Best tech add-ons to up your game

Peripheral devices such as printers, routers and portable drives are essential in daily life and even more important for school.

They keep you connected and your data safe. Following is a list of those devices that will make your school life much better.

The Samsung SSD 850 Pro is currently the fastest solid-state drive on the market and makes a great replacement laptop (or even desktop) drive for those studying film or those who just need to do a lot of media editing.

The SanDisk Extreme Pro is slightly slower than the Samsung SSD 850 Pro but it's a lot cheaper while also offering a lasting 10-year warranty. It's a great buy for a student who's on a tight budget, but still needs a superfast backup solution.

If you have an internship in a rough environment, or just happen to be rough with your devices, the LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt All-Terrain drive will make a great portable backup for you. Plus, the drive works with both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0.

Do you have a MacBook Pro or Air and want to bring the most data with you when you're out and about? Then the WD My Passport Pro is what you're looking for. Topping out at 4TB, it's currently the highest-capacity portable Thunderbolt drive on the market.

If your laptop doesn't have Thunderbolt, just USB 3.0, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim is a great buy. It's the most compact 2TB portable drive on the market, and fast enough to save any important research.

Looking to soup up the Wi-Fi network in your dorm without  breaking into your piggybank? The TrendNet TEW-818DRU is currently the most affordable top-notch Wi-Fi router on the market, and its performance is great.

Looking to add a lot of storage space to your laptop with the performance of a solid-state drive? The WD Black 2 Dual Drive is the answer. A two-in-one solution which gives you real SSD performance, it also has 1.1TB of storage space at a fraction of the cost compared with other SSDs of the same capacity.

Every student knows the pain of a cramped living space, but you don't have to sacrifice a printer in the move.

The Epson Stylus NX430 is called a "small-in-one" for good reason: its Wi-fi connectivity, quick printing speed, and iPrint apps for smartphones make this multifunction printer a worthwhile grab.

For the overachieving student, this simple, inexpensive Dell is a monochrome laser printer that makes sense for students printing 28-page thesis papers...or anyone on a budget.