Hang in there parents because the end is in sight — the back to school season is just around the corner. While your kids try to squeeze the last remaining days of fun out of their summer vacations, and you just try to survive until September, technology vendors are busy positioning their latest offerings for the busy back to school buying season. Here’s a selection of tech to send your kids back to school in style.
Be the Envy of the back to school set with the HP Envy X360 notebook. Running Windows 8.1, the convertible laptop has a 360 degree hinge that allows it to transition from a laptop to a tent, stand or tablet with its 15.6″ diagonal Full HD 10-point touchscreen display. There’s an integrated HP TrueVision HD Webcam for keeping in touch with the parents (or not) and dual speakers. Powered by Intel Core processors, pricing starts at $949.99.
Space can be at a premium in a modern dorm room, and Rapoo’s E2700 keyboard doesn’t take up any more space than it has to. It’s a 5.6mm “ultra-thin” wireless multimedia keyboard with touchpad that can be used to control a PC, media player or Smart TV. Available in black or white, it features a scissor key structure that Rapoo says allows for heightened accuracy and reliability. It has 18 keys including 13 hotkeys and media control, a touchpad that takes the place of a mouse, and a 33-foot operating range. It’s priced at $49.99.
For students working with heavy graphical content, or those that just want a sweet display for streaming Netflix, Acer has launched the B286HK display. It’s a 28″ backlit LED display that boasts sharp images and accurate colour thanks to ultra-high 4K2K (3840×2160) resolution and 6-axis color adjustment. Its ErgoStand allows for tilt, swivel, pivot and height adjustment. It’s priced starting at $599.99.
It’s not a Windows laptop, and its not a Chromebook — it’s an Android laptop. HP’s SlateBook 14 is powered by the same Android 4.3 Jelly Bean that many students will have on their smartphones. The laptop has a 14″ Full HD touchscreen display and up to nine hours of battery life, measuring just 16mm thin and weighing-in at 3.7 lbs. It’s powered by an Nvidia Tegra 14 mobile processor and comes in yellow and silver accents. With quad-speakers, its priced starting at $479.99.
For students that need just basic computing requirements and don’t have a lot of space, Asus offers the Chromebox. It’s a small form factor computer running Google’s Chrome OS that takes up hardly any space and can even be VESA mounted to free up more desk space, although you will need to connect it to a display. It features the latest Intel processors, is available in 2GB or 4GB RAm options, and comes with 100GB of cloud storage for two years. It starts at $209.
