Top tech for college students
With college about to start, there are a number of tech products which are considered essential for students. Here are a few of the most important pieces to take with you to college so you have everything you need right at your fingertips
Life on a college campus has gone digital. According to a study by CourseSmart and Wakefield Research in 2011, 73pc of college students said they would not be able to study without some form of technology. Over 80pc used technology to research and write assignments, 70pc said they use tech to take notes in lectures and 65pc said they use digital devices to create presentations.
Clearly technology is an essential part of college life. But, what tech does a student really need to make their learning and social college experience that much better?
1. Laptop
At the very top of the list of most essential pieces of technology, is a high-quality laptop. This will be your main piece of technology for writing essays, research and presentations. Not to mention, streaming shows and films, and browsing social media.
There are a number of things to consider when choosing a laptop for college. The first is what you need the laptop for. If you are studying design you might need a highresolution screen and a screen which doubles as a tablet. If you need to do a lot of research, an Intel® Corei5 or i7 processor helps you multitask and keep many programmes and internet tabs open with no lags.
With the complex specifications and tech jargon out there, it can be hard to choose which laptop is right for you.
Declan Kenny, Head of Commercial for Curry’s PC World (www.curryspcworld.ie), says, “Some of the most important things students need to consider when choosing a laptop is screen size and weight to make sure it is portable to carry to lectures, memory so it’s optimal for storing files and assignments, and battery life so students don’t need to always rely on their charger.”
There are also several factors to consider when deciding between a Mac and PC. These include, but are not limited to pricing, the operating system, suitability of the device for its function, ease of use and integration with your existing devices.
“We would advise those on the market for a new laptop or computer to visit a Curry’s PC World store and talk to one of our team,” says Declan. “They can help them find the right PC for their needs. Curry’s PC World have different new term deals each week. One of our deals is the LENOVO IdeaPad 14” Intel® Pentium® Gold, priced at just €359. It’s light with a long battery life and 128 GB of SSD storage – perfect for any college student.”
2. Printer
This might not seem like an essential, as there are college printers on campus. But, that leaves your printing needs up to chance. You don’t want to go to print your essay and find a queue at the printer five minutes before you need to submit the assignment, so owning your own printer takes a lot of that pressure off.
here are lots of printers which also double up as scanners and photocopiers which come in handy with college documents, so all your needs are taken care of in one machine.
3. Headphones
From listening to music in-between classes, to catching up on your recorded notes in the library, headphones are a must. According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report from 2017 on student listening habits, the average student under 40 years old tends to listen to headphones on a daily basis for more than one hour per day. Walking, travelling, reading, relaxation and concentration were some of the top reasons why people wear headphones.
Bluetooth headphones, which do not require a plug-in wire, are great for those who want to move around while listening to music or an audiobook and not worry about wires being pulled out. Classic headphones with a wire are suitable for those sitting at their computer or studying and are a solid choice if not moving around too much. If you need to work and are continually distracted by the noises around you, noise-cancelling headphones could be the perfect choice. Some branded headphones can go for hundreds of Euro, but there are plenty of cheaper headsets with all your requirements.
4. Hard drive
When entering third level, you will have a significant increase in the levels of work you have to complete. A higher level of workload and a faster turnaround, means you need more storage to save your work. There are many horror stories of thesis students losing their small USB stick drives onto which they saved their months of research, so an external hard drive can come in handy when you want some peace of mind.
A hard drive can be either a physical, portable drive which can hold up to 1TB in storage, or a cloud-based storage drive such as Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive. External laptop drives are slim and you just need to hook them up to your computer to transfer files, however, they can be expensive with large storage devices selling for over €100. While a cloud service can have anything saved to it without any external devices, larger file storages require a monthly or yearly subscription. So, make your choice depending on your current budget and what you need to save.
5. Smartphone
According to Statista.com’s compiled data on smartphones, the number of mobile phone users in the world is expected to pass the five billion mark by 2019 with an estimated 62.9pc of the world already owning a mobile phone.
Samsung and Apple lead the market on smartphones, followed by Google, Huawei and Lenovo. A smartphone is an essential part of everyday life, even for those with no technical skills at all. It is important to know exactly what you need from your phone as you will be using it more than any other device on a daily basis.
If you require a buildable storage, a device with SD card slots might be the way to go. If you feel you need to research and write on your phone, a stylus pen could help you along the way. Or, if gaming and watching movies on your phone is what you need to get through college, it might be better to choose a phone with a larger screen size. It is all up to your own requirements.