Top Tech for University

[HelplmChoking]

Being a student, there are a few things you should grab. Some good headphones would be awesome, if you can budget in some Bose noise cancelling ones you'll never regret it, instant silence anywhere.

A UE Boom bluetooth speaker is a good choice too, powerful enough to fill a dorm room, water resistant, dust resistant and bluetooth connection to all your stuff.

I'd also recommend an external monitor + KB + mouse for your laptop, it was a good move when I did it. You could probably do all this for under $400 if you go 23" 1080p, but if you can manage a 27" 1440p monitor, good bluetooth mouse (MX Anywhere, or MX Master) and a keyboard (Apple Magic Keyboard is great), you'll have a great base station.

I wouldn't get an external HDD/SSD unless you're running out of drive space on your Mac, they're just annoying IMO.

 

[sauce-c]

As a current Economics Student I would suggest the following:

- A keyboard that you are comfortable typing on, macbook keyboards are not forgiving for long papers, trust me I'm in the same boat.

- A mouse for easier productivity.

- A laptop stand, these let you raise the height/change the angle of your laptop, usually save desk space, and make for more of a "workstation"

- Extra cables such as: HDMI, power extension, USB extension, AUX cord, etc.

- USB hub, charge all your devices from one hub on your desk, nice and easy.

- Headphones are a must have, passive or active noise canceling, in most cases they will do a better job at this than earphones and be comfortable for long study sessions.

- A quality calculator goes a long way, personally I use a TI-84+ silver edition, anything higher than that can restrict you on exams (at least here it can)

- Bluetooth speaker for study sessions, outdoor fun, small get togethers, etc. 

- Personally I also need something loud for my home, and TV speakers suck, so I use a 3.1 vizio sound bar which I use with my laptop, phone, desktop, tv and turntable. It's easy to transport and offers awesome sound without the bulk of a home stereo. 

- Extra lighting, either lamps, rope lighting, etc.

That's all I can think of for now, hope this helps!

[JWKelly99]

7 minutes ago, Damascus said:

Get either one of these

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/378H99/lg-monitor-34um88p

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/MRvZxr/lg-monitor-29um58p

The 29 looks more in my price range. Don't really wanna spend £500 on a monitor cause whatever i buy i have to insure and all that is done on purchase price at my uni

[Damascus]

1 minute ago, JWKelly99 said:

The 29 looks more in my price range. Don't really wanna spend £500 on a monitor cause whatever i buy i have to insure and all that is done on purchase price at my uni

The 29" 1080p ultrawide is a great sweet spot

[JWKelly99]

10 minutes ago, Rangaman42 said:

Being a student, there are a few things you should grab. Some good headphones would be awesome, if you can budget in some Bose noise cancelling ones you'll never regret it, instant silence anywhere.

A UE Boom bluetooth speaker is a good choice too, powerful enough to fill a dorm room, water resistant, dust resistant and bluetooth connection to all your stuff.

I'd also recommend an external monitor + KB + mouse for your laptop, it was a good move when I did it. You could probably do all this for under $400 if you go 23" 1080p, but if you can manage a 27" 1440p monitor, good bluetooth mouse (MX Anywhere, or MX Master) and a keyboard (Apple Magic Keyboard is great), you'll have a great base station.

I wouldn't get an external HDD/SSD unless you're running out of drive space on your Mac, they're just annoying IMO.

 

Ill need to get a new HDD cause the one I have for time machine at the moment is just old and too heavy to take. I'll just get a cheap one for the backups and then need one to run windows and or linux to learn to code on in my spare time

[JWKelly99]

11 minutes ago, sauce-c said:

As a current Economics Student I would suggest the following:

- A keyboard that you are comfortable typing on, macbook keyboards are not forgiving for long papers, trust me I'm in the same boat.

- A mouse for easier productivity.

- A laptop stand, these let you raise the height/change the angle of your laptop, usually save desk space, and make for more of a "workstation"

- Extra cables such as: HDMI, power extension, USB extension, AUX cord, etc.

- USB hub, charge all your devices from one hub on your desk, nice and easy.

- Headphones are a must have, passive or active noise canceling, in most cases they will do a better job at this than earphones and be comfortable for long study sessions.

- A quality calculator goes a long way, personally I use a TI-84+ silver edition, anything higher than that can restrict you on exams (at least here it can)

- Bluetooth speaker for study sessions, outdoor fun, small get togethers, etc. 

- Personally I also need something loud for my home, and TV speakers suck, so I use a 3.1 vizio sound bar which I use with my laptop, phone, desktop, tv and turntable. It's easy to transport and offers awesome sound without the bulk of a home stereo. 

- Extra lighting, either lamps, rope lighting, etc.

That's all I can think of for now, hope this helps!

Yeah I'm deffinatly gonna get most of that. I need a cat 6 as well and a thunderbolt to gigabit ethernet cause my uni has built in gigabit ethernet ports in the rooms for the students to use. Don't want to restrict myself to like 15-30 meg wifi ?

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, JWKelly99 said:

Ill need to get a new HDD cause the one I have for time machine at the moment is just old and too heavy to take. I'll just get a cheap one for the backups and then need one to run windows and or linux to learn to code on in my spare time

 

Oh okay, more of a stationary backup drive. Be aware that Windows doesn't like being installed on an external drive, so it does require a little more work. You can get really good IDEs for Python or Java etc on MacOS as well.

[JWKelly99]

5 minutes ago, Damascus said:

The 29" 1080p ultrawide is a great sweet spot

It looks nice and not a bad price really. Just got to hope it doesn't get nicked 

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, JWKelly99 said:

It looks nice and not a bad price really. Just got to hope it doesn't get nicked 

Lock your room?

[JWKelly99]

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

Oh okay, more of a stationary backup drive. Be aware that Windows doesn't like being installed on an external drive, so it does require a little more work. You can get really good IDEs for Python or Java etc on MacOS as well.

Nice i didn't realise. Do you know of any good ones i could get ?

[JWKelly99]

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

Lock your room?

Yeah but apparently the key pads on the doors are easy to break and fuck up so people can get in. then i don't want them clearing out £2-3k of stuff

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, JWKelly99 said:

Nice i didn't realise. Do you know of any good ones i could get ?

Uhhh so the first years at my uni use BlueJ for Java stuff, could try emacs, and I've heard NetBeans is okay as well as PyCharm.

 

Just now, JWKelly99 said:

Yeah but apparently the key pads on the doors are easy to break and fuck up so people can get in. then i don't want them clearing out £2-3k of stuff

 

Well that sucks. I was in a university residence for a year, a building of about 400 people, and nothing was every stolen from anyone. But it may be different for you.

[Damascus]

2 minutes ago, JWKelly99 said:

It looks nice and not a bad price really. Just got to hope it doesn't get nicked 

Get a kensington lock for it.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kensington-Desktop-Peripherals-Highest-Security/dp/B0038OMG1G/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1493676086&sr=8-4&keywords=kensington+lock

[JWKelly99]

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

Uhhh so the first years at my uni use BlueJ for Java stuff, could try emacs, and I've heard NetBeans is okay as well as PyCharm.

 

Well that sucks. I was in a university residence for a year, a building of about 400 people, and nothing was every stolen from anyone. But it may be different for you.

Ill look into those ones and see which one i like the look of.

 

Yeah its not common but poor uni students who have spent all there food money on booze will do whatever they can for some money. even at a computer exchange they'd get like £1500 for it all

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, JWKelly99 said:

Ill look into those ones and see which one i like the look of.

 

Yeah its not common but poor uni students who have spent all there food money on booze will do whatever they can for some money. even at a computer exchange they'd get like £1500 for it all

 

True, most people I know who ended up that broke ended up selling drugs rather than stealing.

[JWKelly99]

1 minute ago, Damascus said:

Get a kensington lock for it.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kensington-Desktop-Peripherals-Highest-Security/dp/B0038OMG1G/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1493676086&sr=8-4&keywords=kensington+lock

Cant screw into the units of anything like that. not unless i wanna replace them. I'm just gonna watch what i take and insure it. i won't brag about it so hopefully ill be fine

[JWKelly99]

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

True, most people I know who ended up that broke ended up selling drugs rather than stealing.

Yeah so I've just got to be careful with my stuff

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, JWKelly99 said:

Cant screw into the units of anything like that. not unless i wanna replace them. I'm just gonna watch what i take and insure it. i won't brag about it so hopefully ill be fine

 

Could wrap the chain part around the desk leg, so they'd have to take the whole desk. It'd be enough of a deterrent.

[Damascus]

Just now, JWKelly99 said:

Cant screw into the units of anything like that. not unless i wanna replace them. I'm just gonna watch what i take and insure it. i won't brag about it so hopefully ill be fine

Get 4 cinder blocks and hide them behind your desk.  Not a wall but an extra 10 or so kg will be a deterrant

[JWKelly99]

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

Could wrap the chain part around the desk leg, so they'd have to take the whole desk. It'd be enough of a deterrent.

Probably. Im gonna see what everything is like when i get there and what my flatmates are like. if they seem shady ill get one ?

[JWKelly99]

Just now, Damascus said:

Get 4 cinder blocks and hide them behind your desk.  Not a wall but an extra 10 or so kg will be a deterrant

Im not buying cinder blocks ?

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, JWKelly99 said:

Probably. Im gonna see what everything is like when i get there and what my flatmates are like. if they seem shady ill get one ?

 

Oh a shared flat? I was just in a single room, but friends who had roommates were fine too.

[JWKelly99]

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

Oh a shared flat? I was just in a single room, but friends who had roommates were fine too.

Yeah I've got a room with my own bathroom but i share a kitchen with 7 others. and I'm paying £155 a week for it ?

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, JWKelly99 said:

Yeah I've got a room with my own bathroom but i share a kitchen with 7 others. and I'm paying £155 a week for it ?

2

Woooow. I was in a single room, shared bathroom and in a catered building (not worth, the food is awful but they wouldn't let first years self-cater at the time) for $350NZD a week (£187) a week, which is what my partner and I pay for a two bedroom, city centre apartment now... Uni residences are a massive rip off.

[Damascus]

This one would attach to a desk

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kensington-Combination-Ultra-Laptop-Lock/dp/B005NCO2EA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1493676424&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=kensington+lock&psc=1