The Best Tech for Back to School

As summer melts away like a fruity Popsicle left on a poolside deck chair, our thoughts turn to the coming school year.

Whether they’re prepping for middle school, high school, or college, all students heading back to class will need the right gear. The WIRED Reviews team has spent years extensively testing consumer tech for students—giving it to our own youngsters to abuse, or putting it through the paces ourselves—and we’ve compiled this list of items we consider truly essential. Not all of these products are guaranteed to help you learn better, but they’ll make note-taking, homework, arriving on time, and self-care much easier.

See all of our Back to School buying guides, from the Best Backpacks and Best Laptops for Students to our guides on paper planners and using your .edu email address for discounts and deals. The products in this buying guide were tested by members of the WIRED Reviews team: Julian Chokkattu, Christopher Null, Boutayna Chokrane, Henri Robbins, Luke Larsen, Simon Hill, Kat Merck, and Louryn Strampe.

The MacBook Air was once the go-to laptop for college, but over time, the price has gone up as Apple aims for a more high-end market. Now we have the MacBook Neo as the entry-level option. And even with the recent $100 price increase, it remains the best overall college laptop to buy. The design feels every bit as premium as a MacBook Air, with the added fun of different color selections. The standout feature, however, is definitely the high-resolution display, which is brighter and sharper than any other laptop you can get for less than $1,000. The trade-off is in performance, especially the limit of 8 GB of RAM, but that should be enough for most students.

Bonus tip: You’ll get $100 off if you buy using your college email address through Apple's website .

If you want a light laptop for class that won’t break your back lugging it across campus, the Zenbook A14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is for you. At just 2.18 pounds, it’s one of the lightest laptops around, over half a pound lighter than the MacBook Air. That doesn’t mean it feels flimsy, as Asus has used its patented Ceraluminum material to build a machine that’s extremely lightweight yet sturdy. You’ll be astounded by just how light this laptop feels. It’s reasonably priced too—especially considering the specs, OLED display, and great battery life.

There’s a next-gen model that comes with the more powerful Snapdragon X2 chips, but it’s much more expensive.

Most college students probably don’t have room in their dorms for a full-size monitor—nor would one help you when you’re studying at a coffee shop or the library. That’s where a portable monitor comes into play. It gives you access to a second screen on the go, which can be really useful depending on your area of study. There are tons of different portable monitors out there to choose from, but this is a large 16.1-inch screen with a sharp 2560 x 1440 resolution. It even comes with a 180Hz refresh rate, making it a solid gaming screen when needed. Of all the portable monitors we’ve tested, the Arzopa Z3FC is the best to take to college with you.