differences between K-12, where I have been for the past 14 years, and Higher Ed. I have also had the privilege of teaching in Higher Ed at both Marian College and Wisconsin Lutheran College so I'm familiar with what is going on in Higher Ed.

If you have been using Chromebooks at all for the past few years, you have likely come across one of the excellent models from Acer.  Acer was the one of the first Chromebooks to offer an Intel Chip and the C720 and it’s variant was and still is one of the best Chromebooks to date. In fact we have one and my wife is using it as her main computer for school and surfing the web.  Acer has released many models with varying screen sizes, color options, and even touch screens.  This review is going to focus on Chromebook 13 CB5-311.  

The Toshiba Chromebook 2 is an interesting computer.  It runs Google’s ChromeOS which gives the CB2 quick updates to the newest software, and it has some really great features too.  However, there are a few issues with the CB2 as well, but for a price right around $300, it is difficult to be too hard on the CB2.  Luckily thanks to Technology Resources Advisors ,  a technology hardware distributor out of Milwaukee,  I was able to test the Chromebook 2 out for a few weeks.  Technology Resources Advisors is a great company to work with and they have an amazing Chromebook leasing program if your district is looking to go 1:1.  Be sure to check them out and let’s dig into the review.   

     Around 1995, my Dad purchased the family our first computer. It was a Compaq and it was amazing. I could play games like Warcraft, write papers at home, and surf the internet using AOL. The internet opened up all kinds of new possibilities for me. In fact, I used the internet to purchase a new processor and additional RAM for the Compaq so I could play better games and do things faster. I didn't tell my Dad what I had done until afterwards. Thank goodness it worked!