In a perfect world we’d all be independently wealthy and would have no worries. Although some of us are blessed with wealth and infinite budgets, most of us have to work in order to have the things we need. I can’t imagine being a seventeen year old kid with no parental support planning out the next four or six years of college.
A few days ago a young man asked me for help picking the technology he needs for college. With only a few hundred dollars to his name, he needs to put together the most basic arsenal of equipment to start his life’s journey. This turned out to be a tough task.
According to his parents, buying a computer wasn’t necessary because he already owned a tablet. Spending money on a computer, according to his father, was throwing money away because the school provides community computers. Money or not, this is the attitude of many people my age sending kids to school.
Our first task was picking a reasonable laptop that should last through college. Though I can’t predict the future, I suggested an i5 processor with 8GB of memory. We found a leftover Windows 8 laptop that matched those specifications but consumed all of his budget.
The young man’s college supplies licensed software at a major discount to students. Titles like Microsoft Office that are somewhat necessary for students are deeply discounted at most colleges. In case he needs to massage his budget to make things work I also suggested LibreOffice as a no cost substitute to the Microsoft title.
After talking to this guy I realized he planned to work through college which meant he could budget more if needed. Rather than give a shopping list, we created a wish list on a hypothetical timeline based on potential earnings. Buy the necessary item now and wait until he has more money before making the other purchases.
Down the road I suggested a laser printer because he won’t have access to the computer lab 24 hours a day. College tour guides are supposed to tell prospective students that printing isn’t an issue. In reality, printing is a real issue for students during high demand times when they need to print the most. A $60.00 laser printer alleviates that frustration.
Like many customers I talk with, his idea of permanent backup was storing files on USB flash drives. Though they are fairly cheap, flash drives are not a decent substitute for storing files on an external hard drive. Along with storing files, external drives can be used for regular system backups which serve as cheap insurance in case of hard drive failure or loss of the computer.
With a larger budget we could have put together a whole list of things that would have been gross overkill and probably not been used for school. Students need a laptop or computer so they can get their work done without relying on school owned equipment. Adding a few hundred dollars to his budget simply makes him more autonomous without relying on the school.
One of my daughters is finishing college this year while my other daughter is just entering her freshman year. I understand how expensive and seemingly unnecessary buying technology can be, especially from the perspective of someone who started college before its widespread use. I couldn’t help but be sympathetic to this young man’s needs knowing he was smart enough to ask for help.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can read past articles at www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)