Tablet Recommendations for Students

Tablets

Students have historically been some of the most cash strapped members of society and students living in the GTA today are no exception. There are many expenses that must be shouldered by a student and depending on where they live and whether or not they are an international student, these bills can be heavy. For the sake of this post, I’m assuming the typical Humber College student who lives at home, works 20-30 hours a week and pays at least half of their school expenses. With this in mind, I feel that a $300 budget for a tablet would be sufficient.

Aside from program specific applications, there are a few key benefits of owning a tablet:

Features: Unlike some laptops, a tablet allows any student the capability of not only taking notes but also pictures, audio and video relatively simply. This opens up new ways of gathering information in class including recording lectures and taking pictures of whiteboard notes.

Convenience: Tablets are very portable and easy to use even without a table or surface to sit them on. Standard tablets provide most of the capabilities of a full PC with some even capable of running very hardware intensive programs and games. For a Humber College student, having the capability to take notes, pictures or video at any time make the tablet an invaluable tool.

Value: As they contain smaller screens and less powerful hardware, tablets are cheaper than laptops while still offering much of the same functionality. For somebody who does not require a device for intensive gaming or programming, a tablet can even replace a PC and is perfect for somebody requiring functionality on a budget, such as a Humber student.

Criteria

A Humber College student would have certain criteria that would drive their buying decision. The primary criteria is value. Often having a budget lower than someone with fulltime employment, a student would primarily be looking for the most cost effective tablet. One of the primary benefits of a tablet over an alternative is the value, as most tablets provide basic functionality for low cost, so a tablet meets this criteria well.

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