Back in February I was sent a Lenovo ThinkCentre m90z demo unit with the hopes that I would put it through it’s paces to see how effective it could be in the classroom. I’ve created a few short videos depicting how well it handled both Tux Paint and Google Earth, but over the weekend I decided to put it up against the biggest educational tool in a teacher’s arsenal; the web.
To be fair, I only tested a handful of websites, but I tried to cover a large swath of subject areas, and grade levels. However, the four websites I choose (Starfall, Kerpoof, Virtual Math Manipulatives, and Gliffy) represent a lot of different ways to interact with a computer, and the internet. There’s everything from media consumption and manipulation, to concept mapping and experimentation with digital simulation.
I think the Lenovo m90z is shaping up to be a great machine for lab use or student workstations in the classroom, with it’s super large screen and excellent touch response, but once again you’ll notice in the video that Windows 7 just isn’t built to be a touch-oriented operating system. Sure, it has touch built in, but the interface is still designed primarily for a mouse with it’s tiny little buttons, and tiny little menus that are difficult to target with just your finger.
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