Back to School Guide 2015: Picks under $500

UpdatedMon, August 24, 2015 at 5:00 PM UTC

It's that dreaded time of year when lazy summer days with their open invitation to sandals, surf and shirtlessness begin to give way to the crispness of fall, hoodies and the back-to-school doldrums. Ah, but there's hope on the horizon: You can always buy things to forget the scheduled machinery of life. And, oh, have we got some selections for you -- no matter your budget.

We're not quite at the baller-level of gadget indulgence yet, but this week's back-to-school selections are certainly well-suited for the money's-no-object crowd.

Forget Google Drive and Dropbox. How would you like to run your own *personal* cloud?

Synology's BeyondCloud Mirror houses two preconfigured 3TB NAS drives so you can securely store and remotely access all of the movies, music, docs, photos and games you've amassed over the years. It also functions as a media hub, so you can stream your content via Roku or Chromecast straight to your HDTV.

Price: $350 Amazon

Don't be one of those people who pretends to not get all hot and bothered for a semi-private karaoke session. Besides, dudes and dudettes, beer pong gets tiring (and gross) after a while. Just bust out the Singtrix, fire up some of its live auto-tuning magic and belt out all the old-school Guns N' Roses your friends' ears can handle. Cuz YOLO. Right?

Price: $350 Amazon

Are you a card-carrying member of the cult of Apple? Okay, then this one's for you: The Apple Watch Sport may be the "low end" of the line, but it still gets you all the *smarts* you'll need on your wrist. You can make and receive calls, check email and notifications and even track (and send) your heartbeat. Plus, the Watch will also tell you when to stand up because you're being lazy and sloth-like. It's basically your mother... only strapped to your wrist.

Price: $399 Apple

What's the greatest invention ever? A cooler with wheels, a USB port, a blender for mixed drinks, a portable speaker for outdoor tunes, an interior LED light for late-night beverage retrieval, a bottle opener and a roof rack to stack your stuff on, that's what. It's guaranteed to get all the dudebros going, "WHOA!"

Price: $485 Coolest

Someone has to make that music on the quad and woo lonely, romantic souls, right? Just pair the Jamstik+ smart guitar with your iPad and portable speaker, and you'll be ready to rock (or gently roll). C'mon, you know you wanna unleash your inner John Mayer.

Price: $330 Jamstik (with carrying case)

A GoPro is a no-duh for capturing and reliving "extreme" schooltime shenanigans. Just strap one to your head, chest, back... a mop, a dog, that first-year you're gently hazing -- whatever -- and let the good times roll and record in 15 fps 4K. The Hero4 Silver edition may be the mid-ranger in GoPro's lineup, but it does feature a touchscreen. Try it. You'll like it.

Price: $400 GoPro

It wouldn't be a dorm room without some form of black gaming box permanently parked next to the TV. And considering Sony's somewhat already won this round of the console wars, your best bet is to join the PlayStation 4's 20 million-plus tribe. You get games, access to streaming content, live (sorta, kinda cable-ish) TV and the ability to put off today what academic endeavors you can do tomorrow (or the next day... or the day after that...).

Price: $399+ Amazon

Draft beer in the comfort of your off-campus kitchen? It's possible.

Synek's self-contained tap will let you keep the brews flowing with your choice of swappable 128 oz bags from the likes of Sixpoint, New Belgium and The Bruery. It also gives you custom control over the thermostat and CO2 levels so you can cold carbonate to your burgeoning beer belly's delight.

Price: $399 Synek (Bronze Beauty)

Put down the smartphone. Some of those precious, *hazy* academic moments require the power of a robust point-and-shoot to capture the magic properly. For that, you'll need something like Sony's Cyber-shot HX90V. It has five-axis image stabilization, 30x optical/60x digital zoom, a retractable OLED EVF, WiFi and NFC all in a slim black package. So it may not be Instagram filter-ready, but does everything need to be?

Price: $428 B&H

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Synology BeyondCloud Mirror

Forget Google Drive and Dropbox. How would you like to run your own personal cloud?

Synology's BeyondCloud Mirror houses two preconfigured 3TB NAS drives so you can securely store and remotely access all of the movies, music, docs, photos and games you've amassed over the years. It also functions as a media hub, so you can stream your content via Roku or Chromecast straight to your HDTV.

Price: $350 Amazon

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Back to School Guide 2015: Picks under $500

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