11 must-have gadgets for college students in 2024

You probably have a laptop that you use every day for school, but a tablet can make it easier to get work done on the go or supplement your laptop during more intense study sessions. Apple’s new tablet iPad Air M2 The iPad Air is the one we recommend to most people because it’s the iPad that strikes the best balance between power, features, and price. Now available in 11- and 13-inch sizes, the iPad Air earned a score of 91 in our review thanks to its excellent performance provided by the M2 chipset, its newly positioned front-facing camera that makes FaceTime calls much easier, and the fact that base models now come with twice as much built-in storage as before. On top of that, you get TouchID support on the tablet’s power button, over 10 hours of battery life, and support for the new Apple Pencil Pro.

Most students will find the 11-inch model to be a great choice for working from home and can even act as a second screen alongside their laptop. But those who have classes that require drawings, diagrams, and too many handwritten notes may want to opt for the 13-inch model and Apple’s new stylus.

Any student will appreciate the Marshal Emberton II The Emberton II speaker is a very popular speaker, and not just because of its good looks. The latest version of this compact, rectangular speaker has 10-watt full-range drivers and passive radiators that help deliver the brand’s signature balanced sound. Its 360-degree sound makes it a great choice for dorm room parties, as well as small desk gigs while studying or working on a project. Marshall also improved the battery life on this model, increasing it from 20 to 30 hours, and it has a longer-lasting IP67 rating, too. And if you decide you want to expand your system, stacked mode lets you pair multiple Emberton II speakers together for bigger, more powerful sound.

Students have a lot to remember for all their classes, academic work, and extracurricular activities; a password manager can help cross one thing off that list. And by “one thing,” we actually mean a lot of things, as students have a ton of passwords to remember for school and personal accounts. Our top pick for the best password manager, 1Passwordoffers a lot of value at a relatively affordable price of $36 per year.

First, it stores all of your passwords and login credentials in a secure vault that you can access from any device you own, all while remembering a single master password. This means you can ditch the sticky notes next to your computer screen and never worry about forgetting an important password again. Better yet, 1Password has a tool that will help you create strong passwords so you don’t fall into the (insecure) trap of reusing the same, worn-out passwords for everything. And when you do need to use your credentials online, 1Passwords browser extensions will automatically fill in usernames and passwords when you visit key sites, so you can log in quickly without lifting (too many) fingers.

While you may do a lot of heavy work for school on your laptop, you likely use all of your devices to get work done, including your tablet, phone, e-reader, and the like. stop A stand like this one from Anozer can make it easier for you to use those other devices to the max. It can position your tablet at eye level (and at just the right angle) so you can use it as a second screen while you’re working on a research paper, and when you’re done, it’s easy to readjust it to a different position when you want to kick back with some Netflix. Your phone can fit comfortably on it, too, if you’re someone who likes to keep your phone screen within reach to see all the notifications that come in, and the weighted base is wider than others, helping to make it more stable. Best of all, the whole thing folds up when you’re not using it, making it conveniently convenient for trips to the lab or library.

The last thing any student wants is for their laptop to shut down right before they finish an assignment or for their phone screen to go black just as they’re on their way home from hanging out with friends. Portable chargers like this one Anker Prime The power bank can ensure that you don’t experience any kind of power issues on campus, at home, and anywhere else. This sleek 20,000mAh brick supports a maximum of 100W of charging through a single port, meaning it can charge laptops, tablets, phones, and other small mobile devices without breaking a sweat. It even has a handy display on one side that shows you how many watts are flowing to each device you’re charging, along with how much juice is left in the battery. We recommend picking it up with its dedicated dock, not only because it supports fast charging, but also because you’ll be less likely to misplace the power bank if you have a special place to charge it.

The best accessory for an iPhone is possibly the Apple Watchand it can come in handy for busy students. Not only can it send important alerts, timers, and reminders from your iPhone to your wrist so you never miss the most important things, but it will also track daily activity while you’re wearing it. It can be difficult to balance being a good student with being a healthy human being, but knowing where you stand in terms of your daily step count and exercise levels might inspire you to take the stairs instead of the elevator to your next class or join a basketball game instead of standing on the sidelines.

The latest Apple Watch has a faster processor, a handy new double-tap feature, and built-in Siri request processing, all of which contribute to its status as the best smartwatch you can get right now. Android users are out of luck, though: Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 is the best equivalent from Google’s point of view.

It’s a good idea to have all your important school documents saved in more than one place. You can have cloud services provided by your university, or your own Google Drive or Dropbox account, but you need to supplement that with something else like an external hard drive. A portable SSD like our top pick, the Crucial X9 ProIt’s a nice compromise, giving you another place to store all those papers, lab reports, syllabi, and more that you carry around with you everywhere. The Crucial X9 Pro showed relatively fast performance in our benchmark tests, and it’s remarkably small. It’s about the size of a credit card, so it can easily be slipped into a purse or back pocket before you rush out the door. Its aluminum body is also IP55-rated, so it’ll survive contact with water and dust.

It can be easy to lose things at school in the middle of a messy dorm room or while moving all your stuff from one conference room to another. Bagsmart Tech Organizer It’ll help keep you from losing your USB drive with all your project materials or forgetting your trusty wireless mouse before you leave the library. It has a number of pockets and loops to hold all of the tech you use most, including a few SD card slots and larger elastics to hold things like a mouse, portable SSD, and other slightly larger items. It’s just the right size so you can easily throw it into a backpack, and the exterior is water-repellent to protect your stuff from accidental spills.

Instead of lugging around too many heavy textbooks in a backpack that’s too small, get an e-reader like the Kobo Libra Color To make your life easier. One of Kobo’s newest models, the Libra Colour has a 7-inch E Ink Kaleido panel, page-turning buttons, an improved process, and stylus support, all of which make it well worth its $220 price tag.

Reading on Libra Color is a great experience, and the color only adds to the overall aesthetic, even though it’s not an entirely necessary feature. The interface is easy to navigate and has two standout features: it’s ad-free and has a built-in connection to Overdrive, making it even more convenient to borrow the next book you’re reading in your English literature class immediately when you need it. And if you prefer to take notes, highlight, underline, and doodle in the margins of the books you’re reading for class, you can opt for the color feature. needle for an even better experience, quite close to the real experience, with pencil and paper.

For one pair of ANC headphones to rule them all, Sony WF-1000XM5 Wireless headphones are the ones to have. Students will appreciate their small, comfortable design, powerful noise cancellation with adaptive sound control, excellent sound quality, and eight-hour battery life. These will be the wireless headphones students take with them wherever they go, whether they want to pump themselves up before a football game with their favorite music or shut out the world in the library while studying for finals. These headphones also support advanced features like Speak to Chat, which pauses audio when the headphones detect you’re talking, and multipoint connectivity. If you prefer over-ear headphones, our top pick for the best wireless headphones you can get right now also comes from Sony: the WH-1000XM5 cans.

Sometimes sitting at a desk just isn’t the best fit. Lapgear Laptop Desk It can make working from your bed or couch much easier and more comfortable by giving you a sturdy surface to place your laptop, notebook, textbook, and other materials on. The soft padding on the bottom is designed to keep your lap cool even after hours of work, and there’s a built-in mouse pad on top for you to use with your favorite accessory. We also appreciate the phone slot that keeps your phone in view at all times and the handle on top for easy transport around your home.