Jim Rossman | Tribune News Service
August means back to school, and if you’ve got kids or grandkids going off to college, technology will be a very important part of their personal and school lives.
Laptops or tablets will be the important, of course, but here are some ideas for things that can make their lives a bit easier, depending on their needs and fields of study. As usual, I’m posting list prices. You may well find them a bit cheaper if they are on sale.
Wacom One 13 Touch tablet
Wacom has been in the digital tablet business for decades, and their newest tablet is the second-generation Wacom One 13 Touch.
If you are not familiar with Wacom, they make digitizing tablets for computers. You use a digital pen to draw on a surface, and that drawing is shown on the computer screen.
The Wacom One takes things up a notch by combining their digitizing tablet with a touchscreen monitor. This setup lends itself to easily creating freehand artwork on your computer.
The 13-inch display supports multi-touch, so you can use your fingers to zoom in or out and rotate the work as needed. The pen is pressure sensitive and doesn’t need batteries. It has two buttons and interacts with all the big drawing and graphics apps.
These tablets are not just for graphics and artists; they’re perfect for people who are more comfortable taking written notes.
The fact that the One 13 Touch is also a second monitor means it can make the user more productive.
The One 13 Touch is $599.99 at Wacom.com.
Baseus GaN Smart USB Desktop Fast Charger 240W
The Baseus GaN Smart USB Desktop Fast Charger 240W. (Baseus/TNS)
Every dorm room needs a charging spot. The Beseus Digital GaN Intelligent Desktop Fast Charger is a multi-port USB charger that can pump up to 240 watts through its four ports to keep all your devices charged as quickly as possible.
There are three USB-C ports and one USB-A port, as well as a 12v DC output.
The charger has a digital display to show the exact amount of power being provided by each port, as well as the total output being used.
This charger has the capability to fast charge your MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone as fast as possible. It also ships with a 240W USB-C fast charging cable.
The 240W Desktop Fast Charger costs $199.99 from Amazon.com.
Cuktech 20 Power Bank
The Cuktech 20 Power Bank. (Cuktech/TNS)
USB power banks are either small and lightweight or they’re a bit beefier and have greater charging capacity. Either way, it’s great to have the ability to charge your devices when you’re away from a convenient power outlet.
The Cuktech 20 Power Bank falls into the beefy category with 25,000 milliamp-hours of power and up to 140W of output and three USB ports (two USB-C and one USB-A). 25,000 mAh is the largest battery you can legally carry onto a commercial airplane.
What sets the Cuktech 20 apart from every other power bank is its color display that gives real time readouts of what’s going on in and out of each port. The batteries inside are rated for more than 1,000 charge cycles.
The Cuktech 20 includes a USB-C charging cable that’s also used to recharge the battery.
The size of the power bank reminds me of a large soda can, and it comes with a nice bag to carry the battery and any cables you’d want to carry.
The Cuktech 20 lists for $99.99 at Amazon.com.
Poly Voyager Free 20 earbuds
The Poly Voyager Free 20 earbuds. (Poly/TNS)
I work at a university, and since the pandemic, we’ve had to get used to hybrid classes, which means they happen in a classroom and online live via video conference at the same time.
Having a good set of earbuds with great sound and microphones means you can take part in those online classes without disturbing your roommates.
Poly is a great brand in the headset market, and the Voyager Free 20 have active noise canceling with three mics in each earbud. They have really nice sounding speakers, with four different tip sizes so you can perfect the fit for the best sound quality.
They can pair to two devices at once, so you can move between your phone and your computer seamlessly.
The Poly Voyager Free 20 earbuds are available at Amazon for $149.99.
Jim Rossman is a tech columnist for Tribune News Service. He may be reached at jrossmantechadviser@gmail.com.
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