Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

So, another year of new students are getting ready to head to university; they’ve got the cookbook telling them how to make a £4 bag of pasta last two terms, an inflatable armchair with at least one puncture and a tube full of carefully chosen film posters. At some stage they’re going to have to get around to doing some work, and these days that usually means that if they don’t want to join a long queue to use the computers in the college library, they’ll need one of their own. Thankfully for those already watching meagre summer job savings dwindle or preparing to test the limits of parental generosity, this doesn’t necessarily involve a vast amount of money.

Netbooks, the slimmed down cousins of laptops, will handle essay writing and web access (strictly for research purposes, naturally) & are perfect for lugging around campus in a book-bag. They’ve actually scored higher with our reviewers than laptops on design (8.8 vs 8.4), portability (9.1 vs 8.1) and battery life (8.2 vs 6.8). Student shoppers who’ve reviewed them for Reevoo have written about how they’re “light enough to carry around the university campus”, the “right size for taking to lectures” and are equipped with “amazing battery life”. Unfortunately they will still tend to break if you pour enough beer into them.

What is a netbook, anyway?

There’s no universally agreed definition but as a rule of thumb it’s anything that looks like a laptop, but:

- Costs under £400
- Has a screen under 13 inches in size
- Weighs under 1.5kg
- Doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive
- Has a single core processor

The Top 10 Netbooks (According To Reevoo’s Consumer Reviewers)

1. Asus Eee PC 10005HA SeaShell (9.1/10, from £250)
2. Samsung NC10 (9.1/10, from £250)
3. Asus Eee PC 901 (8.9/10, from £300)
4. Asus Eee PC 1000H (8.9/10, from £280)
5. Samsung N110 (8.9/10, from £330)
6. Asus Eee PC 1000HE (8.9/10, from £321)
7. Toshiba NB100-12A (8.8/10, from £250)
8. Asus Eee PC 904HD (8.7/10, from £190)
9. Samsung N310 (8.7/10, from £298)
10. Samsung NC20 (8.7/10, from £350)

There are a couple of things to be aware of when making your choice. The first is that whilst many netbooks come with Windows XP, a few come with an alternative Linux-based operating system. It’ll do the same sort of things but may take a little more getting used to. The second is that netbooks don’t have a CD/DVD drive so installing new software can be fiddly. Thankfully Microsoft offer a few solutions for a student essential, Office:

- Some netbooks come with trial version of Microsoft Office Home & Student which you can then pay to unlock.

- If you buy a boxed copy, Microsoft will let you use your product key to install it onto your netbook from their website.

- Or you can buy it straight from their online store.

Alternatively you can try a free equivalent called OpenOffice; as with the alternative operating system mentioned above it’ll do roughly the same things but may not be as familiar.

Across the country, freshers are packing up textbooks, gap year souvenirs and enough clothes so they won’t have to do any laundry til Christmas.  If you - or your son or daughter - is in this situation, be sure to leave enough room in the car for the electronic kit that’s indispensible to student life.  You’ll need a laptop and a kettle, of course, but it’s the other stuff that will really make your time at Uni.
Here is our list of the top 5 gadgets you can’t do without:

iPod/MP3 Player Speakers

There isn’t enough room in most halls of residence for a big hi-fi system, but a set of iPod speakers will fit in perfectly.  An added advantage is that any visitors can plug in their mp3 player, and most ipod speakers are small enough to move around - perfect for parties.

There are options to suit any budget, but the pick of the crop are the Sony SRSGU10P, from £55, rated at 9.6/10 by people who actually own it, and the top-of-the-range Bose SoundDock, rated 9.2/10 and costing £128 upwards.

Digital Camera

Whether it’s for recording your best memories or working out what you did last night, a digital camera is essential.  Ideal student cameras are small enough to fit in a pocket, with a flash and good battery life.  Remember that megapixel count isn’t everything - see our Digital Cameras Buyers’ Guide for an in-depth guide to getting the best camera for you.

Nintendo Wii

It’s very important not to overwork yourself during your first few weeks at Uni - or for the rest of the time.  The energetic games are almost as good as going to the gym (especially if you get the Wii Fit as well) and will come in handy breaking the ice with your neighbours in halls.

Memory Stick

As surprising as it seems, students are required to do some work.  Make this part of student life as painfree as possible with a large-capacity USB stick - 2GB should be enough for all your notes and essays.  Not only can you keep all your work to hand, but this also acts as a back-up if anything ever happens to your computer.  Keep your work doubly-safe by backing it up online with a free service like Google Docs or Dropbox.

Insurance

Once you’ve bought the gadgets you want to take to uni, be sure that you’ll still be able to bring them home by buying some insurance.  Student accommodation is frequently a target for opportunistic burglars - and most students don’t have enough available money to replace a broken laptop or a lost mp3 player.  The National Union of Students recommends Endsleigh Insurance, whose special students contents insurance covers laptops, phones and other gadgets as well as everything from your bike to your winter coat.  It even covers your possessions on the journey to Uni and when you leave them in your student accommodation over the holidays.