The 2024 College Buying Guide
It’s that time of year! Every year thousands of bright-eyed students make their way to college campuses across the country. New experiences, new classes, new friends, and new tech! Setting up a new student can be an expensive proposition, but it doesn’t have to be. Keep reading because we have compiled some of the best (and most needed) products in the 2024 college buying guide. Let’s discuss.
Tunes
Music is an essential part of the college experience. Some of the best times I had was listening to music while studying, with my friends, or at a party. Here are some easy ways to get your student music.
Headphones
What good is music if you can’t hear it? Don’t worry, we are living in an era of low-cost, but high-performing headphones! Our over-the-ear choice must be the SOUNDPEATS Space headphones ($89.99). First, they offer 123 hours of battery life for the busy student on the go. And that is not an exaggeration. My editor tried his hardest to kill the battery on these things and failed! Secondly, they sound really good. Lastly, they are ANC (Active Noise Cancelling), so others can party away while you study!
If in-ear is more your style, SOUNDPEATS has you covered with the SOUNDPEATS Air4 Pro ($79.99) in-ear headphones. While they don’t have near the battery life of their bigger brother, their 26-hour battery will ease you through the day. The Air4 Pro also features ANC, which is great for studying or at the gym!
If you want to step up the audio game but don’t want to break the bank, the Sineaptic SE-1 wireless headphones should be on your shortlist. They are a bit more expensive at $199, but they are as close to audiophile territory as you will get without spending far more! They are open-back style, so they aren’t great for studying around others. But if you want to give them a set of quality cans to enjoy their music, these are the ones.
Variety is the spice of life! The great thing is that we live in a time where there are lots of options for IEM, or in-ear-monitors that will fit any lifestyle or budget. I prefer IEM when I am on the go because I can pop them in and out easily, and just shove them in my pocket when I need to store them. The soundcore Space A40 ($100) are in that Goldilocks range where the performance and price are just right. Add in ANC and an impressive battery life, and these might just be in your pocket too.
Our last choice is for those who want an earphone that sounds great and will keep up with your active lifestyle. The Cleer Arc II open-ear earbuds are a clear choice. The Cleer Arc II is great for runners, bikers, or other folks who want a quality set of headphones but need to hear what’s going on around you. They aren’t cheap at $199, but you get a combination of amazing sound quality, rugged construction, and comfort while you work out!
Bluetooth Speaker
I would be remiss if I didn’t add a Bluetooth speaker (or two) that you can take with you or throw on the table for some quick tunes. My go-to is the TRIBIT StormBox Flow ($79.99). To start off, it’s a portable Bluetooth speaker with 30 hours of playback and an IP67 water/dustproof rating. On top of that, you can pair a couple of them together for stereo mode. Lastly, it has a built-in power bank so that you can charge your devices on the go!
If you want something a bit larger and more RGB’er, the soundcore Boom 2 ($129) will add a bit of pizzazz to your parties. Plus it’s fully waterproof, floats, and will last 24 hours on a single charge. Not that your kiddo will ever party that long! It would be great for weekend getaways at the beach with friends, and because it’s rugged, it can be tossed in the back of the car on the fly!
Active Speakers
Space can be at a premium for the college student. I never did the dorm life, but my buddies did, and space was limited. For those who want some decent sound, but don’t have the space for a receiver and speakers, active speakers are a go-to. We have two choices for the college student, both decently priced.
For bookshelf speakers, we recommend the Fluance AI41 ($250) powered bookshelf speakers. They offer 45 watts of power. They have Bluetooth, RCA, optical, and a subwoofer output! Plus, you can connect them to your TV and get rid of those god-awful built-in speakers!
If you have an apartment and want something a bit bigger, the Fluance AI81 ($500) powered tower speakers step up the power (75WPC) and add a pair of 6.5″ woofers. You get all the same connections as the AI41’s!
Music Streaming Service
Hands down, my choice is Apple Music. It offers lossless music and spatial audio, the library is HUGE, and there are tons of curated playlists for you to find your perfect vibe. Plus, it’s inexpensive, with student plans starting at $5.99 a month!
If Apple is not your jam (see what I did there?), I highly recommend Tidal. Like Apple, they offer lossless music, have a huge library, and their app is pretty decent. Plus, Tidal has a MASSIVE library of music videos. Sure, some of the video quality is terrible, but the sound is top-notch! Student plans start at $4.99, so you definitely won’t need to break the bank for Tidal.
Video
As much as I would love to recommend that everyone get a big ‘ole OLED for their dorm or apartment, budget and space won’t typically allow for that. That said, there are some really great TVs out there. They won’t break the bank, will fit in your space, and will give you good performance. Let’s not forget that we have to have stuff to play on that TV, so don’t worry, we have you covered.
TVs/Monitors
Gaming monitors are a great compromise for the student in a dorm. The MSI G274QPX is a 27″ monitor that has HDMI and display port connections, allowing you to hook it up to all your gear. No, it doesn’t have onboard speakers, but we have lots of advice on those in the article. At $349, it’s reasonably priced and will give you a quality image from any source.
If a traditional TV is more your speed, I would point you to the TCL Q651 ($349). At 43″, it’s getting big for a dorm, but would be great for your room in an apartment. Plus, at $349, it has Dolby Vision, 4K resolution, and local dimming. That’s hard to find at this price point. Plus it’s a smart TV with Google TV built in. So that’s one less thing you would need to buy.
Laptop
Another great option is to use a laptop for your media. I often use my laptop to stream content while I write, be it YouTube, Podcasts, or movies. There are too many options out there, but the ASUS TUF Gaming Laptop ($799) is pretty great value. Aside from an AMD Ryzen CPU, it has an NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 GPU (that’s good), 8GB of RAM (upgradeable to 32GB), and 512GB of NVME storage. In non-nerd, it’s fast and will handle all the programs they may need like CAD or Photoshop. Plus it’s got RGB!
Plus, if you want to throw in a portable hard drive and make the backups of all your physical media, they can have their own Plex Server on the cheap and use that for streaming content.
Streaming Boxes
I know that my choice will trigger a lot of folks, but the king of streaming boxes for the average person is the Apple TV 4K ($129). Yes, I am aware that the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro ($200) is more capable, I have one. However, unless you need the HDMI passthrough that the Shield offers, the Apple TV 4K is the next best choice. Plus, it’s far cheaper.
The Apple TV 4K also has an easy-to-use UI and remains very snappy, update after update. Plus, if you have an Apple Music subscription, it will give you lossless audio! If you ABSOLUTELY will not get into the Apple ecosystem, I set my mom up with the Google Chromecast 4K ($50), and Google will also have a new streaming box this fall that will hit that $100 mark.
Streaming Service
If we are being honest, I don’t particularly like streaming services. The prices keep going up, we get less content and (sometimes) there are still commercials (I’m looking at you Prime!), unless I want to pay more. Plus, they all have cracked down on password sharing! Since I will probably still get commercials, I am looking at free services.
My go-to is still Tubi TV. They remain free, have a wide selection of movies from all genres, and the commercials are reasonably timed and not too long. On top of that, almost every major network (NBC, ABC, Fox, CBC, etc.) have their own free broadcasts if you want to get local news or sports, and some have on-demand TV programming.
Dorm Essentials
There are some must-have items for the college student. Here are a few that we think should be included in any back-to-school buying guide.
A fan for your dorm or apartment bedroom is a must. If you don’t have an AC, fresh air is where it’s at! The Dreo fan ($44) is compact and powerful, and you can throw it just about anywhere.
The next must-have is a shower caddy for shared bathrooms. It’s a pain sharing spaces with others, and having to lug your stuff to and from the bathroom every day can get a chore. The iDesign College Essential ($31) is a shower caddy that organizes all your shower stuff both in the bathroom and your dorm room!
I might sound like a broken record here, but space really is at a premium in dorm rooms. If you want to be a good roommate, you need to keep your stuff tidy and the room clear of your clothes. The ZERO JET LAG slim laundry hamper ($21) is essential. Small enough to slip behind a door or in a small closet, it gets clothes off the floor.
Your roommate might become your best friend or your nemesis. What can keep a roommate from being a villain could be as simple as a Locksocket. The Locksocket will keep your chargers in the wall and not in the pocket of your roommate or dorm mates. The number of times I have cursed my children because they lost their charger and had to “borrow” mine would need a supercomputer to tabulate.
The last thing that everyone needs, student or not, is a small toolbox. The DESKPRO 158-piece tool kit ($55), has all the basic tools you will need for most dorms or households. Every one of my kids was sent to school with a toolkit and they are a staple for housewarming gifts for first-time apartment dwellers.
Air Fryer
A busy college student gotta eat, right? While most students have a meal plan, there are late-night cravings, or maybe you live off campus. For that, we have a couple of options.
We have you covered with the COSORI Pro Smart WiFi air fryer ($139.99). That’s right folks, you can get your kid a smart air fryer that has touch controls, WiFi, and voice assistant integration. “Hey Google, make me some nuggies!” All joking aside, it is a capable air fryer that has a 5.8Q capacity and doesn’t break the bank. The app control is just a bonus!
A word of caution. Most dorms won’t allow air fryers, so check with your school to see what is allowed in the room. If your kid is in an apartment, the air fryer is a college essential!
Mini Fridge
If you have an air fryer (or even if you don’t) you need a mini fridge. No, I am not going to recommend a wifi one, but how about one with some style? The Frigidaire Retro mini fridge ($136) has a cool retro aesthetic and gives you plenty of room for beverages and food plus it has a chiller for…other things! We won’t try to guess what your kid might put in there. The Frigidaire is perfect for a dorm room, or a bedroom!
Wrap Up
There you have it, the 2024 college buying guide! Getting your youngster off to school for the first time can be difficult, and expensive. Hopefully, our guide gave you some ideas of the essential items they need, and those they WANT!
