Back to School: Create Your Own Study Hub with AUKEY
As September arrives, once again it‘s time for students around the world to head back to class. This year things are going to be a little bit different, and for many students, classes will exist entirely within the screen of their laptop. Virtual lectures may not be ideal, but you can make the best of a bad situation by having the right tech around you.
The Laptop at the Center
In a term where you can‘t get to the lecture hall or the library, your laptop is likely to become the focus of all your college activities. Still, you wouldn‘t want something too bulky and powerful because classes won‘t be off-campus forever, and once onsite lectures begin again it‘s best to have something light and slim. Inexpensive Chromebooks will get the job done for most students, and those looking for something a bit more upmarket could consider a MacBook.
An important feature to look out for is USB-C charging. This is often overlooked, but it makes a massive difference to the portability and versatility of the laptop. Traditionally, laptops always had chunky power bricks that you had to cart around in addition to the laptop itself. Using USB Power Delivery for charging liberates the laptop of this extra weight and bulk, meaning you can charge it from the same charger you use for your phone.
Get the Right Charger from the Charging Specialists
Getting the right charger depends a lot on the devices you have and how you plan to use it. There‘s no point in getting something large and powerful if you can‘t use that extra power, and equally, you don‘t want to have something that‘s underpowered or not fully compatible. Let‘s take a look at a selection of AUKEY‘s latest chargers and how they shape up for a study-at-home student.
For larger laptops: Omnia Mix 65W
Although ultra-premium laptops like the MacBook Pro 16″ use chargers close to 100W, realistically most students aren‘t going to have something that fancy. The smaller MacBook Pro models charge at around 60W, and a wide range of other popular laptops from the likes of Dell, HP, Asus, and Microsoft charge in the 45W to 60W window. With one of these laptops in your possession, Omnia Mix 65W is the ideal charger. Not only can it charge the laptop at top speed, but it also has a separate port available for phone charging. This means you only ever need a single charger, which prevents clutter while learning from home and keeps your backpack light when on campus.
The Omnia Mix 65W charger created a stir when it was unveiled at CES 2020 due to its extremely small size and weight. Just a few years ago nobody could have believed that a dual-port 65W charger could be so light, but with the use of gallium nitride (GaN) and AUKEY‘s own OmniaChip™ chipset technology, such incredible weight-saving became possible.
For smaller laptops: Focus Duo 30W
For Chromebooks, MacBook Airs, and other compact laptops, 65W is overkill. These smaller notebooks generally only require around 30W, and our Focus Duo 30W charger was designed specifically with such devices in mind. Focus Duo 30W is equipped with Dynamic Detect technology, meaning the full 30W goes to your laptop when only one port is used, and when the second port is in use the total power is split 18W/12W. This is a versatile PD charger that you could also use to fast-charge the latest iPhones at top speed, fast-charge an iPad Pro, or even charge a Nintendo Switch when you need to unwind after a hard day‘s studying.
For tablets and smartphones: Ultra Minima 20W, Minima 18W, Swift 18W, Swift Mix 30W
Nowadays, it‘s possible to get almost all the productivity of a laptop from a tablet such as the iPad Pro or Galaxy Tab S7. Equipped with a keyboard and stylus, you can take notes and complete assignments as well as any laptop user, and all from a lightweight product that can slip into even the smallest of bags. Tablets have large batteries that take a long time to charge up, and nobody wants to keep the charger connected all the time while trying to get work done.
The upcoming Ultra Minima 20W is the latest in AUKEY‘s line-up of improbably compact chargers that pack an outsized punch. It can charge the iPad Pro at a super-fast 20W, and with Quick Charge support, it can also fast-charge recent Samsung tablets and phones at a similar rate. In addition, it can charge upcoming new phone generations and we plan on retailing it at a competitive price.
If you‘re looking for something extra compact, it‘s hard to beat the Minima 18W. This is about as small as a USB-C Power Delivery charger can be, and it‘ll fill up an iPad Pro in no time. And for cost-conscious students, the value of Swift 18W and the new Swift Mix 30W are hard to beat.
Creating a Connectivity Hub
If you plan to use your compact laptop as the base for your studies, you may be disappointed by the lack of ports. Apple‘s MacBooks don‘t even offer any standard USB ports, let alone an SD card slot, HDMI port, or anything else. However, AUKEY has the ultimate solution for port-hungry students looking for productivity gains.
This USB-C hub turns a single USB-C port into 12 ports and slots, allowing you to connect whatever you need. Compact and with a premium feel, this hub gives all the connectivity any student could possibly need, from linking to a second display to downloading photos from an SD card. 12 ports should be enough for anyone!
Making Your Work Space Comfortable
Having fast charging and versatile connectivity is great, but if you‘re going to be studying all day in your room at home it‘s important to be comfortable. AUKEY‘s giant mouse mat was originally designed with gamers in mind, but it‘s proven to be very popular with general users too. Sometimes it‘s the simple things that make the difference, and those who have got used to working on the soft and durable surface find it hard to go back to small mouse mats and hard surfaces.
These are just a few ideas of the ways you can make studying more productive this term, whether you are on campus or at home in your bedroom. And remember, wherever you are, stay safe!
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