Back To School Technology Buyer's Guide
by Zach Throckmorton on August 4, 2011 8:55 PM ESTExternal hard drives, flash drives, optical media, and cloud storage
“My hard drive crashed” is the 21st century equivalent of “The dog ate my homework.” That excuse might buy you a few days’ extension on a due date, but you do not want to spend hours—or days or weeks—on a paper or project only to have your hard work disappear because a hard drive crashed or you spilled water on your laptop. You need a backup plan. There are a variety of useful devices that are affordable and can potentially save you a lot of grief.
The least expensive backup solution is blank optical media. CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are sometimes on sale for less than a dime apiece. A blank CD can store up to about 700MB while a blank DVD maxes out around 4.5GB. Even 700MB is more than enough to store hundreds of smaller office documents or a handful of larger, image-heavy presentations. They tend to be durable (CD-Rs I burned as a first year undergraduate still read just fine while my first laptop's hard drive stopped working years ago). If you happen to lose one, you’re out less than a buck and the few minutes it takes to write a replacement. Accumulating many optical discs can be aggravating, though, and if you don’t keep them organized, you’ll end up wasting discs and time making duplicates. I like blank optical media for long-term archival storage, but for shorter-term storage, I prefer flash drives, external hard drives, and cloud storage.
Flash drives are portable, can be written and re-written extensively, and don’t take up much space. Even the smallest commercially available flash drives (usually 2GB or 4GB models) are capacious enough to store lots of work, and typically cost less than $10. AnandTech recently reviewed a number of newer USB 3.0 flash drives, if you’re interested in larger capacities and higher performance rather than the budget offerings that even grocery stores sometimes stock in checkout lanes with gum and magazines. I prefer capless designs, simply because you won’t lose the USB plug’s cover. Flash drives are more durable than external hard drives—for example, you can (usually) get them wet without worrying about data loss. But for backing up more than papers and presentations, like your music, video, and picture collections, you’ll want more space.
External hard drives typically take three forms, 3.5” desktop hard drives, 2.5” laptop hard drives, and hard drive docks. 3.5” hard drives require the use of an A/C adapter, which can be an inconvenience when you’re packing a dorm room that has maybe six or eight electrical outlets with all of today’s myriad electronics. They’re also larger, and not particularly portable. However, you usually get more capacity for your money with the 3.5” drives than 2.5” drives. 2.5” external hard drives do not require an extra A/C adapter, and are easier to carry around.
| Seagate ST310005EXA101-RK | $80 |
| Western Digital Elements WDBAAU0010BK-NESN | $70 |
Most hard drive docks accommodate both 3.5” and 2.5” hard drives and use an external power adapter. Hard drive docks with multiple interfaces (e.g. USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA, and/or Firewire) are usually much less expensive than their retail counterparts. They’re particularly useful if you have multiple external hard drives, as swapping hard drives in the dock is quicker than unhooking the entire enclosure device from your computer. Further, they’re not as common, and fewer people recognize a bare hard drive than an external hard drive—meaning they’re less likely to be targeted by thieves. Hard drive docks are about as easy as DIY devices get!
You can also buy your own bare drives and empty enclosures for a cost-effective and customizable DIY solution. Bare drives are usually less expensive than retail-packaged external hard drives, have longer warranties, and are less expensive to upgrade when the need arises. Though many enclosures are very inexpensive, consider spending a few more dollars on an enclosure that’s better-made.
| Samsung EcoGreen F2 HD103SI | $55 |
| Rosewill RX35-AT-SU SLV | $20 |
| Total: | $75 |
In this case, spending $5 more on the DIY solution gets you 3 years of warranty on the hard drive instead of 1 year of warranty compared to the least expensive retail product.
Cloud storage is increasingly accessible. Most colleges give their students space on school servers, though often that space is very modest (for example, UW-Madison provides a tiny but functional 1GB by default). Dropbox is one of the more popular cloud storage companies, and the base 2GB capacity is totally free. Its interface is especially easy to use. Amazon recently unveiled its own cloud storage service, and the base plan that provides 5GB of remote storage is free. It also features an easy-to-use interface. (Speaking of Amazon—don't forget to sign up for Amazon Student—it includes a free year of Prime Shipping!)
Now that your papers are safe from hard drive crashes, you might want to print them out—nothing earns a lower grade than an assignment that isn't turned in at all! We cover printers on the next page.
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blueeyesm - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
Sure, get a MacBook and discover that you overpaid for a computer that can't run a required application for your program.How do I know this? I work for a university where I have seen this time and again. As StormyParis said, you should try being what you do, not what you own.
Sure, install Parallels and Windows. But you need to pay for your copy of Windows. More money spent where it could have gone to books or food.
Portability became "key" due to a trend where it was "cool" to have something lightweight and you could take it with you. A convenience that was turned into necessity. Before that, students along just fine with desktops.
Dorms provide desk space, thus yes it DOES work. It is not 0 chance, nor retarded.
If you are worried about theft, get a Kensington cable lock and lock it all down.
antef - Saturday, August 6, 2011 - link
I only graduated undergrad in 2009, so definitely during a period where laptops were plenty affordable, yet I got through college just fine with only my gaming rig and no laptop. I even had a 5.1 sound system and lived in a super cramped, wedge-shaped room one year with a roommate. Yes it was crowded but completely fine. I never had a need for a laptop - they only distract you in class and a notebook and pen work fine for notes. I didn't go the library much as I found it no better a place to study than my own dorm or apartment, but when I did there were public computers available. If you need/want a desktop as I did, you can definitely save money by not having a laptop also if you don't need it. However, I realize most students love going to the library or coffee shops or whatever to do work, in which case you'll want one. Also, if you have no need for a desktop, the laptop is a better option because it's less of a hassle when moving.shellcrash - Saturday, August 6, 2011 - link
There is also a common denominator issue going on: not everyone is expected to have a laptop. If one is required, the prof borrows one from the IT department.I graduated in 2006 & laptops were affordable, but they have durability issues that show up when in frequent transportation or use. In random work meetings having a desk & environment designed for work is much better than trying to do serious work in a laid back coffee shop environment; I stopped using my laptop when I started using my Palm (or was it lol TI-89?) & flash drive effectively. It also didn't help that the fans on the laptop died and some keys stopped working on the keyboard.
The reviews didn't cover phones, although it is the 2nd most crucial instrument in college. Needs to be able to be backed up to computer and do fast assignment scheduling.
anishannayya - Monday, August 8, 2011 - link
75% (really closer to 50%) percent of my classmates didn't have to spend a dime for their computers.50% of my classmates aren't CS/Engineering majors.
The 20% of CS/Engineering majors that have a Mac inevitably end up having to install and use Windows.
The only Mac worth the money is the Air. For everything else, your better off with a Thinkpad.
Lastly, Macs look great, but durability is very important when you take your device everywhere.
And RE desktops: Many gamers bring their desktop.
Neo Elemental - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
I had a desktop all the years I was in college. To some, having additional horsepower is a non-negotiable (think games). I did end up caving and getting a netbook in my senior year.I don't see how the desktop+netbook combo is any less feasible or attractive for someone at an equivalent price (except that not everyone can build their own desktop).
This isn't the site for those who are just going to get a Macbook because they can afford it. A majority of the things mentioned/reviewed on this site are focused towards desktops and non-Apple systems.
mfenn - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link
You make a big deal about constrained space when you talk about the PC itself, but you seem to completely forget about it when you recommend dual monitors. A tower can easily be tucked under a bed or desk, a second 22" monitor cannot.Kaboose - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
Wall mount :D(mnewsham)
Friendly0Fire - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link
"And given the limitations of the 400W PSU, I wouldn't add a GPU that's more power-hungry than a Radeon HD 6970."Surely you meant a 6790? The 6970 isn't exactly sipping power.
Gigantopithecus - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link
Nope, the 6970 is not exactly a power sipper, but at peak during gaming it draws less than 200W. The rest of the system at stock without more components added isn't going to draw more than another 120W or so, and that leaves 20%+ headroom on the PSU. The link to Bench I gave with that line shows the 6970 using 340W from the wall, and the Bench test platform is a more power-hungry system than the one in this guide. A friend of mine is rockin' a GTX 560 Ti (a slightly less power-hungry card than the 6970) with a mildly OC'd AMD PII X4 (a 125W CPU vs the 95W CPU in the guide), two fans, one HDD system on this same PSU with no issues. It's a good PSU.JarredWalton - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
Well, I've run a single 5870 off of a 500W PSU, and power draw at the outlet never got about 380W. Accounting for efficiency, a 400W PSU should still handle a 6970, but you wouldn't want to load it up with other extras or extreme overclocking.