12 Gadgets Every Student Needs

by Chris Morris on August 27, 2009 at 01:29 PM

Going back to school may not be fun, but it's a great excuse to buy new gear. Whether it's college or high school that calls you back, rest assured that the dozen gizmos the Switched.com crew has found will make your weekdays less painful.

1) JBL Onstage 400p iPod Dock/Alarm Clock
Why wake up to the weak humor of bad DJs? The JBL Onstage 400p ($212) gets you to class on time with the music you love. It may not make getting up any easier, but it will be less painful.

2) Doorganizer
Running late? This hanging organizer ($15) for the doorknob is ideal for quickly finding your keys, cell phone, iPod and other necessities. You can even put your term paper in the big strip in the back. So go ahead and hit snooze one more time.

3) InfoScan TS Elite
It looks like a highlighter, but this portable scanner ($115) holds up to 500 pages. Simply 'highlight' what you want to scan and the TS Elite will read and save it, then transfer the text to your PC for later review.

4) Smencils
If the smell of graphite bothers you, these gourmet-scented pencils ($6 for 5) -- with their aromas that include bubble gum, cinnamon, and root beer -- might help. They're environmentally friendly (made of recycled newspaper), and since they're #2s, can be used on all standardized tests.

5) Anti-theft lunch bags
Have a classmate who's always stealing your lunch? These bags ($10 per box of 25) are specially designed to make your sandwich look disgusting – with green blotches that simulate mold. The food's not affected, but the would-be thief's appetite might be.

6) Targus HeatDefense
A laptop cooler is key to prolonging battery life, but the HeatDefense ($30) also helps you keep your lap (or desk) cool while you type. The crystalline compound absorbs heat by turning into a soft gel. Better still, it doesn't require batteries.

7) Seagate FreeAgent Go
Whether you're working on term papers or downloading music, you want to be extra sure that you've got your data backed up. The FreeAgent Go ($90-$180) backs up data automatically, can store between 160GB and 640GB, and has encryption technology to keep your files safe.

8) Ecosol Powerstick
While the convenience of portable devices like cell phones and PDAs is undeniable, they do have the nasty habit of running out of juice at the worst time (like in-between classes). This backup power device ($60) will charge them on the go.

9) ASUS Eee PC
The 10.1-inch netbook is affordable ($378), light and boasts a 10.5-hour battery life, which is more than enough to get you through a day's worth of lectures. It's powerful, but won't run many PC games, so you can focus on studying.

10) Livescribe Pulse
This pen ($170) doubles as a digital recorder to help with note taking. It also lets you tap on what you wrote to listen to the corresponding part of the recording (when you use specialized paper). The 2-gigabyte (GB) model holds 200 hours of audio.

11) PowerSquid Surge3000 Calamari Edition
A surge protector might seem a bit dull, but this one ($70) is practically designed for today's electronics and is particularly useful in dorm rooms where outlets are rare.

12) Sony Reader Touch Edition
Sony's eReader ($300) gets overshadowed by the Kindle, but offers more flexibility, including 1 million free public domain books from Google and other titles from Sony's own eBook store, which is priced competitively with major booksellers.

Tags: backtoschool, btsfeatures, college, features, school, students, top

Comments

webtechpointAug 30th 2009 12:59PM

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Interesting piece of gadgets information, it helps me a lot

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