This post is sponsored by Lenovo but all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

The pandemic has posed a myriad of problems for working parents with school aged kids; one of the biggest being distance learning. We’ve been lucky in that our kids have been going to school in-person this fall, but with cases rising, Mazzy is going back to virtual starting today. With Mike and I both working from home, that means we’ll all be sharing the WIFI again, which posed a big issue for us last Spring.

At the house, our WIFI simply can’t accommodate four people using it at once, even after we upgraded our entire system at the start of the pandemic. Everything gets super slow and sometimes won’t work at all. Often, someone will get kicked off in the middle of class or a meeting, or a whole area of the house will suddenly lose access. The WIFI definitely favors some areas of the house over others. For instance, my preferred workspace is the upstairs guest room, but for some reason, I seem to get last priority when it comes to internet speed.

At the apartment, we have a different problem. The Wifi works great, but we do not have enough space for everyone to work effectively and separately. We’ve got a master bedroom, the kid’s room and the living room. Those are the only three rooms; one less workspace than necessary if all four of us need to concentrate. When it’s just the three of us, Mike takes the master bedroom, Mazzy takes the kids’ bedroom, and I take the dining room table. If you add Harlow to the equation, then someone has to relocate and that person is usually me.

In the past, I would just go to a coffee shop with WIFI and do my work there, but of course, that’s not a possibility at the present time. The only communal spaces safe to work are park benches and the street. I’m not making a joke. I saw someone on our block who had set up a table, chair and laptop to work outside on the sidewalk.

At the time, I thought— I wonder how he’s getting WIFI?

A few weeks ago, I found out exactly how you can set up an office in the middle of literally nowhere. Lenovo contacted me to test out their new Flex 5G laptop.

The Lenovo FLEX 5G is the world’s first PC with 5G connectivity, designed exclusively for Verizon. It’s super-fast, portable and efficient thanks to a 2.84GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 8cx Compute Platform which enables download speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second! That’s 10 times faster than a 4G data connection. This means you can connect, share and stream virtually anywhere.

The battery uses 60% less power than the previous generation, so you can enjoy up to 25 hours of video playback with no need to bring along an extra charger. It also stays cool, which means no need for a fan. No fan means the Flex 5G is super quiet.

The Flex 5G is also very sleek and portable, weighing in at just 2.9 lbs., making it perfect for travel. I’m looking forward to using it on long car drives to stream movies for the kids. They love that the 14-inch FHD wide-angle display is also touchscreen, which makes it easy for them to use themselves in the backseat. It also comes with front-facing Dolby Atmos® speakers, so I can hear the movie in the front seat if I want.

Mike got especially excited when we got our hands on the FLEX 5G, because he realized sooner than I did that a 5G laptop solved a lot of our problems. Mike likes to use it because it’s working on a separate network than the kids, so their usage doesn’t interfere with his.

I like to use it for Zoom calls on the roof (a place where I can get privacy but would usually not have WIFI access) and for getting work done in the car while we drive out to the house. I even ordered Hanukkah gifts from the car last weekend! Mazzy and Harlow have been using it to play online games with their friends and to stream movies on the go.

All in all, my family couldn’t be happier with this new addition to our virtual arsenal. Being able to work from literally anywhere feels like the Ultimate Flex during such a crazy uncertain time.

SPECIAL OFFER:

The past year has been tough to navigate for working parents, so I’m thrilled to partner with Lenovo to offer $400 off their new Lenovo Flex 5G! Redeem your discount here.