mandatory accesories for going away to college

I am about to leave for college and i was wondering what you guys thought were mandatory accesories. Right now i have a laptop backpack, cooling pad, mouse, and external HD to go w/ my new e1505.
Anything else that is important that i would want/need?
thanks

 

digital camera, headphones and/or speakers. Possibly a secondary keyboard and monitor. Typing for long periods on a laptop can be pretty bad, compared to a good keyboard.

 

I would recommand a lock. Laptops get stolen in college, so everytime you go out (even to the bathroom) you have to lock your door. And you don't want to have to lose a laptop just cause you forgot to lock the door one time.

 

QFT. You definintly want a lock. I knew people who had their desktops stolen when they left their dorm room to use the bathroom.

 

I was thinking about getting a lock but i wasnt sure if it was necesary...guess it is.
Im not sure ill have room for a secondary monitor, but ill look into it. A secondary keyboard sounds good though.
thanks for the ideas

 

This is just my opinion as a college student going into her senior year...

Most people think they need wayyyy too much stuff. Sit down and really think about what things you use every day. Those are the essentials. Now, think about what you "couldn't live without" and then consider how many of them serve a purpose more than very rarely. We all need some comforts, but there's no reason the overcrowd a tiny room more than need be.

The lock is a MUST. Lock your laptop at all times. Password it too. Personally, I think a secondary monitor and keyboard are overkill.... laptop keyboards are very easy to type on, I usually type faster on my laptop than a full keyboard, even though I use full keyboards more often (I am, at heart, a desktop person). Speakers are important if you like listening to music, watching movies, or gaming with your laptop -- if you have a different piece of equipemtn for those tasks, I wouldn't bother.

 

I agree with dragonesse, really plan for what you need to take. Unless you need to have to have a dedicated monitor, go with a single screen. No need for a keyboard really, my friend has one, and you should be better off with the keyboard on the notebook. Maybe a speaker set if your going to relax to music. 2.1 surround should be good enough.

 

are any special kind of headphones needed? or just a comfy pair? im thinkin just my ipod headphones

 

Any headphones work. your Ipod ones will work just as well, possibley better then most, of the other ones out there.

I myself use a keyboard with my laptop. When I'm at home or traveling it doesn't matter, except on planes and airports I use the laptop one then. Its all what works best for you. Your going to be doing a lot of typeing for papers so you will want something thats comfortable. If you have the laptop on a heatpad that is going to raise the hieight of the keyboard making it less comfortable over long periods of time. If going into a field that uses alot of calculations haivng a dedicated number pad may work for better then the number across the top of the laptop.

 

Lest I open a can of worms*, www.head-fi.org and it's portable headphones section is your friend

I always get rid of stock buds as they never stay in my ears...I have IEMs and 'on-head' stylee's

*Of course most iPod owners do keep the stock buds. If you like them, don't change them

 

Yes, you don't need all the stuff. But I remember my dorm room, and it was nice being able to play music/games/whatever on speakers other than crummy integrated laptop ones. The headphones, that's for not annoying the roommate if they don't share your tastes Keyboard is for if the laptop is your only machine. A laptop keyboard isn't the greatest for writing papers on if it's too small, and it's definitely not nice for typing in numbers like jason54 said. Laptop screens are also small for watching movies or playing games on, so it's nice to have an external display at times. You get a decent LCD and you can get a Video->VGA adapter that'll let you even use it for things like your Playstation Anyway, I'm getting away with the "stuff" shopping. But yes, don't get things you have functionally duplicated elsewhere. I just like using my computer as my main media machine, so I like the extra goodies.

Also, BACK THINGS UP REGULARLY. Important paper just finished? Burn a CD and stick it on the shelf. CD's are cheap. Drive recovery isn't, nor is re-taking a class. Make sure you can still get your data even if your computer is stolen/destroyed/crashed/whatever. I've seen many tears when I told people I'd salvaged everything off their hard drive that was possible without multi-thousand dollar direct bit-reading, and they still didn't have their important papers.

 

Is my external HD good enough for backing up? I wouldnt think someone would go for that, or even know what it is.

 

external hds are good. i also have a gmail account so i just send myself an email with the paper attached.

 

Get a 2GB flash drive and a lock cable.

Your iPod earbuds might not work without an extension cord. They're pretty short.

Don't keep your external HD in sight. They're easier to steal than your computer. Use the flash drive to back-up incrementally.

If you have the room for a "dorm fridge" but don't need it, put a hasp and padlock on one and use it like a safe. We did that for our daughter when her "friends" started "borrowing" a few things like CDs and make-up from her. Worked like a dream because nobody wanted to look in it when she told them it was "giving out" and the stuff in it was spoiling.