The Best Dorm Gear for Heading Back to College
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Whether you're an incoming freshman or returning to dorm life, picking the right stuff for college can be tough. On one hand, you want to have quality gear that won't let you down by midterms. On the other, the inevitability of crushing debt looms in the years to come, so you want to be frugal wherever possible.
This guide is filled with all the stuff you might need: an affordable (but capable) laptop, a versatile backpack, coffee gear, audio gadgets, and fun tech to make dorm life more livable. You don't need every single item in this list, so spend only where you think is necessary.
Updated August 2024: We've added new products for the new school year.
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Photograph: HerschelThree Great Backpacks
Book BagsYou need a good bag to carry all your textbooks, notebooks, and laptop, plus a drink and maybe some snacks. We think these three are the best backpacks for students, but we have several more choices in our Best Laptop Bag guide. If you'd rather have a tote or purse, we have more options further below.
Best budget bag: You don't need to spend a ton to get a well-made backpack for class. Herschel's Heritage Backpack ($70) was my college bag of choice, and it's still holding up years later. It has a 15-inch laptop sleeve and enough room for bulky textbooks in the main compartment, but my one gripe is the lack of a water bottle pocket. The bag is made from 600-denier polyester with a faux leather bottom and handles.
A gorgeous, slim alternative: We are obsessed with the Rains Backpack Mini ($110). It's stylish and sleek and works well as an accessory to an outfit. Despite the small 9-liter capacity, it has a 13-inch laptop sleeve and can hold a few books too. I've used it for work plus as a weekend bag and carry-on. Rains has a ton of color options too. The 13-liter version is $125 if you need more space.
Best upgrade: The Tom Bihn Synik 22 ($330) is our overall favorite backpack, but it's far too expensive for most college students. That said, if you can afford it, this bag has a lot of thoughtfully designed pockets for conveniently accessing water bottles and pens. It's made from Bluesign-certified 400-dernier ballistic nylon.
Photograph: LongchampIf You Prefer Purses
Shoulder BagsBackpacks are great, but some of us prefer a purse or tote bag. Our Best Laptop Totes and Purses guide has more recommendations, but these are a few standouts.
A tote-to-backpack converter: Fjallraven's Kanken Totepack ($100) goes from shoulder bag to backpack with just a few pulls. The main compartment includes a 13-inch laptop sleeve, plus a smaller one for a tablet or planner. There are also two small water bottle pockets on the outside. The fabric should repel water for those rainy school days.
A stylish purse: When I got to college in 2012, I spotted the Longchamp Le Pliage Shoulder Bag ($155) everywhere—this newer version is made of recycled polyamide canvas. It's popular because it doesn't just look nice, the fabric is also durable and weatherproof. A laptop fits, but it doesn't have a sleeve dedicated to keeping it safe.
Totes with tons of pockets: The Moment MTW ($130) and Bellroy Tokyo ($129) totes are made for the organizationally obsessed. Both have pockets around the interior perimeter for drinks, headphones, a laptop, your phone, wallet, and whatever else you might need quickly. The middle holds the rest of your goods. The Bellroy is eco-friendly too, as it's made of recycled plastic bottles.
A budget purse: The Newhey Laptop Tote Bag ($38) is one of our favorites among the many cheap laptop purses we tested. It most likely won't last your entire college career, but until you can upgrade to something else, it'll do the job for very little cash. There's a padded laptop sleeve that can fit a 15-inch computer, and a zippered compartment runs down the middle, splitting the two open sections. There's a removable strap for sliding it across your body if that's what you prefer.
- Photograph: WWDoll
Have a Stash of Face Masks Ready
Wwdoll KN95 Face MaskCovid-19 is not yet a distant memory, and college, unfortunately, offers a lot of opportunities for germs to fly. It's a good idea to keep a box of disposable face masks available. Hopefully, you're already vaccinated for Covid-19 (it's free and easy), but not everyone in your class will be. With new variants still spreading across the US, and a summer surge, it's important to avoid getting sick or being a carrier of the virus. Keep masks handy for classes and other situations where there are crowds. Read our Best Face Masks and Best N95 Masks guides for more recommendations, and our Covid-19 At-Home Test Kits guide has more advice on testing frequently.
- Photograph: Class Tracker
A Great Paper Planner
Class Tracker Ultimate Student PlannerEverything is digital these days, so get a paper planner to jot those important schedules down. Putting pen to paper can be quite therapeutic too. This student planner from Class Tracker comes in a few different styles and is compact, so it won't add weight to your backpack. It's organized well with spaces for daily assignments as well as tests, papers, and projects due that day. Read our Best Paper Planners guide for more recommendations.
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- Photograph: Resketch
A Sustainable Notebook
Resketch NotebooksThese notebooks are made of reclaimed paper—not recycled paper, which is material that’s been pulped and repressed into uniform sheets. Reclaimed paper is sourced from various books, notebooks, user manuals, and reams that have for whatever reason gone unused. Each Resketch notebook has pages with mismatched line patterns, paper thicknesses, and colors. Some pages even feature maps, random text, or technical drawings. It sounds annoying, but it’s quite fun to accept the challenge of working with what’s on the page. Also, the company’s sustainable approach is great for the planet.
- Photograph: Nena Farrell
A Reusable Notebook
Rocketbook Fusion PlusTired of always needing to buy a new notebook? Rocketbook's notebooks use special paper that feels like super thin whiteboards, and comes with an erasable Pilot Frixion Pen and microfiber cloth that lets you wipe the page clean (after getting said microfiber cloth wet) when you're done using it. Rocketbook makes a variety of notebooks and styles, but WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell recommends the Fusion Plus since you get a nice variety of page styles that range from your classic monthly and weekly pages to project management layouts for those pesky team projects.
Rocketbook also has an app designed to keep everything organized. The app can also easily send things off to Google Drive, Slack, Trello, OneNote, and a handful of other options. There are a handful of icons on the bottom of each page you can mark so that once you scan a page into the app, it'll recognize what to do with the information. You can customize the commands in the app of where to send everything based on the icon (class notes saved into a Google Drive folder, for example, while project lists are emailed to your computer).
Great Noise-Canceling Headphones
Bose QuietComfort UltraIf you're easily distracted, owning a pair of noise-canceling headphones at school can make you more productive. Our favorite are the Bose QuietComfort Ultra. These headphones do a great job blocking out annoying noises around you so you can focus, and enjoy your favorite studying jams of choice. Another great option are the Sony WH-1000XM5 ($400) (9/10, WIRED Recommends), which are a little more expensive but also has a sleeker look.
★ Budget-friendly earbuds: If you prefer buds to over-ears, try Google's Pixel Buds A-Series ($99) (8/10, WIRED Recommends). They're our favorite wireless earbuds for most people, with a great price, a comfortable fit, and Google Assistant support—you can ask it your schedule when you're running out the door. They're IPX4 sweat-resistant, pair well with Android and iPhones (you can't use Assistant on iPhones), and they last around five hours on a single charge, though the case will extend battery life when they're not in use.
- Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
A Great MacBook
Apple MacBook Air (13 Inch, 2024)The latest 13-inch MacBook Air (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is our favorite MacBook. It packs the company’s M3 chip, which is plenty of power for the average person—especially for basic tasks like writing essays, browsing the web, and video calls. It has a great display too, with a 60-Hz refresh rate and a 1080p webcam housed in the notch. Battery life is also solid—we hit about 29 percent after eight hours, which is slightly better than the M2-powered version. And, although performance is smooth, we suggest bumping the unified memory to 16 GB instead of 8 GB if you plan on using it for photo or video editing, or other demanding apps.
- Photograph: Asus
A Great Windows Laptop
Asus Zenbook 14 OLEDThe Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (7/10, WIRED Review) is our favorite Windows laptop for students. It packs great performance and battery life, along with an OLED display all for less than $700. We recommend this 2023 model, which has an AMD Risen 5 7530U CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB SSD, which delivered impressive performance (especially for the price) and battery life that clocked in at 12.5 hours—which is particularly helpful for long days of back to back classes. It’s small and portable too (coming in at 3.1 pounds and 19 mm thick), and packs plenty of ports including two USB-C ports, a full-size HDMI output, one full-size USB 3.2 port, and a microSD card reader. For something more powerful, you can bump the specs to 16 GB of RAM and a 512-GB SSD with the Ryzen 7 processor.
- Photograph: Best Buy
A Handy Chromebook
Acer Chromebook Plus 515If you want a really affordable laptop that can handle writing your essays and lots of web browsing (and not much else) a Chromebook is right up your alley. Chromebooks are more powerful than you might expect for their affordable price point, and are fantastic if you need something to write and work on rather than for computer-related hobbies. The best affordable option is the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 (8/10, WIRED recommends). It has ChromeOS and can easily handle twenty tabs of school research, thanks to the Intel Core i3-1215U processor, and the battery life can handle more than eight hours of video calls, so it should easily last you for a day of in-person or online classes. There's also two DisplayPort-capable USB-C ports, one HDMI 1.4 jack, and one USB-A port.
- Photograph: Baggu
A Fun Laptop Sleeve
BAGGU Puffy Laptop SleeveIt's tough not to love this adorable laptop sleeve from Baggu. The puffy material provides loads of protection, and the velcro enclosure keeps your laptop securely inside. Depending on the size of your laptop, you might also have room to squeeze in an external keyboard and mouse. It's available in a 13- or 14-inch version (which is also ideal for tablets), or get the 16-incher for larger laptops. It also comes in a ton of fun prints, but there are also a few solid color options for those who want a more muted look.
- Photograph: Logitech
A Pop-Up Desk
Casa Pop-Up DeskIf you’re the type who likes taking notes with an external keyboard and mouse, it can be annoying to have to carry your accessories from class to class. But Logitech’s Casa Pop-Up Desk (9/10, WIRED Review) is an excellent solution for this specific issue. It comes with a keyboard and trackpad that fit neatly in a compact case that also doubles as a laptop stand (it holds your laptop in place using magnets). It’s pricey, but it’s a great choice if you constantly work at the library or on the go in between classes.
- Photograph: Medea Giordano
An Easy Reader
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2021, 11th Generation)If you’re lucky enough to have classes that offer digital versions of textbooks, or if you're taking a few literature classes, consider a Kindle. You might be able to find books for a slight discount, and you can check out library books for free as well. Unlike your phone or tablet, Kindles have displays that are easy on the eyes, work great in direct sunlight, and have glare-free screens. (Unlike a smartphone, they also won't ping you every minute with messages from your group chats.)
Any of the current Kindle models are worth it, but the Paperwhite is the best. There are three versions, including one for kids, but most students should go for the base model. The Paperwhite is waterproof, comes with 8 gigabytes of storage, and features a pleasant warm front light. Just make sure to pay a little extra for the version without ads. If this is too spendy, Amazon has other Kindle models, and we've rounded them all up here. If you're anti-Amazon, read our Best E-Readers guide for other alternatives.
- Photograph: Nena Farrell
A Desktop Monitor and TV Duo
LG MyView Smart Monitor (32SR85U-W)Monitors make working at a desk so much more enjoyable. You can plug your laptop directly into one and use it as a second screen, which can be a huge boost to productivity. (Or you can load up a Twitch stream while you do homework.) We've tested quite a few external screens over the years, and what makes the LG MyView Smart Monitor (7/10, WIRED Recommends) a great pick for a tight dorm room is that it's made to double as a TV. It's a little larger than your usual monitor with a 40-inch screen, but that's also extra room for various homework assignments and many-tabbed research projects. It comes with a remote like a TV and has an entire area for streaming apps, which is nice to switch over to when you're done with homework and want to feel like you can relax. There's built-in speakers that are fine enough, but WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell recommends attaching some desktop speakers (even cheap $25 ones like she has) for better sound.
- Photograph: Mobile Pixels
A Portable Monitor
Mobile Pixels Duex Plus Portable MonitorA portable monitor is a great way to get more screen real estate when you don't have access to your desktop monitor—like at a coffee shop, the library, or even on the go. This one from Mobile Pixels is one of our favorites.
It attaches to the laptop screen using magnets, so you'll have to be comfortable with sticking and leaving adhesive magnets on the back of your laptop. But it's easy to install using the included assembly instructions. When you want to use it, simply slide it out to reveal a 13-inch display and connect the USB-C cable. It does add some thickness and bulk to your machine, but you can remove it when it's not in use.
- Photograph: Twelve South
A Portable USB Hub
Twelve South StayGo MiniIf you have a laptop or tablet with USB-C and a few other ports, chances are you need a hub that expands your connectivity options. WIRED reviewer Julian Chokkattu has been using the StayGo Mini from Twelve South for more than a year with no problems. It has a headphone jack, USB-A, HDMI, and USB-C for pass-through charging. It's super compact, so you can take it anywhere, and you can also choose to plug it flush into your laptop or connect it via a cable. Read our Best Hubs and Docks guide for other picks.
- Photograph: Logitech
A Compact Keyboard
Logitech MX Mechanical Mini Wireless KeyboardWe love mechanical keyboards here at WIRED. They offer a satisfying tactile typing experience, and you'll certainly do a lot of typing in college. This one from Logitech has three different switches to choose from. (You can learn more about switches here.) It's compact enough to tote around campus, and it's wireless, so it connects via a USB-A dongle or Bluetooth. There's built-in backlighting, but if you leave it on all the time, you'll need to recharge it via USB-C every few days. With it off, you can go for months on a single charge. Read our Best Keyboards guide for more.
★ A budget wireless keyboard: Don't care for a mechanical keyboard? Keychron's B6 Pro ($45) is a fantastic ultra-slim keyboard that's affordable, too. There's an even cheaper version, the B1 Pro ($40), if you don't need a Numpad.
- Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft
A Whisper-Quiet Mouse
Logitech MX Master 3SThere are dozens and dozens of cheap mice you can pair with your laptop, but the Logitech MX Master 3S is excellent for people sharing a room. Mouse clicks can sound annoying when someone is trying to study, and this is one of the quietest mice we've ever tried. The left and right mouse buttons are practically silent. You also get dual scroll wheels, which is really handy if you have to scroll horizontally through a bunch of spreadsheets for class. It's expensive, but your roommates will thank you.
★ An ergonomic option: The Logitech Lift ($70) is a great option for those who suffer from some wrist pain, because it automatically lifts your palm away from the desk—preventing your nerves from getting pinched. There's also a Mac version that allows you to program buttons on the mouse to trigger Mac-specific apps and features like Do Not Disturb, Mission Control, Safari, and Final Cut Pro.
