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Kid heading off to college? This is the tech we recommend they bring
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
A dorm room does the job of an entire apartment, and you have to set it up in a small shared space that often doesn’t have enough outlets. As such, you need tech that can do the job efficiently and let you make the most of your dorm space.
Our Editor-in-Chief, Suzanne Kantra, and I put our heads together to come up with our picks for setting up your dorm room. She's had kids in college for the last seven years and is getting her third ready to start his freshman year next month. So, she knows what a student needs to study, sleep, and have fun with their friends.
These devices cover every scenario you’ll run into in a dorm, from a budget laptop that lasts a full day of classes to a sound machine that drowns out noisy suite-mates to a tiny projector that turns any room into a movie party.
Image credit: Anker
Anker Nano Power Strip: Desk-edge outlets that skip the wall
The price: $69.99
It’s difficult to find a good place to keep a desk in your dorm room that’s also near a decent number of outlets, and students have plenty of stuff they'll need to plug in and recharge. The Anker Nano Power Strip solves this problem at the desk itself. It clamps onto any tabletop edge (between 0.6 and 1.8 inches thick) and has a 5-foot power cord, so your outlets sit right where you need them instead of behind the bed.
The Anker Nano provides six AC outlets plus two USB-C ports that push up to a combined 70W, enough to fast-charge a laptop. It even offers a basic 1500 joules of surge protection.
Image credit: INIU
INIU 100W 3-Port GaN Charger: One brick for the laptop, phone, and earbuds
The price: $32.98
Outlets are usually limited in dorms and classrooms, and this charger will let you get one outlet to do the work of three. I remember carrying three separate bricks to college because I needed to charge stuff midday, and having one brick would've made my backpack much lighter. We’ve tested this power brick, and can confirm it works reliably and is very easy to carry.
A single USB-C port pushes up to 100W, enough to charge most laptops at full speed. And with all three ports in use, it splits to 45W, 30W, and 18W across two USB-C ports and one USB-A. That covers a laptop, a phone, and earbuds charging from one wall outlet. The outlet prongs fold flat for easier portability, and INIU includes a 5-foot 100W USB-C cable in the box, which most chargers make you buy separately. At $32.98 in black and blue, it’s currently at its lowest price of the past 30 days, so this is a good time to grab one.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LENOVO
Image credit: Sherri L. Smith/Techlicious
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11: A budget laptop with marathon battery life
The deal: $999.99 (usually $1,399.99) — 29% off
I spent part of college with a lower-end laptop that made it difficult to get work done on time, and upgrading made a lot of things easier. So, investing upfront in a model with enough power to last all four years is well worth it. The IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 fits the bill, covering a full day of classes without a charger. In our testing, it ran for more than 14 hours on a charge, so you can safely leave the power brick in your room.
You get an Intel Core 7 350 processor with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, which will handle classwork and streaming without slowing down, and the 15.3-inch IPS LCD touchscreen runs at 1,920 x 1,200 resolution with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. At 3.5 pounds, it fits into a backpack easily. It's our pick for budget-conscious shoppers.
Image credit: Amazon
Amazon Echo Spot: A smart alarm clock that keeps your phone out of bed
The price: $79.99
It's hard to overemphasize how important having a reliable alarm clock is for college students. And while a phone alarm may seem like an obvious solution, it can’t wake you if you forgot to charge your phone overnight. That’s why we recommend a smart alarm clock like our pick, the Echo Spot. Alexa handles alarms and reminders by voice, and can even provide your day's agenda so you'll remember everything you need to pack in your the backpack.
Beyond scheduling, the screen shows the weather (on the off chance your student actually will use an umbrella), and your student can play music for themselves or friends with surprisingly clear vocals and deep bass for a speaker this size. It can even control smart plugs and lights, so you can turn off room lights from your bed.
Image credit: Yogasleep
Yogasleep Dohm Classic: The original white noise machine for thin dorm walls
The price: $49.99
Falling asleep in a dorm can mean dealing with hallway conversations at 1 AM and the hacking cough of sick roommates. The Dohm Classic covers them up the old-fashioned way – it spins a real fan inside its shell to make white noise. The sound is far more natural than recorded sound loops that come out of a speaker, and doesn't get hiccups or breaks the way recordings do when the loop restarts.
You get two fan speed settings, and you can twist the housing to tune the tone and volume until it's just right. There’s no app and no subscription, and setup is as easy as plugging in the 7-foot cord and flipping the switch.
Yogasleep has been making this machine since 1962, and it’s known as the first white noise machine ever created. Suzanne has been using this at home for decades to mask the sounds of New York City and sent each of her kids off with one to college.
The Dohm Classic comes in five colors, and it's proven to be the best insurance for getting sleep in a loud dorm (or frat house). Her son who just graduated said, "It was a great investment. 100%!"
Image credit: XGIMI
XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro: A movie theater that fits on a dorm shelf
The price: $359.00
If you want a TV for your dorm room, consider a projector instead. You can get a big screen for the same amount of money or less, and you can even bring it to a common room for a dorm movie party.
A tiny projector is also far easier to pack up and bring home or put in storage than a full-sized TV, making it the better long-term investment. Suzanne's daughter bought a projector and she's still using it three years after graduation. Her son purchased a regular TV and had to sell it for peanuts because he couldn’t bring it home with him on the plane.
When choosing a model, I've tested and am a fan of XGIMI's projectors, including this pint-sized entry-level MoGo 2 Pro. It throws a full HD 1080p picture ranging from 45 to 120 inches onto a bare wall, and its 430 ISO lumens of brightness will do the job when the lights are low. Google TV is built in, so you can stream on it without attaching a stick or a laptop, and the two built-in 8W speakers mean you don't need a soundbar or external speakers. Auto focus and auto keystone correction will line up the picture whenever you move it.
Image credit: Apple
Apple AirTag 2: A tracker for the backpack that goes everywhere
The deal: $27.00 (usually $29.00) — 7% off
You’re bound to leave your backpack behind in libraries, lecture halls, dining halls, and friends' rooms, and the AirTag 2 will help you keep track of where it ended up. I forgot my backpack in college on more than one occasion, and the worst part was that I forgot which building I left it in, so a tracker would’ve helped immensely. You can drop the AirTag 2 in a pocket or attach it with a keychain and your bag will show up in Apple's Find My app.
While you're at it, pick up a few extras for athletic bags, musical instruments, and anything else your student is likely to leave behind or have "borrowed" by a fellow student.
The second-generation AirTag increases Precision Finding range by up to 50% over the original, giving you on-screen directions to within arm's reach of the bag, and the speaker is 50 percent louder, so you can hear it from under a pile of coats. Apple rates the replaceable battery for more than a year. You need an iPhone or iPad to set it up and track it, so if you’re an Android user, you need a Bluetooth tracker that works with Google's Find Hub instead, like our pick, the Pebblebee Clip 5 ($34.99), which comes in three bright colors and is rechargeable.
Image credit: Anker
Anker Soundcore Space 2: Noise cancellation that fits a student budget
The deal: $109.99 (usually $129.99) — 15% off
A roommate's late-night gaming session or a party in the hallway can keep you from finishing up class assignments. Our solution is noise-canceling headphones paired with white noise. The adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) takes care of continuous sounds, like a droning air conditioner or a whirring mini fridge, while the white noise masks the rest. With the Anker Soundcore Space 2, the white noise is built in: You can choose from Rainstorm, Blizzard, Rainy Park, and Babbling Brook at the touch of a button.
We’ve tested the Space 2 and found the sound and ANC to be almost as good as much pricier models from Sony and Bose. You get a battery life of up to 50 hours with noise cancellation on and 70 hours with it off, so you should get through more than a week of use between charges. You also get LDAC hi-res audio support and three mics with AI noise reduction for clearer calls when phoning home. We're also big fans of the sea foam color option (shown) and think your student will be, too.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH INIU
Image credit: INIU
INIU SnapGo Air: A slim magnetic power bank for long days on campus
The price: $54.99
The SnapGo Air is a 10,000mAh magnetic power bank that snaps onto the back of your iPhone, so you can top up between classes without hunting for an outlet. In college, I carried a power bank in one pocket with a cable running to the phone in the other, which was cumbersome. A power bank that snaps onto the phone is much easier to move around with. I carry magnetic banks daily now, and this one would’ve been a godsend back then.
The SnapGo Air is a svelte 0.5 inches thick, so it’ll disappear into a backpack pocket, and the TSA-compliant capacity means Its capacity falls within TSA limits, so it can fly home with you on breaks. It’s Qi2.2 certified for 25W wireless charging, which should take an iPhone 17 Pro from 0% to 50% in 33 minutes. The magnetic mount works with the iPhone 12 through 17 series, and Google's Pixel 10 series. If you’re in more of a hurry, the detachable USB-C GoCord cable can push 45W wired charging, and a small digital display shows you exactly how much charge is left.
It comes in black, blue, brown, purple, white, and orange to match your college colors.
Image credit: ESR
ESR Flex Keyboard Case: A keyboard that turns the iPad into a laptop
The price: $59.99
A keyboard on an iPad is a setup I used in college, and having one means you could skip carrying a laptop to class for most occasions. The keyboard attaches magnetically and detaches just as fast, so your iPad can go back to being a tablet when class ends.
When we recently tested iPad keyboard cases, we found the ESR Flex was the best lightweight option; its keys offer nice tactile feel and it's comfortable to carry. The stand can rest your iPad at two angles, 65 degrees for typing and watching, and 20 degrees for writing on the screen, and the trackpad is 65 percent larger than the ones on typical keyboard cases. Plus, you get the same multipoint touch gestures and other features of the Apple's $249.00 Magic Keyboard for a fraction of the cost. One caveat: there is no keyboard backlight, so you’ll have to rely on the screen's light if you’re in a dark environment.
ESR makes the case for the iPad 11-inch (A16), 10th-generation iPad, iPad Air M4, and iPad Air M3.
