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General discussion

Best gadgets for back to school?

Jul 24, 2008 6:52AM PDT

Will ultraportable laptops rule the school? Are dorm rooms soon to become home theater heaven? Which camera is picture perfect?

Tell us what you think are the best gadgets and gear for the classroom.

Discussion is locked

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Dell E mini $299
Jul 29, 2008 1:41PM PDT
http://www.engadget.com/photos/dell-e-and-e-slim-revealed-taking-on-eee-and-air-in-one-fell-swoop/859922/

My brother in law is getting one for each of his teenage girls who spend most of their time hogging the desktop or the living room Shuttle using IM, Skype, Facebook and Myspace. Im not going to mention how much those girls spend on clothes but quite a few of their friends have them.

My wife held off buying the Acer One mini ($370) liker her other sister did two weeks ago (she loves it and the Linpus Lite software is so easy, I held back installing the Ubuntu Netbook Remix and left it as is) because she likes her work issued Dell XPS and wanted to stick with something that she had a good experience with.

Since her best friend received the original EEE last year about a dozen of her friends and coworkers have brought one. She always feels uncomfortable opening up her expensive laptop in a coffee shop, whether a snatch and run or spilled coffee, she likes the size factor especially in the caf
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useful? Interesting
Aug 24, 2011 2:28PM PDT

If I drop out of the stated rules it's not intended for put downs more me finding the best way to explain myself here.
It would be a great add for Dell! In addition it would be helpful information for someone looking for information before purchasing.
For myself I kept reading because I wanted to see where it was taking me.I thought it was going to have useful information as far as use for Visual Studio. So in the end I will slam myself for not understanding the lead-in and that is wouldn't apply to what I thought it was going to. Did I do Ok?

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Ultraportables? Not for me at least
Aug 12, 2008 11:05PM PDT

I am going to be a junior in high school, so perhaps I am not the best authority on college gadgets. However, I can speak for myself in that i can't see myself EVER getting an ultraportable. In my opinion I don't care so much about weight and size as much as performance (and game playing of course Silly). I am perfectly willing to carry around my Dell XPS M1530, because it can do all I need for school, and it (haven't tried it but the specs look ok) can play Crysis if I want it to.

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The reliable MacBook
Aug 18, 2008 9:32AM PDT

Being a sophomore in college now, I have seen many of the people on campus using the white or black MacBook, even more so than the Powerbook G4 or MacBook Pro. It's the perfect size for travel, doesn't weigh too much, battery life is excellent, and it's a great looking laptop. I can see MacBooks becoming even more predominant within a few more years, but before that happens Apple will have to bring the price down.

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cool gadgets
Dec 1, 2008 12:45AM PST
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Dorm basic
Jun 26, 2009 5:25AM PDT

A lot of (most?) college dorms are hardwired but not campus-wifi enabled. For one grad last year who found himself in this situation, a gift that really hit the spot was the Apple Express, ~$99, which allowed him to use his laptop on the bed (or even next door)while on the LAN or Net, and at the same time to stream to decent powered speakers that stayed on his desk. He also used it to broadcast from his iPod to nearby party rooms without putting his own equipment at risk. A big hit!

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Definitely a fan of these!
Sep 1, 2009 7:35AM PDT
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Small notebooks - trend for the student - Yes!
Jun 18, 2010 5:54PM PDT

I think so... Just bought a Gateway EC1410u notebook for my 8th grade Graduate. Lightweight, Nice size keyboard, touchpad works well, Screen is excellent (11"), perfect for creating content for school and work, browsing the internet, viewing video, email, HDMI, cardreader, external monitor output, 3 USB ports, plenty of features in a small form factor at a great price. I picked up an external CD/DVD drive, nice to be able to add more memory in the future(up to 4GB) if needed, but 2 GB perfect for the student or anyone who wants plenty of functionality at a great price! Considered a netbook, but EC1410u provides a lot more at similar cost and thankfully is slightly larger, the perfect size! Notebooks like this (maybe adding a little more power, memory, and higher graphics card at the same physical size if your student is into gaming or video creation) are what I would recommend this year.

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Online Lesson Plans
Aug 24, 2010 4:36AM PDT

One great tool I've found for teachers going back to school is the Adobe Education Exchange. Adobe, who I do some work with, is really bridging the gap between education and technology. The primary utility of this is that it allows teachers to share online lesson plans and other resources.

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Hello
Mar 21, 2011 1:54AM PDT

That's the more for more and more perfections. That's it. Any more the kinds now by me gone now, hah ?. for you, and alls.