September: the month many kids hate and the month parents love as its time to return to school. New year of school represents new challenges, experiences, and more to learn. We here at TGSB want to make sure that you're prepared.
Whether you're going to middle school, high school, or college. We got you covered w/ our picks to help students ace/conquer your school year. Whether you need headphones or laptops or cameras or even a stylus, you'll have no reason not to pass through this w/o flying colors.
We decided to do things differently this year. We wanted to break our guide down into price points. Finishing things off is our under $1000 & over section. Our Back To School guide awaits.
Surface 3
Microsoft's PC of choice has a younger brother w/ the Surface 3. They took everything that made the Surface Pro 3 great and put it in a slightly smaller & still powerful package. It is an ideal workhouse for the PC-lover in you - especially for those who to get a taste of Windows 10. If the Pro 3 is a bit steep for your budget, you can't go wrong w/ the Surface 3.
$598 Buy
MacBook Air
Apple's entry-level laptop is a great all-around machine. Being both lightweight & super-thin makes it suitable to throw into any bag to carry around w/o weighing down your shoulders. Fast Intel processor, SSD storage, up to 8GB of RAM - all of this w/ being equipped w/ a 12-hour battery life makes this hard to beat in any category. If you're a Mac person or looking to become one, this is a great machine to get started on.
$910 Buy
Sony a6000
For those of you looking to get into photography as a hobby or even a future career, there are tons of shooters out there to choose from. Luckily enough for you, we got our pick which can get you great photos & video w/ lightning fast auto focus: the Sony a6000. The cropped sensor shooter even offers the joys of Wi-Fi & NFC capabilities for faster photo/video transfers. Its hard to go wrong w/ this shooter for anything.
$698 Buy
Sony RX100 Mk IV
This one is dedicated for those of you who may already have a shooter & needs a smaller on-the-go one. Or one who wants to get into vlogging but also want to take great photos when out and about as well. Meet the 2015 version of the RX100. It is on the pricey side as it only has one lens that you ca't swap out for but you make up for it w/ 20.1MP 1-inch sensor, 4K video, Wi-Fi/NFC, and a tiltable 3inch LCD for selfies and such. All of this power that fits right into your pocket.
$948 Buy
Surface Pro 3
For those of you power Windows users, you can step up to the Surface Pro 3. Still powerful & portable w/ its 12inch 2K display, 9-hours battery life, Surface Pen, and 5MP webcams on the front & back of this thing. I can personally vouch for its power & such as I use one when I'm out-and-about at events. I use it for editing hands-on videos, light photo-editing, and writing on it of course. Thanks to the Windows 10 update, I now play my Xbox One games on this as well.
$819.99 Buy
MacBook Pro 13inch Retina
For you Mac users out there that require more mobile power than the Air, look no further than 13inch Retina MacBook Pro. Ideal for more intense audio/photo/video editing, graphic-heavy gaming, Photoshopping, and 3D rendering. Its high-quality display, powerful internals, and a 10-hour battery life make this ideal for the up-and-coming creatives of the world. Make sure you use all of the power inside for the powers of good though.
$1299 Buy
Dell XPS 13
Last but not least, is Dell's surprise offering w/ their new XPS laptops. Offering the same power of a Retina MacBook Pro but in Windows form and missing the Retina screen. The new slim bezel 1080p display, beefy CPU, 8GB of RAM, and up to 15-hour battery life. More than equipped to handle whatever college professor can throw at it in regards to work. Not sure what more you could ask for in a Windows laptop.
$1,100 Buy
