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Back to School 2012: Your Tech Checklist

Eric Griffith
 & Eric Griffith Senior Editor, Features

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    Buying Guide: Back to School 2012: Your Tech Checklist

    Back to School 2012: The Tech Checklist

    Contents

    How many times have you left for an overnight stay and forgotten your toothbrush, your underwear, or your phone charger? Sure, you can survive without the first two, but good luck once your smartphone dies.

    Back to School 2012 BugNow consider just how much stuff you have to take with you for an entire semester of college, regardless of whether your school is in the same town or across the country. There's a lot to go along with that laptop and phone. Use this handy tech checklist to make sure you purchase and pack it all.

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    LAPTOP EXTRAS:

    Note Recorder: Livescribe Echo Smartpen (With Livescribe Connect)
    Take handwritten notes that can be easily transferred to your computer.


    USB 3.0 Flash Drive: Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ (8GB)
    This ultra-secure flash storage is ultra-affordable.


    USB Hub/Docking Station: Targus USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Dual Video Docking Station with Power
    Expand any laptop with USB 3.0 to connect to so much more.

    %displayPrice% at %seller%
    External Hard Drive: Seagate Backup Plus
    Get a killer combo of speed, ease of use, and versatility in a portable drive.


    Laptop Bag: Chrome Berlin - PRO Laptop Bag
    This fits a laptop and all your other gadgets, plus lunch, as you tool around campus.

    %displayPrice% at %seller%
    Noise-Canceling Headphones: Bose QuietComfort 15
    Bose takes noise cancellation to the next level.

    %displayPrice% at %seller%
    Gaming Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K90
    It's great for typing and for kicking virtual ass.


    Microphone: Blue Microphones Yeti
    When you need high-quality recording in a USB-based microphone, the Yeti provides.

    %displayPrice% at %seller%
    Power Strip: Belkin Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger
    You'll never run out of outlets or need a special USB charger plug with this on hand.

    Lock: Kensington ClickSafe Laptop Lock
    It's the strongest laptop lock available.

    Mobile Hotspot: Novaltel Wireless's Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4620L
    Get Wi-Fi anywhere you can get Verizon 4G LTE (or slower abroad).

    %displayPrice% at %seller%
    Extra Laptop Battery

    About Our Expert

    Eric Griffith

    Eric Griffith

    Senior Editor, Features

    My Experience

    I've been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally since 1992, more than half of that time with PCMag. I arrived at the end of the print era of PC Magazine as a senior writer. I served for a time as managing editor of business coverage before settling back into the features team for the last decade and a half. I write features on all tech topics, plus I handle several special projects, including the Readers' Choice and Business Choice surveys and yearly coverage of the Best ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs, Best Products of the Year, and Best Brands (plus the Best Brands for Tech Support, Longevity, and Reliability).

    I started in tech publishing right out of college, writing and editing stories about hardware and development tools. I migrated to software and hardware coverage for families, and I spent several years exclusively writing about the then-burgeoning technology called Wi-Fi. I was on the founding staff of several magazines, including Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine. All of which are now defunct, and it's not my fault. I have freelanced for publications as diverse as Sony Style, Playboy.com, and Flux. I got my degree at Ithaca College in, of all things, television/radio. But I minored in writing so I'd have a future.

    In my long-lost free time, I wrote some novels, a couple of which are not just on my hard drive: BETA TEST ("an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale," according to Publishers' Weekly) and a YA book called KALI: THE GHOSTING OF SEPULCHER BAY. Go get them on Kindle.

    I work from my home in Ithaca, NY, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.

    The Technology I Use

    My first computer was a Laser 128, an Apple II-compatible clone with an integrated keyboard, matched with an eye-straining monochrome green monitor. I used it to type papers in college for other people for money...until I discovered the Mac SE in the college computer room. That changed my life. My first cellphone was a Samsung Uproar—the silver one with the built-in MP3 player from the Napster days (the pre-iPod era).

    I use an iPhone 15 Pro hourly and an iPad Air infrequently (but I'm always in the market for a cheap Android tablet). I have a PlayStation 5 just to play Spider-Man, and several Windows machines, including a work-issued Lenovo ThinkPad. I talk to Alexa and Siri all day long. I do the majority of my computing on a 15-inch LG Gram laptop attached to a Thunderbolt hub to run a multi-monitor setup—I overdid it on the power needed to simply work from home.

    I'm most at home in Microsoft Word after decades of writing there. More and more, I turn to services like Google Docs, using tools like Grammarly. I use Google's Chrome browser due to an addiction to several extensions I think I can't live without, but probably could. I use Excel extensively on data-intensive stories, but for chart creation, we've switched over entirely to using Infogram for interactive features that are hard to find elsewhere. I do a lot of graphics work for my stories, but limit myself to the free and amazing Paint.NET software to edit images.

    I'm a firm evangelist for using the cloud for backup and syncing of files; I'm primarily using Dropbox, which has never failed me, but I also have redundant setups on Microsoft OneDrive, plus extra picture backups on Amazon Photos and iCloud. Why take chances? For entertainment, mine is a streaming-only household—my kid has never seen network TV and barely been exposed to commercials, thanks to Roku and Amazon Music. The house is peppered with smart speakers from Amazon for instant gratification and control of smart home devices like multiple Wyze cameras and Nest Protect smoke detectors. I've got accounts on all the major social networks, to my horror. I have a robot vacuum for each floor of the house. I want a 3D printer, but not sure what I'd use it for.

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