That sound you just heard was the collective groan of students bemoaning the start of another school year.
While it’s not much of a consolation for those still longing for carefree summer nights, take comfort in knowing at least there’s no shortage of amazing tech tools to make schoolwork less of a chore — regardless of the student’s age or subject matter.
Some of these gadgets may help during class or while cranking out an assignment in a library, while others may be more suitable to use at home or in a dorm room.
Covering a range of prices, the following are a handful of A+ picks.
Speak to me
Available in multiple colours, the all-new Amazon Echo Spot ($99) is an Alexa-powered smart speaker (and alarm clock) that includes a small display to see time, weather, song titles, and more. Small in size but big on sound, you can summon your knowledgeable personal assistant to answer homework questions, whether it’s related to math, science, English, history, geography, or other subjects. Of course, you can also control your smart home devices with the Echo Spot, as well as set reminders, create shopping lists with your voice, and make free phone calls across Canada or to the U.S., U.K. and Mexico.
Lap it up
For both your 9-to-5 school life and 5-to-9 downtime, the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED laptop ($1,199) boasts a gorgeous 16-inch Lumina display with a 120Hz refresh rate for rendering smooth graphics (and a vibrant RGB backlit keyboard for gaming in the dark!). Powered by Intel’s latest Core Ultra 5 processor, this Windows 11 laptop also has the integrated CoPilot generative AI assistant (and dedicated button) to help draft essays and book reports, summarize lectures, and learn code. Under the hood of this all-metal PC is 16GB of system memory, a 512GB solid-state drive (to store all your apps and files), and an impressive 16-hour battery life.
Thanks for the memory
Smaller than a deck of cards but can store up to 6 terabytes (about 6,000GB) of files, the new WD My Passport is the highest-capacity 2.5-inch portable external hard drive on the planet. Protect all your data — school docs, photos, videos, music, and more – plus it doesn’t need to be plugged into the wall as it derives its power from the laptop’s USB port. Integrated software lets you password-protect the drive and you can schedule automatic back-ups so you don’t have to remember to do it. Available in multiple colours, prices start at $95 for 1 terabyte.
Print, scan, copy, repeat
Being a student is stressful enough – you also shouldn’t have to worry about running out of ink at the worst times (and paying through the nose for pricy cartridges). Instead, the Epson EcoTank 2850 ($249) includes enough ink out of the box to print up to 5,000 pages. When it’s time to buy more ink, it comes in affordable bottles that last another up to 5,000 pages (a savings of up to 90% compared to cartridges, says the company). This Epson “all-in-one” is also a wireless scanner and copier.
Photo finish
Students who want to capture and print fun times with friends this school season, the new INSTAX PAL ($129) from FujiFilm is an adorably compact digital camera for kids, tweens, and teens. Whether it’s in the halls of high school or on campus, the wide-angle lens is ideal for group selfie photos, which you can then wirelessly transfer to your smartphone’s INSTAX app to share on social media or print through any INSTAX Link Series Smartphone printer — including the all-new Mini Link 3 printer, available in multiple colours (also $129).
Keeping tabs
With its new (read: lower) price, Apple’s iPad (from $499) is a great buy for on-the-go students. Thin and light, and powered by Apple’s A14 Bionic chip, this nearly 11-inch tablet features a bright and colourful Liquid Retina display, 12-megapixel rear camera (that can shoot 4K video), and 12-megapixel Ultra Wide front camera. The latter is ideal for FaceTiming with Center Stage, which always keeps you in frame and in focus, even if you move around while chatting with friends or family back at home. This iPad also supports the optional Apple Pencil.
Flip over this
When closed, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 smartphone (from $60/month on 2-year term) fits snug in your pocket or clutch purse, plus you can glance at content on its outer 3.4-inch display. But flip open the bendable phone to reveal a 6.7-inch display whenever you want more real estate. Compared to last year’s Flip5, the main camera has been upgraded from 12- to 50-megapixels, along with a longer-lasting battery, more durable design, and new Galaxy AI experiences to help students get more done in less time.
Wide open
If you agree bigger is better, the LG 34-inch 21:9 UltraWide Full HD IPS Monitor ($319) is like having two monitors side-by-side on your desk. It’s perfect for multitaskers, such as students who want to work on a word processing document on the main part of the screen but also see multiple smaller windows with, perhaps, a web browser, class notes, and a YouTube video. Thanks to High Dynamic Range (HDR10) for better contrast, brightness and colour, this monitor is ideal for work and play (not to mention AMD FreeSync technology for fluid motion in today’s fast-paced games).
Free TV, movies
Finally, students on a tight budget (er, or their parents) need not worry about yet another subscription service weighing down their wallet. Pluto TV is a completely free video streaming service with hundreds of live channels and several thousand movies and TV show episodes, which you can watch on smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, smart TVs, and more. Whether you download the Pluto TV app or simply go to PlutoTV.com, highlights include all 24 seasons of South Park, MTV’s Jerey Shore, Key & Peele, CSI, Top Gear and (my favourite) Hot Ones.
-Marc Saltzman is the host of the Tech It Out podcast (marcsaltzman.com/podcasts) and the author of the upcoming book, Apple Vision Pro For Dummies (Wiley).