Product At-a-Glance

While we mostly focus on the technology side of reviews, we had to dive into the world of personal care as part of our back to school coverage. Personal hygiene and grooming doesn’t always take a front seat at college, but let’s face it; it should.

Designed specifically for use below the neck, the BG2040 Bodygroom Pro is Philips’ latest addition to their line of body grooming products. The BG2040 sports both a trimmer with an adjustable length setting and a shaving foil with a 3D adjustable head.

What this means is that, instead of open trimmers where it’s incredibly easy to nick your skin, the Bodygroom Pro has a shaving foil which makes it almost impossible to pinch or nick skin. In addition, the self-sharpening blades make getting a close shave incredibly easy.

The shaving head also pivots, making reaching difficult areas much easier. In contrast, the trimmer is fixed, but is covered by an easily adjustable guide with six length settings. Hence, cutting yourself with either attachment of the Bodygroom Pro is incredibly difficult.

Cleanup is a breeze, as the product works fine in either dry or wet settings. Simply rinse it off in the sink or shower after use, and it’s ready for storage on the included dock.

In our testing, the Bodygroom was by far the easiest trimmer we have ever worked with. While it obviously doesn’t get as close as a razor, it’s infinitely easier and safer. And when you’re trimming more sensitive areas, safety is quite a priority.

So, for those of you who are looking for an easy solution for trimming below the neck, the Bodygroom Pro is an excellent solution. Combining both a trimmer and a shaver into one elegant form factor, the Bodygroom is the de facto standard in cleaning up for a night out.

Product At-a-Glance

We reviewed the Timeline 3810T back in October 2009, but Acer is upping the ante with the new TimelineX series. Is it a good choice if you’re looking for a thin-and-light notebook for back to school? It aims to offer 8-hour battery life and a bright LED backlit display, but does it deliver? Find out after the break.

The specs of the TimelineX 3820T we’re looking at today are as follows:

• Intel Core i3 M 350 Processor at 2.27GHz
• 4GB of DDR3 1066 RAM
• 320GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive
• Intel HD Graphics
• Windows 7 Home Premium

You’ll find the standard selection of ports from 3 USB ports, an HDMI port, media card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, and a VGA port. The 3820T weighs in at just over 3.9 pounds.

You won’t find an optical drive here, so if you’re looking to watch movies in your dorm room, you’re out of luck if you don’t have a TV. The notebook is largely unchanged on the exterior from the 3810T from last year, save for the brushed aluminum lid. The keyboard is the same chiclet-style like the Apple MacBook, but the keys are fairly flat unlike most keyboards which have curved keys.

The multi-gesture touchpad is nice but the single mouse button below didn’t offer much of a firm click. The glossy screen on the 13-inch screen has a nice resolution of 1366×768 but other than that, the positive aspects of it stop there. The viewing angles on the horizontal end aren’t terribly bad, but on the vertical end tilting the screen back washed it out to a yellow tint.

The 3820T is pretty snappy thanks to the i3 processor and Intel HD graphics, giving it a Windows Experience Index score of 4.7. In our PCMark Vantage tests, the system received a score of 4669 PCMarks. In our Cinebench graphics tests, the TimelineX 3820T received a score of 2480 in the single core test and a score of 5796 in the multi core test. In the OpenGL test, the system received a score of 1775. The system didn’t hesitate at all when we had streaming video going in Google Chrome, a few Office documents open and Adobe Photoshop CS4 open.

While the notebook is rated for up to 8 hours of battery life, we found in our tests that the notebook only ran for 5-6 hours (like its predecessor) depending on the task at hand. Still, great battery life for the mobile student.

If you’re the student on a budget and looking for a thin and relatively lightweight notebook, the Acer TimelineX 3820T is for you, but if you have a little more cash to spend, there are other options available with a better quality screen and keyboard. The TimelineX 3820T is selling at press time for just under $680 with free shipping at Amazon.com.

Product At-a-Glance

Summer is quickly drawing to a close, school is starting, and college students everywhere are moving into their dorms or apartments. With the new laptop, iPhone, and Xbox 360 that’s coming back to school, wireless networking is a necessity. The only question is, can the Netgear WNDR3400 survive the college life?

Like most new routers, the WNDR3400 is a dual-band wireless-N router, meaning that you can get speeds up to 300 Mb/s without wires. Obviously in practice, those speeds are significantly lower. However, this speed is still much improved from the old wireless-G standard, allowing for quick file transfers, lag-free gaming, and streaming HD video all without wires.

With the WNDR3400, you also get 4 Ethernet ports for standard wired connections. You might expect with wireless-N networking that the WNDR3400 would come with Gigabit Ethernet, but sadly, it falls a bit short. 10/100 Mbps ports line the back of the router, which are a bit disappointing. You can achieve faster transfer rates over wireless than with wired networking, which is a bit backwards. However, if your devices are primarily wireless, this shouldn’t prove to be much of a problem for you.

As far as router features are concerned, you get a USB port that allows for network sharing of a storage device. For example, you can plug a simple USB flash drive into the router, and it’ll share the contents of that device with the entire network. The same concept works with USB hard drives, allowing for easy setup of network attached storage.

With its dual-band wireless, you can create two different SSIDs, one for your B/G network and one for your wireless-N network. Similarly, different passwords and authentication settings can be assigned for each of the networks.

You can also setup a guest network (again with two SSIDs to differentiate the network speeds) that creates a separate virtual network for guest users. This way, you can allow your friend on your network without giving them your password. You can also choose whether guest users should be allowed to get access to the local network, so shared network files can be hidden from guests if so desired.

Standard service and site blocking is available, with the ability to whitelist certain IP addresses on the network. Similarly, you get your typical port forwarding setup and dynamic DNS options.

On the more advanced side of things, you can monitor your bandwidth usage as well as setup Quality of Service (QoS) filtering. QoS allows certain services to receive preferential treatment when bandwidth is scarce. The WNDR3400 also has a wireless repeating functionality, which can provide the ability to repeat a router’s signal using the WNDR3400.

Ultimately, the WNDR3400 is a feature-filled router that is easy to setup and manage. Will it work well at college? Absolutely. Will it work well at home? Sure. If wired connectivity is important to you, there are better routers out there, but if you’re just looking for a simple wireless-N router, the WNDR3400 is a great option for you.

Product At-a-Glance

Have an iPad or planning to get one before going back to school? The app we’re featuring today is The Elements for iPad, perfect for any student majoring in a science-related field or science geek. The Elements for iPad is an interactive e-book that lets you interact with and learn about the variety of chemicals and metals in the periodic table of elements. We’ve got more on this great app after the break.

The idea of the app is simple: simply pick an element off the periodic table and you’re shown a short movie loop of that particular element. Swipe to the next page and you’re presented with more interactive elements. Touch and flick the elements left or right and they spin. You can tap any of these to get a larger version, and tap a button again to view a 3D version that works with glasses sold separately. The app comes from newly founded Touch Press with help from Theodore Gray of Wolfram Research and Mathematica fame and Nick Mann who took the majority of the photographs.

I have to say, I was completely immersed in this app when I downloaded it, it is really that amazing. You learn so much about certain elements that you would otherwise never know about. The app also integrates closely with Wolfram Alpha. For example, you can tap the Wolfram Alpha button for gold or silver and see the latest market price. I can just see schools and universities who are using iPads using this app in their science classes often, but this is only the first leap in using new technology in our education systems.

The only downside of this app we found was that it takes up a considerable amount of storage, 1.71GB to be exact. My 16GB iPad is almost full with movies, music, photos and other apps that I had to skim through my library to delete stuff I no longer used.

You can find The Elements in the App Store for $13.99. A version for the iPhone 4 is also available for $9.99.

Product At-a-Glance

The tag line for the new Gateway ID series reads “Define Yourself”. The ID49C07u and the rest of the ID series (including the larger ID59) certainly manages to define itself, sporting a mysterious glowing trackpad that illuminates when you touch it. Beyond its uniqueness, does the newest offering from Gateway deserve your attention this Back to School season?

The ID49C07u has similar hardware to many other competitively priced laptops. For $679, you get a 2.26 GHz Intel Core i3-350M processor, 4 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, and integrated graphics. The now de facto 1.3 MP webcam is present, as well as four USB ports, a card reader, VGA display port, HDMI out, Gigabit Ethernet, and a DVD drive.

Overall, the construction of the ID series is quite good. Featuring a brushed aluminum lid, the ID series seems pretty durable. The ID49C07u weighs in at just over five pounds and measures a hair under an inch thick. This means bringing your notebook to class isn’t much of a chore, as it won’t take up much of your precious backpack real estate.

We quite liked that the NV series we tested had HDMI out, and we similarly like it on the ID series notebooks. Streaming the latest episode of House from Hulu and onto the new LCD in your dorm room could not be easier. While the ID49C07u we tested does not come with discrete graphics, the upgraded ID49C08u does. With either model, however, HD video will undeniably play flawlessly.

Processing performance on the ID49C07u proved quite good, fueled by the Core i3 and 4 GB of RAM under the hood. Graphics were, as expected, underpowered. Don’t expect to be gaming on the ID49C07u. If you’re looking for more power in the graphics department, don’t hesitate to look at the ID49C08u which has an NVIDIA card with Optimus switching to save power.

On the unit we tested, battery life was average. We managed about 7 hours with lighter usage, which is more than enough for your average day of classes. Tie this battery life together with the 500 GB hard drive, and watching a movie during class, er, on the quad is pain free.

The only problem with that plan is the screen. We’ve never been the biggest fans of Gateway displays, and sadly, the ID series is not much of an exception. While it is a 14” LED backlit screen, providing for excellent brightness and color quality, the viewing angle and black levels delivered by the screen aren’t the best we’ve seen. It is not, by any means, the worst screen we’ve seen, nor is it the worst we’ve seen from Gateway, but there is still room for improvement.

Another thing about the ID49C07u that we didn’t quite find top-of-the-line is its keyboard. The keys are chiclet style, which we like. However, they are completely flat on top, making it hard to differentiate keys, especially in the dark, where the ID series lacks a backlit keyboard to help out. This seems to be a running problem for Gateway, as their keyboards always seem to be a bit under par.

Another drawback to the ID series is one shared with all Gateway computers; the trial software. Every laptop ships with a “Best Buy Software Installer” which allows you to install all sorts of applications, albeit none that you really need. You receive 60 day demos of both Norton Antivirus and Microsoft Office. While the latter is worth purchasing, there are much better options for Antivirus on the market. Besides that, you get a copy of Microsoft Works which has become a standard for Gateway computers.

Clearly, these problems are pacified by the ID series’ parlor trick; its glowing trackpad. While it can be disabled quite easily, the trackpad glows by default when the notebook’s screen saver is running. Also, whenever you touch the left and right click areas of the trackpad, the entire trackpad lights up. We were quite amused, as it is quite interesting. However, we can imagine this will grow old after a few weeks use.

Besides the interesting light-up features, we found the trackpad to be good, although it makes a loud and heavy mechanical click when you depress it. This notebook will not be the most subtle to play games on in the middle of a lecture. To aid in your web browsing, the trackpad has multi-touch sensitivity, which is a plus that makes scrolling and navigating forward/back in a web browser a breeze.

So what do we think of the ID49C07u? While it has its minor drawbacks, the ID series seems to be an excellent choice for those looking for an affordable laptop for this back to school season. It’s powerful and will serve well as a media / productivity laptop. Gaming definitely isn’t its forte, but with it’s $679 price tag, it’s hard to complain.

The iPad happens to be a great student companion. If you’re planning to use a desktop computer in your dorm room, you can take the iPad to take notes, read textbooks and more as apps that are geared towards students are developed. If you missed our review just a few months ago in April, we’ve got an excerpt after the break.

…we believe that the iPad is for those who are interested in the prospects of the device and also for those who do very basic tasks on their computer, like web browsing, sending emails, and watching videos. The iPad also seems to be a strong contender to the netbook, with applications available like the iWork suite to type documents, create spreadsheets or presentations, content consumption applications from Netflix and ABC, and amazing games that take advantage of the touch experience.

- Apple iPad review, April 2010

While the iPad may be a heavy investment for the student on a budget, it is definitely worth it. Over the next few days, we’ll be featuring a few iPad apps that are essential for the campus life.

Sure, you still have that Motorola Razr that your parents bought you a few years ago, and it has undoubtedly served you well. It is, however, time to say goodbye to your beloved flip phone and say hello to one of many new smartphone offerings available this summer.

More and more, students are relying on e-mail and other electronic forms of communication to stay in touch with fellow students. With smartphones, staying in touch is easier than ever, with complete access to e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and your undeniably important text messages.

Here’s our rundown of the best smartphones for all the major carriers.

Apple iPhone 4 – AT&T

($199/$299 with a two-year contract and data plan)

Undeniably the most popular smartphone that you’ll find on campus is the iPhone. With its unique and elegant industrial design paired with its immensely large App Store, the iPhone is still the king of the smart phone community.

Disregarding the recent hype over antenna issues with the iPhone 4, it is still the best smartphone we tested this year. Sporting Apple’s Retina Display, the iPhone 4 produces unrivaled image quality and with the iPhone’s FaceTime feature, staying connected to your family and friends is easier than ever.

If you’re on AT&T, getting the iPhone 4 is a no-brainer. While you might have to hold your phone in a slightly awkward way, or take advantage of the free cases Apple is giving away, the iPhone is still head and shoulders above its competition for college bound consumers.

Motorola Droid X – Verizon

($199 online with a two-year contract)
Check out our review of the Droid X.

Featuring an 8-megapixel camera and a 4.3” screen, the Droid X takes the cake for big numbers on a phone. Running Android 2.2 with Motorola’s Motoblur software, the Droid X proves to be a worthy competitor in the smartphone market.

The Droid X comes with a built-in mini-HDMI port, allowing for easy streaming of high-definition video to your TV. In addition, the Droid has a “3G Mobile Hotspot” feature, allowing you to create a wireless network using your phone’s internet. Don’t have internet on the quad or in a classroom? Simply start up the mobile hotspot, and share internet to your laptop with ease.

However, the Droid X is a very large phone, so if slim and sleek is what you’re looking for, we suggest you take a look at the Droid Incredible instead.

HTC EVO 4G – Sprint

($199 after rebate with a two-year contract and data plan)

If you’re stuck on Sprint but still looking for a large screen, Mobile Hotspot functionality, 8-megapixel camera and more, the HTC EVO 4G is perfect for you. The EVO does have the advantage of connecting to a 4G network where available, which will give you peak download speeds up to 10 MBps, faster than most DSL connections. The phone also has a front-facing camera for video calls using apps like Fring, but it is not compatible with the iPhone’s FaceTime feature.

The EVO 4G also isn’t running the latest version of Android, version 2.2, also called Froyo, but it’s expected to receive the update later this year. The new version is expected to give the phone a performance boost in addition to new features.

HTC Droid Incredible – Verizon

($199 online with a two-year contract)
Check out our review of the Droid Incredible.

When our own Ken Addison posted his review of the Incredible, he believed it was the best phone on Verizon Wireless. Even though phones like the Droid X have come out since then, he still holds that opinion. The fit and finish of the HTC Sense UI is unparalleled by any other Android phone, and provides a solid experience.

With a great looking screen and continued software updates working to improve the phone even more, the Incredible is the way to go for any serious smartphone user on Verizon Wireless.

Samsung Galaxy S – T-Mobile & AT&T

($199 after rebate with a two-year contract and data plan)

We’ve only tested the Samsung Vibrant, T-Mobile’s version of the Galaxy S, for a day or so, but we’re already convinced it’s going to become a popular contender in the smartphone market. It has a bright 4.0-inch AMOLED screen, 5.0 megapixel with autofocus and HD video capability and depending on the model, comes loaded with entertainment and multimedia content.

The screen can’t compete with the Retina Display on the iPhone 4, but the it is bright and vivid. You’ll also be able to connect with all of your social networks with the Social Hub feature Samsung has built-in. Access your Twitter and Facebook streams (plus many others) through the home screen widget with a flick of your finger. The other Android phones we’ve mentioned also include this functionality, albeit in a much slicker form.

Overall the Samsung Galaxy S is certainly something to consider if you’re on T-Mobile or AT&T, while Verizon and Sprint versions won’t be out until later this year.

It is perhaps one of the most popular notebook computers on the market today, with its sleek aluminum unibody enclosure and LED-backlit keyboard. We’re talking of course, about the 13″ MacBook Pro from Apple, and we’re featuring it to kickoff our 2010 Back to School Guide.

Lucky for you, a free 8GB iPod touch is part of the deal Apple is running until September 7th, so make your choice wisely over the next few weeks as we feature the tech essentials and more in our guide. The 13″ MacBook Pro features a fast Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of memory, a 250GB or 320GB hard drive and up to 10 hours of battery life. One benefit of getting a Mac for school is the added security and peace of mind that it will give you. No need to worry about viruses and spyware, at least for the time being. And if you’re worried about not being able to run a Windows-only program, Macs can run Windows too, with tools such as Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion, and Apple’s own Boot Camp.

We’re just scratching the surface here talking about the benefits of buying a Mac for the upcoming school year, Apple has a whole page on their website.

Looking for a cheaper Mac notebook? The 13″ MacBook (sans Pro) is just as good of a performer, if you’re willing to sacrifice that gorgeous aluminum enclosure. You’ll save $150 in the process.

Buying a laptop is essential for any college or university, and there’s a lot of things that you can consider in your purchase. Here are some tips you should follow when buying a laptop before you head off to college this fall.

1. If you already have a decent laptop that you can use in the interim, hold off on buying a new laptop until October when Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista, is released. If you can’t wait, you might be able to upgrade for free, but check your manufacturer for details. Dell is offering free upgrades if you purchase a laptop between now and December 31, 2009. The same rule applies to Macs, except upgrading to Snow Leopard will cost $9.95 if you buy a new MacBook Pro today.

2. If you don’t need a full-fledged laptop (if you have a desktop in the dorm or at home), you’ll probably be fine with a netbook. A netbook is a mini notebook computer designed for web browsing, email, and taking notes. In this day and age of cloud computing, a netbook is great for the student. Battery life can last a whole lecture and then some, but you might want to play with one in a retail store to see if a miniaturized keyboard will work for you. A great choice is the Asus Eee PC 1005HA Seashell netbook with a stunning 10.5 hour battery life.

3. Don’t buy a desktop replacement laptop since you’ll be lugging around 7-8 pounds all day and you’ll probably regret it. Aim for a 13- or 14-inch widescreen instead which you can always hook up to a larger 20- or 24-inch display.

4. Get a laptop with 3 or 4GB of RAM, the more the memory the better. You’ll be able to have more than a few applications open at a time and run more complex programs such as Photoshop.

These are just a few tips to take into consideration when buying a laptop for college, and if anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to sound off in the comments below.

As part of our Back to School coverage this year, we’ll be taking a look at a few laptops that would make perfect companions for any student. Today we’re taking a look at the Gateway NV series. More specifically, the 15.6″ Intel-powered Gateway NV5807u.

Let’s start with the basic specs. With the 5807u, you get a 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo backed by 4 GB of RAM and a 320 GB hard drive. In addition, the system comes with a dual layer DVD burner, Gigabit ethernet, and b/g/n WiFi. This packed feature set lays the groundwork for a great laptop. However, most laptops in its price range come with similar specifications. Is the new Gateway laptop worth its $599 price tag? In a word, yes.

The NV5807u takes advantage of the Intel T6500 processor which, while not Intel’s most powerful creation, is a very good processor for the price range that the 5807 falls into. At 2.1 GHz with 2 MB L2 cache, the processor is a perfect fit for media-loving college students. However, one drawback to the T6500 processor is that it runs relatively warm compared to other Intel processors. Ultimately, the T6500 offers a good mix of performance and battery life. On average, we clocked between 3.5 and 4 hours of typical usage and while there are laptops with better battery life, 4 hours is definitely respectable.

One of the most appealing aspects of the NV5807u is the beautiful 15.6″ LED backlit screen. The 16:9 aspect ratio makes the laptop perfect for watching widescreen movies, supporting a resolution up to 1366×768 (1080i). The screen is bright and responsive, and because it is LED backlit, power efficient. While the 5807 doesn’t have a DVI output, it does have both VGA and HDMI outputs, making streaming videos from your laptop to your TV a breeze.

Throughout our testing, our one major complaint lies in the keyboard on the NV5807u. While it does have a full numpad which is not very common, the keys are entirely flat and the spacing between keys is minimal. As the keyboard is not backlit, typing in the dark becomes a nightmare at times. In addition, the trackpad is relatively small and does not support any multi-touch commands and, because of the numpad, it is not located in the middle of the laptop. Instead, it is offset about an inch and a half to the left to match up with the middle of the typing keyboard. This is also disorienting when using the laptop in the dark. However, given a few days use, using the keyboard becomes a more natural experience.

Above the keyboard lies a row of function keys. You have a button to enable energy saving mode (dims the screen), screen brightness, sound, WiFi, trackpad toggle, and one that takes you to MyBackup. Gateway did a good job making this software incredibly easy to use, allowing you to add automatic backups of anything on your hard drive to removable storage or the local disk. In addition to simply selecting folders to backup, MyBackup will also search for categories of files to backup, including multimedia, internet favorites, e-mail, and office files. All of these categories seem very pertinent to the student population, so I applaud Gateway for their inclusion of this nice tool. Whether or not people actually use it is a whole other story.

The NV5807u comes with plenty of USB ports (4), standalone microphone and headphone jacks, a 5-in-1 card reader, and a telephone jack. It seems a bit odd to even include modem compatibility in recent laptops, as WiFi is virtually everywhere and external USB modems are always available if absolutely necessary. At any rate, you also get a standard notebook lock port to protect your collection of saved term papers, ripped DVDs, and ever-important passwords.

Another nice college-oriented feature is the included 1.3 MP webcam. While the quality is decent, we’ve seen better in other laptops. However, it’s a nice addition to an inexpensive laptop that allows students to easily video chat with their parents back home. I’m not sure if anyone actually does that, but it’s a nice concept in theory.

In our PCMark Vantage tests, the notebook received a score of 2949, a moderate score for a budget laptop, but not too bad overall. In our CINEBENCH graphics tests, the NV5807u received a score of 4761 using both cores and a score of 2455 using a single core.

Bundled with the laptop is a 60 day trial of Microsoft Office and Norton Internet Security. My suggestion is to ditch Norton, as it is possibly the most frustrating anti-virus software I’ve come across (stick with AVG instead). You also get a “sponsored” copy of Microsoft Works which has irremovable advertisements on the right hand side of every document you’re working on. Just buy a copy of Microsoft Office, or if you’re cheap, download OpenOffice. You also get copies of NetZero and some Gateway sponsored game pack, both of which should be uninstalled the second you get the computer. Save that hard drive space for something useful, such as the latest season of Lost or a copy of The Hangover.

All in all, the $599 Gateway NV5807u is a great option for students looking for a powerful yet affordable laptop to head back to school with. Weighing 5.84 pounds, the NV5807u’s weight is pretty typical for 15″ laptops (Apple’s 15″ MacBook Pro comes in at 5.5 pounds, a mere .34 pound difference). This portability, tied in with the expansive feature set and brilliant display makes the NV5807u a great addition to Gateway’s product line and ultimately a great choice for students returning to school this fall.

Pros

• Beautiful 15.6″ 16:9 widescreen display
• Good performance and battery life
• Built-in webcam
• MyBackup solution works well

Cons

• Keyboard is difficult to use, especially in the dark
• Trackpad relatively small and sometimes insensitive
• Relatively thick (1.5″ tall while closed)

Another school year is just around the corner and the craze for purchasing students laptops, iPods, and all other necessary college devices has just begun. However, often overlooked is the software needed to help fully utilize and protect all your new toys. We’re going to be taking a look at both the PC and Mac options for certain categories of software and help you prepare for the upcoming year of partying learning.

Document Editing / Presentations

Windows: Microsoft Office 2007
While a big change from the beloved Office 2003 layout, Office 2007 has taken the stage as the predominant suite for editing documents and creating PowerPoint presentations. While not the free choice, many colleges offer the product at significant discounts (if not for free) so price becomes less of an issue. Plus, the new templates added to PowerPoint and the overall ease of use added to Excel make Office 2007 a step up from its predecessor, regardless of its somewhat confusing interface.

Mac: iWork ’09
Let’s face it: Office 2008 for Mac is awful. The layout is ugly and difficult to use, and nothing matches its Windows rival quite in the same way. In addition, Office 2008 doesn’t collaborate well with Office 2007, so let’s just count that out of the picture. This leaves us with iWork ’09, Apple’s beautiful response to document and presentation editing. It works well, gets the job done, and costs only $71 in the education store.

Free option: OpenOffice
If your college doesn’t provide a discount for the software, and you’re not interested in shelling out the money to purchase either, OpenOffice is always an alternative. It might not be as pretty as either of the Microsoft or Apple products, but it is compatible with both. For free, OpenOffice does its job well and is a viable alternative to the commercial options.

Web Browsing

Universal: Firefox. Enough said.
Firefox is years ahead of even IE8 on Windows, and Firefox 3.5 is bound to be even faster than Safari 4 on Mac. Therefore, there is hardly competition as to what browser you should be using. If you’re on a Mac, and love Safari, keep using it. But for Windows, you’d have to have something wrong with you to go with a browser besides Firefox.

Communication

Windows: Pidgin + Skype
For your typical AIM/MSN/Yahoo (who uses the later two?) and even Facebook conversations (with a plugin), Pidgin for Windows gets the job done. As far as voice and video chat go, Skype is the leader in that field and should have you covered. Plus, both applications are free, which is always a plus.

Mac: Adium + Skype
Adium is by far the best instant messaging client I have ever used. From it’s amazing flexibility to the wide range of supported protocols, it is simply second to none. Again, it is free, along with it’s companion, Skype.

Data Backup

Universal: Amazon S3 + Jungle Disk
For the low price of 15 cents per gigabyte (per month), Jungle Disk allows you to backup your data to Amazon’s massive S3 content storage network which is the safest option for your data backups. In case of theft, fire, or any acts of God, Amazon will still have your information stored on their redundant network. Nothing is worse than losing a paper you have been working on for weeks (although, let’s face it, it’s always the night before anyway), so backing up your data is a critically important step.

Anti-Virus

Windows: Grisoft AVG
It’s absolutely free, does all the necessary scanning, has active database updates, and looks nice while doing it. For free software, it is hands down the best anti-virus you can get. Just remember that the best way to protect yourself from viruses is to not download .exe files claiming to be MP3s.

Mac: None. While certain companies offer Mac anti-virus solutions, there has yet to be a Mac virus that has had a widespread effect. For the mean time, enjoy your advantage over Windows computers.

Music

Universal: iTunes
The de facto music player does a lot of things right. Purchasing music, managing it, and putting it on your iPod or iPhone couldn’t be easier. Then again, if you use something other than an iPod (why?), iTunes might not be your best option. However, with the recent “Buy a Mac, Get an iPod” promotion, who won’t have iPods for college?

Photo Management

Windows: Google Picasa
Picasa makes managing your digital photos extremely easy and intuitive. The program automatically manages your camera, allows for easy gallery creation, sharing, and printing and even features a service to remotely print your photos (for an obvious fee). Best part about the program: it is completely free.

Mac: iPhoto ’09
The wonderful photo management software that ships with every Mac is your best option. Supporting albums, geotagging, face recognition, image tweaking and much more, iPhoto makes managing photos on your mac a breeze. It even integrates with Facebook to help share your photos with friends and family while you’re away at school.

Wrap-Up

Ultimately, the software you choose for your computer is very specific to what you like to do. However, the software above is virtually indispensable in your every day activities. Keep checking back for more Back to School tips and products and we’ll be covering them all the way up to this coming fall.