Guest Post by Melissa Tamura
Gadgets are no longer just for the nerdy or the computer/IT major, they are an aspect of day to day life for everyone, even outside of the campus for those perusing an online college degree. From educational to entertainment, gadgets make up a majority of our lives and without them, the stress of both school and work can be overwhelming. While many students need to have the latest gadget to fit in or feel popular, most students will find that their college career goes quicker and without as much hassle if they can get their hands on the technology that makes life easier and simpler.
While this list is by no means exhaustive or filled with the trendy, buzz worthy items that will make students popular, it does contain the items that have been proven time and time again to be exceptionally useful, functional and entertaining to college students whether they are on a budget or are spending their parents money whenever they wish.
In no particular order the following list shows the “must-have” devices that will make life easier for the average student.
- Laptop Computer; Every college student should have a laptop computer. It’s a portable workstation that is essential to a less-stress college environment. Instead of waiting around for computer lab equipment to be available, just pull out your laptop, search for a wireless connection and you are off and running. A recommended brand is the HP Pavillion dv6 series laptop. It’s powerful, robust processors and graphics capability make it an absolutely perfect machine for both gaming and schoolwork. With a price tag of around $700 it’s affordable and worth the price.
- iPhone: While there are multiple competitors for the iPhone on the market these days, the product itself remains a staple for usability, functionality and portability. Being able to download apps like Wiki Mobile, Exambusters and iHomework make the iPhone a must have for college students on the run. With its built in Wi-Fi access and decent sound recording application, it makes recording lectures easy and painless. In addition, you can quickly store the contact information of thousands of other students as well as check your social media sites all from the palm of your hand.
- External Hard Drive: The price of 1TB external drives has come down enough that every student should carry one. If you’re working in class and have to save your work, sending it to your own drive is the best option. Portable, functional and reliable, external hard drives are for serious college students who take their work with them wherever they go.
- Wii Gaming Console;:Nothing removes stress as quickly and with more entertainment than loading up a Wii game and having at it. While they are not exactly portable, they make for a fantastic free time spender and give you enough of a workout that you don’t feel guilty about taking the elevator or skipping gym in order to study during the day. They take up very little space and make dorm life a lot easier.
- Digital Pen: At first the digital pen may seem like a waste of time, with the speed of typists and recording gadgets available to most college students, but until you have a professor who refuses to allow laptops, devices, phones or other such equipment during a lecture, you really won’t understand its benefit. By taking notes with a digital pen, you can effortlessly pass your newly digital notes to your laptop or smart phone by USB cable making note taking and sharing a breeze. My recommended version is the Livescribe Pulse Digital.
- Bonus: Not exactly a gadget, but Evernote needs to become your de facto note taking and idea pad. It syncs across platforms, backs up to the cloud, and is basically a replacement for your memory.
Melissa Tamura writes about criminal justice degrees for Zen College Life, an online education blog.
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Jeez, when I was a student we had a notebook and a sliderule (Google that one youngsters!)
Interesting to read Melissa's thoughts on the digital pen as I spend a lot of my day job in meetings and if it gets a bit boring then I could start writing notes for the blog and appear productive and interested at the same time.
I know, right? I'm thinking the digital pen would be fabulous for
conferences, meetings, and even client calls. I can jot down notes a lot
faster than I can type when I'm on the phone. I could also take a
digital pen on road trips and write while I'm in the car. There is
something therapeutic about writing , but I see no reason why it can't
be digitized!!
Oh, and sliderules? I haven't actually used one, but my dad uses several
similar tools in his business. Different results, and each for a
different project, but the same concept. I'm sure there are digital
versions of these now, but he likes the ones he can hold in his hand. I
would just hate to have to carry them all around campus when I could
maybe have an app on my phone that would do the same thing!
I'm still pretty young so when I went to school I ad a few of these things. I dint' have the iphone but I wish I did. Perhaps I don't wish that because I would have paid less attention in class I'm assuming.
I'm 30 and I have never heard of a digital pen it sounds interesting I an going to Google one and read more on it. I was lucky enough to have a laptop. It wasn't mine but it worked well and I pretty much had it all of my three years.
Man this makes me want to go back to college I hate working for a living. Nice write up Melissa.
I'm not a student so I won't comment. Won't go for the iPhone, too expensive here. Digital pen I might like. Wii is just all round fun
I knew times had changed but this post makes school really sound like big fun. My fondest memory of a gadget back then was the then advanced….
solar powered calculator, which we could not even have in class.
I want to get my hands on an iPhone, but I'll wait for the next generation (of phones I mean).
I can't imagine being in school and not having a laptop and HP does have some sweet deals.
Thanks for the tip about Evernote. How does it compare to LiveWriter (I tried this one but I didn't like it)?
you know as a 2nd time college student (take 7 years off programming its easier to go back to school and catch up with technology) really the only thing you have to have is not on this list, its a decent size jump drive. Now from this list the things that are nice to have is the notebook and external drive. in all of my in class classes (not the online ones) there is already a computer hooked right up to the net on my desk. Now I am taking computer programming, game design and graphic design classes so we do our work right there- hence the need for a jump drive a min of 4 GB for 4 classes I would say. Now having a notebook with a decent size hard drive is helpful, I use this in my game design class because I have the most current software while the computers at school are a version behind.
As far as a digital pen, really a waste of time, most teachers already have a print out of all the class notes on the class website- hence no one takes notes
Now for me I have to exchange the Wii for an XBOX since that is the platform I program for- but a very close second to the notebook in the need category.
As a mother of twins about to go off to college– I LOVED this post! Thanks Erica!
I'm against video games… they're complete time-vacuums, discourage real-life play and interaction, etc. But, the Wii is something I wouldn't mind having. It's more family/group friendly in that everyone can play a sports game together. I'm also really interested in the Wii Fit since I can't seem to find a gym with good hours…
HEHE. Ah yes, the solar powered calculators… dad wouldn't let us touch his cause they were too expensive and he needed it. Pretty sure he allowed his students to have one in class, but maybe just cause it was engineering.
Ileane, I don't use EverNote myself, but my husband does and he loves it. Melissa (who wrote the post) seems to like it too.
I'm still in the notepad (as in the real thing with a real pen/pencil) phase. I like actually writing things down and crossing them off.
Great addition to the list, Tracy! I couldn't live without my jump drives and I'm not a student. I can imagine they come in handy, especially when the computers are already in the room. I helped teach a graphic design class to some high schoolers and the class was held in a computer lab. We required them to bring their own jumpdrives and to store all their files on them.
The credit goes to Melissa for the fabulous post! So glad you liked it. So, you making the girls share laptops and the Wii? hehe
In today's time every person wants his life to be cool and easy.He does't like any kind of interference in his life.
The five devices would really make life easy.Thanks for sharing such type of beautiful ideas.Great job.
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