Back to School Tech (That’ll Actually Make Your Life Easier)
School season is upon us again and I’m here at a BestBuy to show you some back to school tech to make going back to school less, well, miserable.
First up, let’s talk about probably the most important tech in your back to school arsenal: the laptop.
This video was sponsored by Razer, but I would have happily put their laptops in here anyway 🙂 Hope you enjoyed it regardless!
Best Laptop for Back to School
Personally, I’m a big fan of Razer laptops and there are a few I think would make killer student laptops, too.
First, this is the Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model Mercury White Edition (a color exclusive to Best Buy, by the way, that you can check out in select stores and students even get $100 off, too).
Now, you can get it with up to a 1080P 240hz display and an NVIDIA RTX 2070 Max-Q GPU in that color (and even grab up to a 4K OLED display with up to a 2080 GPU in the black color ). With that, it’ll handle anything, any class could throw at it and will also handle any game you might want to throw at it after class.
If that’s a bit too overkill for you though, the Razer Blade 15 Base Model (which only comes in Black though) is probably the best power for the money.
With an NVIDIA RTX 2060 Max-Q GPU still and a 1080P 144hz screen, extra storage and a $600 savings over the Advanced Model I just mentioned, it’ll still handle whatever you got and not break the bank.
Now, lastly for the Razer laptops I recommend is the Blade Stealth. It’s the size of an ultrabook so it’s super portable, has great battery life but the NVIDIA MX150 that has 4GBs of video memory will handle most games at 1080P and, class things, too, of course.
Personally, it’s one of my favorite laptops. Period. If you’re interested in any of these though, head to the links above for the best pricing I could find of each.
Netflix and Chill
Next, you need something that can help make it easier to watch your favorite streaming shows from Netflix to Hulu or YouTube. You can, of course, do this on your phone or tablet, but if you want an inexpensive way of getting all of that on a TV instead, may I recommend grabbing a super cheap Roku stick.
The thing I like about Roku is just how easy it is to use. And yet it’ll still give you access to all of your favorite streaming services, as well as music streaming, too.
You just plug it into your TV, log in with your services you have and you’re good to go. This model here even comes with a remote that can control your TV’s volume and turn it on and off so you don’t need to use two remotes.
Side note: if you don’t have a TV yet, TCL makes some that are great with Roku built-in and are under $150, too, like this 3-Series.
Food That’s Better than Instant Noodles (But Just as Easy)
Thanks to the miracle of modern science, cheap, easy, fast food doesn’t have to just mean instant noodles. Instead, may I introduce you to this: a pressure cooker.
You might be familiar with the Instant Pot one that has gained a ton of popularity recently and you can check it out here if you want, but here’s another that does the same thing and is even less expensive.
This is the Ninja pressure cooker and I’ve found it for under $70. The concept is that these little guys allow you to put in a bunch of ingredients, lock it, turn it on and in very little time (thanks to the fact that they are pressurized which enables food to cook a lot faster) you can have real food that you left cooking while you were in class.
Also, there’s a ton of YouTube videos and recipes online that are super easy to make, too. Trust me, it’s the easiest and fastest way to cook simple meals for yourself (and roommates if you’re feeling generous).
Make It To Class on Time
Next up, this little guy is the Lenovo Smart Clock. I have it on this list because not only can you use it as an alarm clock to make sure you get to class on time, but it also has Google Assistant built-in so it’s basically a better looking, tiny, Google Home with a display. You can just talk to it to remember your class schedules, to-do lists, set alarms, and reminders, etc. And you can also connect it to Spotify, Pandora, or Play Music and just use it as a speaker or even watch YouTube videos on it.
Also, you can pair it with one or more of these LIFX Mini smart light bulbs (ones I recommend because they are the cheapest, come in colors, and don’t require the extra cost of a hub to use). Once you set them up, you can use the smart clock to turn them on or off, change their color, etc.
Coffee. I Need Coffee.
Speaking of getting to class on time, that’s darn near impossible without coffee in my opinion.
Now, if you’re in a rush, you might be interested in those pod-based ones, which are fast, but frankly, the coffee is terrible and the pods to refill them can be expensive. So what I would recommend for good coffee that is still convenient, is this guy.
This under $40 coffee maker makes single cups like your pod-variety but you can use your own coffee grinds to do so.
Make sure to buy some decent coffee beans and use this guy (also inexpensive) to grind your beans quickly right before brewing the coffee and trust me, you’ll be way happier on the way to that inevitable 8 am class you had to book this semester.
Conclusion
There you go some of the best tech I could find for back to school. Let me know if you have any others in the comments below and make sure to sign up for my weekly email newsletter for more videos, tips, tricks, etc.
As always, thanks for reading!
