For all those going off to to the real world after college, it is essential to have certain items to make everything from work to social organization easier after your (hopefully) four years at university. Here are the top five:
1. Laptop- After four years in college, a laptop upgrade might be in order. Laptop performance degrades over time and slows down in processing time for programs. A college grad constantly on the move has just as much need as a college student for a quality laptop, if not even more so, so they can keep up with finding jobs or internships in a world with instantaneous communication.
2. Smartphone- Having a basic phone is a must to reach friends and employers, but taking it a step further by purchasing a smartphone can save some headaches. Checking email, texts, Facebook, Twitter, whatever it may be, on the go is invaluable to keep connected in an always moving world. A gadget like a smartphone is great for keeping organized and checking things on the fly when even a laptop is too slow to use.
3. Tablet/ Kindle- Depending on specific needs, a tablet can come in handy for a college grad. Ultra-portable and efficient for basic computer processes, a tablet is a fantastic way to share information with others and also do just about everything that a smartphone can with a more computer-like feel. Tablets can also read e-books, but are not the right choice if reading books is the only reason an individual chooses to purchase one. In that case, a Kindle or similar e-reader is the better choice. They can store hundreds of e-books on one device instead of having to carry around the same number of paperback or hardcover books, which would no doubt be a hassle.
4. External Hard Drive- You’ve been working on a report that will make you look great to an employer for hours now. You can’t remember the last time you slept for more than 3 hours a night and your report is nearing completion. Then, disaster strikes and your computer crashes while working on your document. Frantically, you try and load your file back but the file has been corrupted and you don’t have the file saved anywhere else to retrieve it. Don’t let this happen to you and buy an external hard drive to save a huge heart ache later. Countless hours of work can potentially be lost if something happens to the internal memory of a computer, and without an external hard drive to save work on, you run a risk of deletion happening.
5. Printer- Whether you need to print something for a job or need business cards printed to get your start-up company’s name out there, a printer is an essential gadget for the college grad. There are many different types of printers to choose from as well, with higher end models having scanning capabilities or cloud printing. From printing pictures to legal documents, there isn’t a business situation that won’t require a printer at some point.
