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A day on campus can mean hours away from a socket, so check the battery rating before the processor. The Acer Extensa 15 is rated for up to 17 hours from a 53 Wh battery, and the MacBook Neo for up to 16 hours of video streaming or 11 hours of web browsing. The Acer Aspire Lite is rated for up to 8 hours. Our college laptop guide also suggests 8 to 16 GB of memory and an SSD.

Best laptops for college in Ireland · Chromebook vs Windows laptop for students · Laptops

The Galaxy Tab S10 Lite and S10 FE include an S Pen, and their Handwriting Help and Solve Math tools neaten handwritten notes and work through supported handwritten equations. The S10 FE adds a sharper 2,304 x 1,440 screen and an IP68 rating for the tablet and its pen. Without a pen, the Tab A11+ has an 11-inch screen and at least five years of OS updates, and the 8.7‑inch Tab A11 has a 90 Hz screen.

Best tablets for students · Tablets

Noise cancelling does the work in a busy library, but on the walk across campus an ambient mode lets traffic and announcements back in. The Sony WH-CH730N's Ambient Sound mode has 20 levels, the soundcore Space One has five transparency levels, and the JBL Tune 680NC and 780NC have Smart Ambient. Quick charging helps before a lecture: 3 minutes gives the Sony about an hour, and 5 minutes gives the soundcore about 4 hours.

Best headphones in Ireland · Headphones

Keeping a copy of assignments off the laptop means one lost or broken device doesn't take the work with it. The Intenso Twist Line 128GB swivels to show a USB-C plug at one end and a USB-A plug at the other, so it fits a laptop with either port without an adapter. It also plugs straight into OTG-enabled Android phones and tablets to copy photos and documents, and transfers at up to 70MB/s over USB 3.2.