I thought it would be great to have a permanent little spot on our site where I share the latest and greatest tech that we use personally. I’ll keep updating this as we upgrade the items that we use. It’s no secret that I love technology, which would explain why this list is pretty long.
Each one of these items has the official and imaginary stamp of approval from yours truly, and I would one hundred and ten percent recommend each item to my friends, family, and of course-you! If you choose to purchase one of these items I would be so grateful if you used the provided affiliate links.
Everyday tech
Here are the items that we use on a daily basis for blogging, checking email, and sometimes even phone calls. I’m still on the fence on whether I would recommend purchasing my personal laptop or not, so I’ll leave it off this list. Of course, I said that, and then my laptop decided to wait until I was almost done with this list to crash and make me start from scratch. Yay, technology. Anyway, here are my favorites!
Nexus 6
We both have the Nexus 6, and it’s a wonderful device. It has a very simple user friendly Android interface, pre installed with Google apps like Chrome. The real impressive part is the giant 6 inch screen. It also has a 13 MP camera and two front facing speakers for amazing music streaming.
Check out my review – Where to purchase Nexus 6
HP Pavilion Notebook
This is AJ’s everyday laptop, it’s pretty big and bulky so I would only truly recommend it for home use. It’s 17 inch screen is worth it though, especially because It has touchscreen capabilities. This is also a great option if you’re looking for a new laptop with a disc drive. Read my full review here.
Check out my review – Where to purchase HP Pavilion
Moto 360
My Android smart watch. I wake up and slap this watch on my wrist and I use it until I go to sleep, actually, I use it then too. On it’s charging dock it functions as kind of a old school digital light up alarm clock. What does it do? It shows me my phone notifications, this way I can decide whether the notification is worth replying to from glancing at my wrist instead of digging out my phone (then undoubtedly getting distracted by other things on my phone.) I can also Google things and even buy things on Amazon. It’s ridiculously useful.
Check out my review – Where to purchase Moto 360
Nikon D3200
Our trusty DSLR, this guy has lasted a good 3 years and it’s still working perfectly. We use it for all of our blog photos as well as filming all of our videos. The D3200 is no longer available to purchase, the newer version of this camera is the D3300, but I really want to purchase the D5500 in the near future.
Where to purchase Nikon D3300 – Where to purchase Nikon D5500
Zoom H4n
Our handheld sound recorder. We use it for recording crystal clear audio for our videos, and we plan to use it in our upcoming podcast. It’s a fabulous piece of equipment and it doesn’t break the bank at the $200 price point.
Office and Printing
Our office isn’t used everyday, but it has some epic pieces of tech in there! It’s also our own little print center. We’re in the middle of a remodel down there at the moment, but I’ll update this with pictures soon. Spoiler alert: It looks awesome in our work cave.
HP Sprout
This is so much more than a computer, it has a huge 23 inch touchpad that let’s you scan and customize almost anything you can think of. It’s also amazing entertainment for preschoolers, Aliceana loves using the touchpad to color or play piano.
Dremel 3D Ideabuilder
Owning a 3D printer is ridiculously fun. This Dremel will only set you back $1000, and the possibilities are truly endless. Everything is ready to go and preinstalled so you can go from unboxing to printing in minutes.
Where to purchase Dremel 3D Ideabuilder
HP Envy 4500
We don’t print things often, but it’s nice to have a great all in one printer for when we do. I love the HP Envy. It even has it’s own interface so you can print fun printables straight from the printer, perfect for entertaining little ones while getting work done. It’s really affordable too, you can purchase for about $100.
Where to purchase HP Envy 4500
Ink and filaments from 4inkjets
I don’t dread when the low ink notification pops up, or when our 3D printer filament needs a replacement anymore, why? I found a green and much cheaper option for purchasing printer ink. 4inkjets has great price points, you can read more at the link below or just head to their website to see for yourself.
Purchase ink and filaments without breaking the bank – Read what I think about 4inkjets!
Tablets
I bet you can guess the member of our family who uses tablets the most. Yes, of course the preschooler. Now I bet you can’t guess which tablet the daughter of Android lovers uses on a daily basis. Oh no, not the dreaded…
iPad mini
She’s had a LeapPad, Kindle HD, a Nabi, and an iPad mini. Weirdly enough, the iPad mini is the most user friendly and honestly, most kid friendly out of all the models. I password protect everything she shouldn’t go into and just hide all of the settings and whatnot in a folder on a separate page. I also protect it with the kidproof case iGuy from Speck, adorable and it works great.
Where to purchase iPad mini – Where to purchase Speck iGuy
Nexus 9
I use the Nexus 9 very casually, mostly for streaming Netflix or playing games. It’s a really great tablet, and the only reason I use it so infrequently is because my phone is basically a slightly smaller model. That and my laptop is so small and lightweight that I can bring it wherever I used to bring my tablet. I have a hunch that tablets will become more widely used for small children than anything else, the touchscreen is the perfect first interface for a child to learn on and they’re typically cheaper than computers, but tablets for adults will definitely be phased out (if they’re not already.)
Sound
What do we use for broadcasting music for all night dance parties, and our TV sound system of choice?
JBL Charge 2
This bluetooth speaker does a perfect job of amplifying our favorite music, whether it’s during a backyard BBQ, listening to music when working, or while having a relaxing game night. It gets pretty loud, but the best part of the Charge 2 is how crystal clear the sound is, even when streaming music from your phone.
Check out my review – Where to purchase JBL Charge 2
Samsung 400 Series Soundbar and Subwoofer
We recently bought a sound bar. It’s pretty revolutionary. You have movie theater type sound without spending a huge amount of money and without having little speakers in every nook and cranny in your living room. Just plug it in and go and listen to great big sound. I just recently used it while playing video games, and oh, it was amazing.
Where to purchase Samsung 400 Series Soundbar
There you go, those are all of the gadgets that I’m currently using in my day-to-day life. If you have any questions, just ask away!