School is starting back up, and one of the best ways to ensure success is to have everything you need. There's the usual books, notebooks, calculators, and so on, but there are a few other tools and accessories that can make your next semester a little bit easier.
In this guide, we'll go over a few inexpensive items that can help you be a bit more productive or keep you organized.
Laptop bag/sleeve
There usually isn't much of a difference between laptop bags, though some may have more space for chargers/other items. Amazon makes a variety of laptop sleeves in different sizes and colors.
External mouse
If you use computers for long periods of time, and you're prone to experiencing carpal tunnel syndrome or other similar issues, something like the MX Vertical or Microsoft Sculpt might be a better option.
Smart speaker
The Google Home Mini is my personal favorite smart speaker, as Google Assistant is usually a bit smarter at understanding questions than Alexa. If you're not in the Google ecosystem already, an Echo Dot might work better.
If you have a bit more cash, a smart display like the Google Nest Hub or Amazon Echo Show 5 functions exactly like a smart speaker, but they have a screen for videos, controlling music playback, video calls, and so on. Most of them will also give you visual alerts for upcoming reminders and calendar events.
Portable SSD
If you need more storage on your laptop, or you just want an easy way to backup more files than a cloud storage service will take, external solid state drives are cheaper than ever.
The Samsung T5 is an excellent option in this category. It's just as fast as an internal SATA drive (as long as you connect it to a USB 3.0 port), and it fits in your pocket. The prices are also fairly low, too.
If you want to save as much money as possible, you can also buy a cheap SATA SSD drive and place it in a USB enclosure.
