What back-to-school tech should you buy?
The Wirecutter Editor in Chief Jacqui Cheng chimes in on the latest Too Embarrassed to Ask.
Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images
For many students, “back to school” also means back to the mall, or Walmart, or Amazon, to load up on gear for the new year. But what’s worth the money, and what’s just going to take up space in your backpack?
On the latest episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask, Recode’s Kara Swisher and The Verge’s Lauren Goode have some answers! They’re joined by The Wirecutter Editor in Chief Jacqui Cheng, who said the three most important items for a college student are: A good, lightweight laptop; battery packs; and exercise headphones.
“We’d recommend ultrabooks for most people because they’re both thin and durable,” Cheng said of laptops, highlighting the Dell XPS13 line and the 13-inch MacBook Air. “If you’re going to have this as a tool that you’re carrying around with you all over the place, you don’t want to kill your shoulders. But you do want to make sure it can run your stuff.”
She acknowledged, however, that tech is not always the answer. Paper and pencil still work perfectly fine for many students, and some gadgets that may appeal to students — such as Wi-Fi extenders — are a risky purchase.
“I don’t think that that will help in a shitty Wi-Fi dorm situation because, probably, you don’t have control over the original Wi-Fi network to begin with,” Cheng said. “A product like AmpliFi is meant for someone like a homeowner, where you do have control over the network.”
On the new podcast, the trio also answered questions from our readers and listeners about tablets vs. laptops, Chromebooks vs. cheap laptops and why we’re still using books at all.
Thank you to everyone who sent in their questions about back-to-school tech. Still have questions we didn’t get to? Or have another tech topic on your mind? You can tweet any questions, comments and complaints to @Recode with the hashtag #TooEmbarrassed. You can also email your questions to TooEmbarrassed@recode.net, in case Twitter isn’t your thing.
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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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