Cool Gadgets For Students [Gift Guide]
Are you looking for cool gadgets to give a student this holiday season? Students want anything that will help them stay connected, study quicker (or easier) or offer entertainment. (Disclosure: I have personally tested each of the following cool gadgets and received for testing. There are no guarantees that products will be include in gift guides. Affiliate links within post.)
Cool Gadgets for Students
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
I just received the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 from my husband as an anniversary/Xmas present and I’m in love with it. I really love the combination of the stylus with a large tablet. I have been creating notes about my gift guides all week. It feels so natural to use a pen (S Pen) on notepaper. This would be perfect for a college student who doesn’t want a laptop, but wants to be able to take notes electronically. You can write, draw diagrams and even record the lecture at the same time.
The multi-tasking capabilities of the Note 10.1 means you can check something on the internet while taking notes with the S Pen. I will do a full review of the tablet once I’ve had more time with it, but I felt it needed to be added to this gift guide now.
Seagate Slim Portable Hard Drive
Many of the new portable laptops do not have huge hard drives, so having an additional portable drive can be very useful. I like to back up my photos and music on the portable drive and sometimes I take it with me when I travel so I can back up the photos from the trip. It’s so light and small, so it doesn’t take up much room.
This is a great option for students who have huge music libraries or just to back up their files for school. They can slip it into their backpack and plug it in via USB when needed.
I know calculators may not sound like a really cool gadget, but if you are a student and need to use a graphing calculator, you might as well have one that looks really cool also! I received both of the following calculators for reviewing purposes.
CASIO FX-9860GII GRAPHING CALCULATOR
This model is perfect for a high school student. My daughter is a Freshman and she has used it. She loves that it is a little more cool looking in pink, yet it also performs the tasks she needs. Pretty and functional. It is not too large for her hands and it fits easily into her backpack so she can carry it with her every day.
Prizm FX-CG10 Color Graphing Calculator
The Prizm graphing calculator is a much fancier and more advanced calculator. It has a 3.7″ full-color LCD screen with Casio’s “Picture Plot” Technology which infuses real images into math. This calculator is approved for PSAT/NMSQT, SAT and ACT college entrance exams and AP tests.
Microsoft Surface 2
The next cool gadget is the Microsoft Surface 2 tablet, small and lightweight. Easy enough for any student to carry around all day. It also is powerful enough to check email in Outlook, create a PowerPoint presentation, write a term paper in Word or track lab results in Excel. Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and OneNote apps come pre-installed on the Surface 2. And when you aren’t studying, you can catch up the latest TV shows on Hulu or movies on Netflix. With up to 10 hours of battery life, the Surface 2 will not need a charge during a school day which makes that a pretty cool gadget. (I received a Surface 2 for review.)
Office 365 Home Premium 1yr
or University 4-year Subscription
If your student does not have a Surface, then the Office 365 Home Premium (in high school or younger) or University 4-year (college) subscription is what they will need to help with their homework. Both versions come with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, OneNote, Publisher and SkyDrive. The Home Premium version is good for up to 5 home PCs or Macs and 2 mobile devices for one year. The University version is for 2 PCs or Macs and 2 mobile devices for 4 years. (As a Windows Champion, I received Office 365 Home Premium version.)
The University version will need student verification.
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11s
With Windows 8.1
The Lenovo Yoga 11S is a unique laptop (very cool gadget) because it can be converted to 4 different modes. There is Laptop, Stand, Tent and Tablet modes. (As a member of the Lenovo INfluencer Team, I received the Yoga 11S for my participation.)
VTech Retro-Design Phone
While cell phones are great, it’s still nice to have a landline phone for when cell service is bad. And this cordless VTech Retro phone looks like a rotary phone straight from the 70s. It even comes in hip colors. I prefer the orange, but there is also teal and black. (I received a teal phone to review.)
Disclosure: I have personally tested each of the cool gadgets. There are no guarantees that products will be include in gift guides. Affiliate links within post.
Which one of these cool gadgets will your student prefer?
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