Assignments are piling up and final exams are looming as the semester winds down. Luckily, technology can ease the burden. From creative apps to ultra-portable laptops, here’s what you need to stay focused until winter break.

Anti-procrastination apps

Getting distracted while doing homework is far too easy. This is where the $1.99 Forest app comes in. The longer you leave the app open, the more the virtual tree you’ve planted will grow. Since closing the app will kill the forest, you’re consistently reminded of how much time you’ve spent focusing, and why it’s worth it to keep working on your philosophy paper.

Headphones

Bose

If you crave the silence of Bird or Carnegie libraries but don’t want to make the trek across campus from your dorm, you may need the wireless Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones. The high-quality sound, 20-hour battery life and wireless capabilities crown the QC35 as one of the best Bluetooth headphones on the market despite its $325 price tag.

Laptop

Acer

At this point in the semester, your laptop may be on its last legs. If so, Acer’s Chromebook CB5-571-C1DZ is the perfect low-cost replacement. At $300 — which is about $100 less than an iPad mini — you’ll have a 15-inch HD display and unlimited cloud storage. With all the features of a laptop combined with the simplicity of an iPad, the Chromebook is an affordable way to make sure you’ll never run out of storage space.

Speakers

Anker

Headphones are great for focused studying, but you may need a speaker for the group projects that sprout up at semester’s end. In this case, the IPX5 Water Resistance Anker SoundCore 2 Bluetooth Speaker is a great bargain because it allows users to enjoy enhanced bass for 24 hours before needing a charge. And thanks to the speaker’s dual-driver, iOS and Android users can enjoy its 66-foot Bluetooth range.

Tablets

Apple

If a laptop is too heavy and inconvenient, an iPad mini is the perfect portable solution. The iPad mini 4 shares most of the processing power of its larger siblings but at a cheaper price. The iPad mini also gives users the advantage of a 7.9-inch retina display with the smooth, seamless performance of a 64-bit desktop processor.

Eldon Tsoi is a freshman information management technology major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at eltsoi@syr.edu

Published on November 12, 2017 at 3:53 pm