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Affordable gadgets make school more exciting

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CIOL Bureau
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Caroline Humer



NEW YORK: Students hoping to fill their backpacks with notebook-sized computers, portable DVD players, digital personal assistants and other gadgets are getting a pleasant surprise.



Many of these popular items are now more affordable.



Back-to-school sales and promotions kick off the consumer electronics buying season, which runs through the December holidays, and go a long way toward livening up the otherwise-slow summer period.



Because many popular electronics products have been around for a few years, their prices are dropping and their quality is improving, making them both more attractive and more affordable for students, analysts said.



Overall prices for hot consumer electronics gadgets like handheld digital assistants, digital music players and keychain-sized flash data storage devices have declined 5 percent to 10 percent from a year ago, said Stephen Baker, director of industry analysis for market research firm NPD Group.



"Most of the products we're talking about are in the midpoint in their growth spurts," Baker said, "so what you're really seeing is some decline in pricing, but mostly ... improvements in features."



Topping most college students' wish lists is the notebook, or laptop, computer. Having been a hot item for years, it is becoming almost mandatory as schools set up wireless networks and offer electronic books and curricula.



Budget-conscious students can check out Wal-Mart Stores Inc., where notebook computer prices start at $598 for a model from Elitegroup Computer Systems, a little-known Taiwanese company that once made only the circuit boards that contained the microprocessor, or brains of a computer.



Notebook computers from Dell Inc. ((http://www.Dell.com) range from $719 for a basic model to $2,339 for a top-of-the-line version with an upgradeable graphics card and a Pentium 4 3.4 gigahertz microprocessor.



Increasingly, notebooks are being shipped with more graphics power, making them better equipped for a not-so-scholarly pursuit -- video gaming. They also often have wireless technology built in and special microchips, such as Intel Corp.'s Centrino, that make it easier to use wireless connections on the go, such as in class or at the library.



They are also lower priced. The average price of a notebook computer with a 15-inch screen was $1,240 in May 2003 but is now down to $1,118, according to NPD.



While the notebook computer has become a staple for students, some schools are turning to newer technologies.



In a pilot program at Duke University, freshmen will receive Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod music players that also include information on the school calendar and provide access to audio versions of classroom materials.



Apple recently cut its price on iPod to $299 from $399 for the 20-gigabyte model.



Meanwhile, prices for portable DVD players have dropped markedly, to an average of $235 in May from $302 a year earlier, according to NPD.



On Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com), these systems, which enable users on the go to watch movies and other programming, start at $150 to $200 for the more obscure brands, while versions from Polaroid, Toshiba and Panasonic range from $230 to $300 with various options for screen sizes of 5 inches to about 9 inches.



Meanwhile, the number of gadgets for mobile users to attach to their portable computers is on the rise, Baker said, pointing toward wireless keypads and wireless mice.



Targus, for instance, makes a keypad and optical mouse combination that sells for $59.99 at www.Bestbuy.com. Logitech also makes an optical mouse for notebooks for $49.99.



Students looking to store copies of their work, or transfer it from one computer to another, can turn to devices that are about the size of a keychain and use a kind of computer memory called flash.



Sandisk Corp. sells such drives, which attach to the USB port on a computer. The 128 megabyte versions, enough to hold thousands of pages of text, go for about $40.

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