Gadgets for Today's Digital Classroom Mountain Home AR

Posted by : James Mathewson

Gone are the days when back-to-school shopping meant pens, pencils, paper, and books. As schoolwork becomes increasingly digital, students need tools that can transform notes and quotes into bits and bytes. The center of this activity is, of course, a computer. But the computer is only the beginning. With a host of handy peripherals, you can leave your PC in your dorm room and still capture all the data you need from classes and library research. Following is our gadget shopping list for the coming school year.

Electronic notebooks

The first thing you will need for school is a solid laptop. Sure, you can get by with using the labs, but you want to work in privacy on your own schedule, not in a crowded lab only when the best computers are available. You could use a desktop computer in your dorm room and save a chunk of money. But you'll be glad you spent the extra $500 or so for all the flexibility you get from a laptop. If you skimp and buy a desktop, you will find yourself wishing you had a laptop on several occasions. For example, when your roommate wants to entertain or watch TV, you could just tote your laptop to the library; or when you go home to do laundry and you need to get a project done, you can bring your work with you. A laptop is worth the money every time you want to produce schoolwork outside of the dorm.

I tested two laptops for this piece: A solid, cost-effective IBM R31; and a top-of-the-line Toshiba Satellit...

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