It seems like every year around this time I write an article about back to school technology and what kids need to take with them. Recently, a mom asked me for some help putting her daughter’s arsenal together on a really thin budget. She explained she didn’t have the $1,000.00 I believed was a good number, but could budget $500.00 towards technology.

With such a tight number I regrouped and looked at her situation a bit differently. I decided to prioritize the exact purpose and then work in reverse. Printing, data, and finally a computer was the precise order. Normally I look at the computer first then tack on the peripherals.

Don’t believe a college when they tell you, “there’s enough printers for everyone.” That’s simply not true at peak times like midterm and during finals week. Printing is absolutely necessary no matter what the kid’s major, so a decent laser printer is a good choice. Out of pocket expense for a laser is a little more than inkjet, but the price-per-print is substantially less.

Backing up data is essential no matter if you’re using the cheapest laptop or the most expensive. Inevitably something will cause data loss: simply deleting a file, catastrophic failure, or a stolen laptop. Purchasing a good backup solution and using it religiously will save the agony of rewriting a paper at the last minute.

There’s a little secret in my industry and I’m going to share it here and now. I probably shouldn’t but, it’s my article. Major parts of a laptop are, for the most part, all the same. Because of this screens, hard drives, optical drives, and memory are fairly interchangeable. No matter if the laptop is $1,000.00 or $250.00, many of the parts can be swapped.

Now that the cat’s out of the bag, the cheapest laptop will suffice for most people. Granted, the technology may not keep up for four or five years, the machine should still be able to allow typing and basic internet use. Keep in mind, cheap laptops do self destruct and the student may find themselves with a broken hinge or keys that pop off.

So, with a $500.00 budget for everything I went shopping. At the largest US retailer I found a 15.6″ HP laptop with Windows 8.1 for around $230.00. I could have found less expensive, but the screen sizes were smaller. Trying to work on a netbook or ultrabook is difficult and I couldn’t imagine staring at one for very long.

With $270.00 left towards my pretend shopping spree I headed to an office super store to shop for the printer and backup drive. I found a terabyte drive from a major manufacturer for around $80.00. That combined with a free copy of Macrium Reflect will make backing up the drive in its entirety a very simple process.

Around the corner from the drives I found a monochrome Brother laser printer for around $100.00. Adding a USB cable from the dollar store brought the total to $101.00. Based on my daughter’s toner use for the year I would gamble two cartridges should be good; and online I found generic replacements for $18.00 each.

$500.00 bought more than I thought and left me with some jingle in my pocket. With the extra, I suggested a few USB thumb drives for use as temporary storage. Office software is necessary and some colleges give away copies or sell it very inexpensively. If that’s not the case, OpenOffice is 100% free and compatible with the Microsoft version. Frugality is something I need to teach myself and this was a good learning experience.

(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can call him at (978) 919-8059 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)