Embarking on your college life is one of the most exciting parts of being an adult. Most of you will be moving away from your homes for the first time, and finally be on your own or with your friends.
College life is easier if you are more organised and have dedicated time, space and resources. You will encounter a variety of tasks, chores and routines during your studies. Fortunately, modern technology can help with that and we have curated 6 tech gadgets that can drastically improve your life and productivity on campus.
Laptop: MacBook Air M2
Laptops are at the center of every college student’s life. It will be where you spend countless hours to complete assignments, attend online lectures, binging shows, and more.
Hence, it is important to get a laptop that can last throughout your entire programme. Apple always have a reputation for high quality products with great software support for years. Our pick would be the MacBook Air, which is powered by the fast and efficient M2 chip.
You also get a solid 18 hours of battery life and a beautiful Liquid Retina display. Apple managed to cram all that goodness into a 1.13cm thin laptop that weighs only 1.24kg, making it extremely portable as well.
Portable SSDs: Fast Storage Everywhere You Go
College life often revolve around lectures, tutorials, and lots of files and documents. While thumb drives are good enough for notes and pictures, chances are you will have to store larger files, such as videos, recordings and even files for professional software. Portable SSDs are perfect for this task thanks to its large capacity and portable size, with most weighing less than a smartphone.
Wireless Earphones: Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen)
Aside from the library, your campus is going to be a bustling, yet noisy place. You would want to be able to study or have some “me time” without any outside distractions. A good pair of earphones could go a long way to help you “get in the zone”. It should block out some of the outside noise, but also have good audio quality for those chill beats to help you stay focused.
It’s 2023, and you should also ditch the cables and go wireless, which is also perfect if you are commuting between college and your dorm room. Wireless earphones such as the Apple AirPods Pro have great audio quality in a compact body.
The AirPods Pro features spatial audio that makes your listening experience feel more immersive thanks to a wide soundstage that places you at the centre of the action.
It also has active noise cancellation so you can listen to your music in peace. Fancy a workout at the gym? Worry not as AirPods are sweat resistant too. Battery life is excellent, as you get 6 hours of continuous play time with active noise cancellation on, and up to 30 hours with the case.
Multi-Port Fast Charger: Keep Your Devices Powered
Since you are most likely staying in a dorm room or sharing an apartment, you will have to fight for power sockets to power your devices. Such is the inconvenience of college life. It would be wise to get a multi-port fast charger that can recharge multiple gadgets and devices at once.
Do keep in mind that fast charging standards can be convoluted, and different devices charge at different rates. You should also get chargers that have over-voltage protection to safeguard your devices too.
Tablet: iPad Air (5th Gen)
Let’s say you already have a smartphone and a desktop computer, then you should get a tablet for when you’re on the move. While desktop computers are powerful, they are cumbersome and are not portable. On the flip side, smartphones are pocketable, but the screen size can leave much more to be desired.
Tablets like the iPad Air series are great in-betweeners that can complement your lifestyle in college. Pair it with the nifty Apple Pencil, you can use the iPad like an actual notepad, with the Pencil mimicking the feel of writing on paper. You may ask, why write when you can just snap pictures? Well, studies have shown that you tend to remember notes that were written down rather than snapped!
The higher end iPad Pro is even more powerful, even rivalling laptops with a similar price point. Powered by the efficient, yet fast M2 chip, you can expect blazing fast computing performance, while slowly sipping energy with a whopping up to 10 hours of battery life. Combine that with the Pencil and the Magic Keyboard, and you have a very capable computer in your bag.
iPads are no slouch when it comes to gaming too, capable of running popular games like Genshin Impact at maximum settings. You can even transform them into a portable gaming console by pairing them with a compatible gamepad.
Power Bank: Take Your Charging On The Go
With so many gadgets in your backpack, you will need something to keep them charged in college. With hundreds, if not thousands of students and teaching staff inside your campus, finding a spot with power sockets is difficult.
Enter the power bank. It is best to get one with a large capacity and multiple ports so that you have enough juice to charge all your devices, at the same time. While you are at it, get one that has fast charging too so that you don’t have to wait for hours to recharge your power bank once it runs out of power.
Your Last Chance To Save With Apple’s Back To College Offer Ending 13.3
One great perk of being a college student is having access to student pricing and promotions.
You can now save on selected Mac and iPad with Apple’s Education Discount, plus get AirPods, included with your purchase at no additional cost. You’ll also save on Apple Pencil, Smart Keyboard, get 20% off AppleCare Protection and more.
Check out Apple’s Back to College deals here!
Moreover, you don’t have to be a new student to be eligible, as current college students are also eligible to apply.
Check your eligibility now at Apple’s official website, and start saving now. You better hurry as the offer ends on March 13th!