 Chromebooks have come a long way since their days of being class clowns. Those clowns were clunky, underpowered, and frustrating to use. Now, modern Chromebooks can be the teacher's pet. They participate in class, complete all assignments, and are ready to help out whenever needed. This is the Chromebook Flex5i, an affordable Chromebook sent to me by Lenovo. I'd like to show you these settings I positively have to customize right away when moving into a new Chromebook. I first turn up the screen brightness. No need to strain my eyes trying to see the screen. Screen brightness affects battery life, but this Chromebook has plenty of life. My eyesight isn't what it used to be. I increased the cursor size, making it easier to see on the display. I also changed the touchpad speed. I like my mouse to zip pretty fast across the screen. I'm used to reverse scrolling, so I change the scrolling direction. Now dragging down on the trackpad of two fingers scrolls upward, like what happens when you pull down on a touchscreen. I prefer my computer to lock when I walk away from it. When I set up the Flex5i, it asked me if I wanted to turn on lock to leave. If I move away from my computer, the screen will lock automatically. Now I do set it so that I can enter a pin instead of having to type in my ridiculously secure Google password. If I don't turn on lock to leave, I can use the keyboard shortcut of the launch key and L to lock the screen. I can unlock by touching the fingerprint reader. Yes, this Chromebook has a fingerprint reader. The Chrome extensions I have already installed on another computer follow me to the new one. If they didn't, the most important one to me is Digo. It's an old website where I've been tagging bookmarks since 2006. Changing those default settings work better for me. Let's look at ways the Chromebook Flex5i has helped me out. Modern Chromebooks charge with USB-C. That's the charging port that so many devices use nowadays. So I can use the charger I have with me or is already in the room. The Flex5i has one USB-C on the left side and one on the right side. This is brilliant because I can plug the charging cable into either side. Since I work in many different classrooms, it's nice that I can plug in on the side that makes the most sense. This computer has one USB type A port. My presenter remote uses this type of port, so I don't need an adapter. It plugs directly in. I do need an adapter to mirror or extend my screen to an HDMI TV or projector. Lenovo makes an adapter, but I think any USB-C to HDMI adapter works. I can plug the adapter into the port on either side of the computer. A Chromebook can either extend the display, which uses it like a second monitor. Or it can mirror, which duplicates what's on the computer screen onto the second screen. As a teacher, I often want to mirror. Other times, I want something different on my computer screen, like presenter notes, or I might want to check something on my computer while I have something else showing on the screen for the class. It's easy to toggle between mirroring and extending with the keyboard shortcut of control and the display key. That display key is really nice to have, pressing it without holding control down, hides Chrome's toolbars and tabs. Students don't need to see all this when I'm mirroring my screen for them, so it's great to have the ability to streamline what's shown with a press of a button. Another handy button is the screen recording button. Pressing this brings up a toolbar where I can choose between a screenshot or screen recording. My shot or recording can be full screen, a selection, or a window. For recordings, I can choose to record the microphone and or camera. I click the screen to take the shot or recording. It's saved into my downloads folder unless I set it to go somewhere else. Screenshots and screen recordings are built into the Chrome operating system, no extension and no app is required. The Flex5i can flip around and go into tablet mode, and the Flex5i can use Lenovo's USI pen for precise writing. I like to use Canvas whiteboard and mirror what I do on the whiteboard for students to see on the classroom screen. It has an infinite canvas, so I can zoom and scroll and never run out of space. Also in Canva, I can upload a PDF and write on it. Again, great when mirroring. As a substitute teacher, I often find myself taking a photo of a student work page so I can write on it. And if the room has a Chromecast, I can roam around cord free while showing my screen. Now I want to personally tell you more about the Chromebook Flex5i. The keyboard lights up. This not only looks cool, but is great for working in a darkened room. The stylus pen has two cool settings. It can be used as a laser pointer on any screen, or it can be a magnifier. Unfortunately, the laser pointer and magnifier do not show up in a screen recording. The Chromebook Flex5i can run Android apps. That opens up a lot of possibilities. But really, the Flex5i is great for using Google Workspace. I create drawing lessons and challenges for students called ShapeGrams. I created this entire challenge on the Chromebook Flex5i. The keyboard was nice to use, the trackpad was zippy, and the screen was bright. And I had plenty of battery power. There are lots more ways a Chromebook, and particularly the Chromebook Flex5i, can be your teacher's pet. This Chromebook works hard. So hard, in fact, it can get quite hot to have directly on my lap. And there's a bit of a fan noise sometimes. I like to think of it as, purring. It's a small price to pay for having a teacher's pet that happily does so much for me.