It's that time of year again -- back to school has arrived. Plenty of you will be shoving off to college for the very first time, and Engadget's here to help you out. In the emotionally uproarious time that is now, you've probably realized there's truly an upside to higher education: it's a great excuse to get some new gear. And that's where we come in. No matter what your budget, we've got you covered, with recommendations and options galore. Whether you're going to be a new student in the brilliant world that is academia, or you're the proud parent / guardian of one, we've done some leg work to make the transition a little bit easier. We decided that choosing gadgets in three "budget" ranges would be most helpful to you, the reader, and we've chosen a kit of gear we think any student would do well to grab up for each -- covering laptops, netbooks, mobile phones, e-readers, laptop bags, and so on. Knowing that our readers re not one-size-fits-all, however, we've also chosen some alternate options in the categories where choice makes sense -- choice is, after all, part of what we love about gadgets -- without providing an overwhelming list. Of course, our choices aren't meant to be all-encompassing, but we think they'll provide a pretty good place to start your shopping!
Read on for our recommendations -- we promise, they're very very, helpful. Oh -- did we mention we're going to be giving away a bunch of this gear, too? Keep your eyes on the site in the coming days for more on that, and hit the links below for our guide.
Back to school guide: on the cheap
Back to school guide: mid-range
Back to school guide: money's no object
posted August 20th 2009 12:30PM
Yeah, they've copied the description into the headings for the On The Cheap page but forgotten to change the item name.
The SCX-4500W looks great, but it's way too expensive for a printer IMO...
Agreed, you can get a cheaper 22" Samsung TV off of Newegg than the one they have listed in "on the cheap" for $279.
netbooks the way to go
It is still a better choice to get a reliable notebook like a Thinkpad.
I'm surprised that they didn't show the Toshiba NB-205 as a netbook to get, great battery life and lots of useful features.
The ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell for the mid-ranged, really?
I'd suggest swapping that out for the 1000HE.It has better battery life and costs slightly less.
MACBOOK + iPHONE + PS3 Slim + VERIZON FIOS = ready for school.
There are waaay better options on the market than the Bose Wave with ipod adapter. I have one, only becuase I picked it up for super cheap and could not ignore it at the price. For the MSRP that bose wants, you can get a better quality unit for the same price or less. Examples are Polk iSONIC, Cambridge Soundworks (multiple models), Sangean WR2, and a few others that my memory cannot recall at this moment.
Wow, Engadget recommends the Zune HD over the iPod Touch... that was unexpected...
lol I know the damn thing isn't even available for another month!
I do agree with their console choice though
I take it you were looking at the high end price guide. You'll notice that with the laptop they recommend, you get a free iPod Touch, and they also recommended an iPhone. Throwing a few Microsoft gaming devices in the fun section seems perfectly reasonable.
Again with the S12 posts that say it has ion?
Stop saying it does until... it actually does?
Yeah I know... I can't believe they actually linked to the S12 on Newegg that clearly uses the same old GMA950 graphics. Seriously Engadget, maybe you should actually verify what you're writing before providing a load of misleading information (the Macbook Pro info is wrong too) to back-to-school shoppers.
Pff Ion netbooks?
Probably won't be out till I graduate.
Except they're already out...
I just bought my wife a 2gb Livescribe pen. For those going to med school or anything involving alot of hand written notes and drawings that need to be done during a speech, you cannot beat that magical little pen.
It records every thing you write, and you can sync it to audio. Easily the best 169$ she has spent on getting ready for med school.
Bose Wave radio.....really??
You guys trash Monster Cable, yet recommend Bose.
Bose, unlike Monster (which is just cables) does actually have AMAZING quality sound.
Bahaha.
Bose is a joke among audiophiles. I once had my friend and I, just for fun, test his QC2's against my Sennheiser's. Suffice it to say, he was a bit upset with his purchase after he heard some actual hi-fi headphones.
Bose really aint that good imho....
I'm very disappointing in Engadget recommending Bose.
@Evan: you are pretty disappointing
At least Monster Cable doesn't sound WORSE than it's competition... I'd rather buy something from Monster Cable than Bose.
Engadget trashes Monster Cable largely because of inane lawsuits against any company with the word "monster" in its name. That they sell overpriced products is a separate issue.
I'm looking for a nice pair of closed/on ear headphones for less than $100. I've been checking out ultrasone's and sennheiser's but does anyone have any reccomendations? They were scantily missing from this list. I'm looking for them for use in the library/my dorm room with a laptop and iPod.
Any review or rant would be appreciated. =)
My dad was a DJ for a long time and he recommends the Koss Pro 4AAA. They're about $100 and apparently have excellent quality as well as a LIFETIME WARRANTY.
BUY NAO.
lol@ iPhone as 'high end'
Why? It's a pretty decent phone if you ask me..
Nicely done Engadget! Interesting options and even helpful for those who have to work year round...
when I went to college, I'd be lucky to even have 1 laptop, let alone all the gadgets you listed here. and with smartphones... what college student can fork over the $40+ a month data plan... this is outrage.
did I tell you the time when I walked to school, in snow, up hill, to and back with a 100lb. bag of books... sheesh
The high end part made me laugh. And if they were going with a TUMI bag (not high end, but one of my favorite brands) they could have done better than that low end of the TUMI line.
Agreed. Also, Xbox360 comments made me laugh. Engadget is still living in the past with a lot of xbots saying "the best games". Besides, when going back to school, you want your game system to last at least 1 semester :-)
@ix
what about the yellow light of doom on PS3? No netflix? No halo, the largest played game on campuses?
And don't bring up the wii, because it's pretty hard to swing a WiiMote in a dorm room without hitting something.
The "Money is no object" post contains incorrect information about the Macbook Pro. The $1529 model comes with a Geforce 9400m, not 9600m.
The 15.4" Macbook Pro does not have an imaginary "9400M GT" graphics card... it has a 9600M GT dedicated card alongside 9400M integrated. You'd think Engadget would know everything about Apple products, but apparently not.
Slight correction: there is a 15.4" version that has only 9400M, but that's still an integrated card and most definitely does not have dedicated "256mb memory."
How did u get a the 15inch Macbook Pro with 256MB 9600MGT for $1529? Even with the $100 colledge discount that model is $1849. I'm asking because I would buy it if it was $1500
I don't know why you'd get the high end TV they mention when you could get a Samsung 32" 720p for only $500 from Target
http://www.target.com/Samsung-720p-LCD-HDTV-LN32B350/dp/B001U3Y8M2/ref=br_1_6?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&searchView=grid5&searchNodeID=3464331&node=3464331&searchRank=salesrank&searchPage=1&searchSize=30&id=Samsung%20720p%20LCD%20HDTV%20LN32B350
Not to mention being able to get an offbrand 32" 1080p for the same price if you wanted.
because space is an issue in some dorms, and you need a small TV to take up the smallest amount of space.
A 32" LCD fit just fine in my dorm room. I think the above ^^ is reason enough to skip 26 inchers; who the hell wants their 1080 signal downconverted to 720?
School's never going to start, school's never going to start, school's never going to start, school's never going to start...
yes it will
So how much did Apple pay you to write this article?
Like ONE BILLION DOLLARS
probably not very much considering they recommended the Zune HD...
At least you're being honest, Laura...
I'm kidding (:
Oh, Microsoft gave us a BILLION DOLLARS, TOO.
@Laura June - Your link for the Incase notebook sleeve links to xbox.com
Because most classes that ask you to use a graphing calculator, also make you put away your phone and other devices that are more "advanced" than the graphing calculator...
Depending on the class, the calculator with HELP you with your work, but not full-on DO it for you like those other devices would.
because that won't be able to be used on tests, let's think this one through next time.