A short while ago, I wrote a guide that described dorm-friendly technology for budget-minded students. Tons of people are going back to school this September and the vast majority will be on some sort of tight budget. They have to get the most bang for their buck, while adequately equipping themselves with the technology that they need. We all need a computer right?
Well, not everyone is on a budget. Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths (or Daddy’s Credit Card). Others happened to win the lottery. Whatever the case, there is a group of students with more money than they know what to do with. That’s where this back to school buyer’s guide comes into play. Got money to blow? Ballin’ like Lil Wayne? Let me show you where you can spend that cash.
HTC Touch Pro Smartphone
Sure, you could just waltz into just about any Apple store and come out a few minutes later with an activated iPhone 3G, but it seems that everyone is doing that these days. Part of the key to being a baller is to buy products that no one else has and if you happen to live in North America, you’re going to be in pretty exclusive territory if you pick up the HTC Touch Pro.
Also known as the HTC Raphael, the HTC Touch Pro is essentially the same as the HTC Touch Diamond, except it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. This is easily the most attractive HTC smartphone released to date, putting devices like the HTC TyTN II to shame. The piano black finish is absolutely gorgeous.
This smartphone comes powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, but it has been dressed up with HTC’s signature TouchFLO 3D user interface. Accompanying the standard tri-band GSM/GPRS connection is dual-band HSDPA, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, and A-GPS. Going further, you also get a VGA resolution touchscreen display, accelerometer, handwriting recognition, 3.15 megapixel camera with autofocus, secondary VGA videocall camera, TV-out, stereo FM radio with RDS, Pocket Office, MP3 player, and full HTML web browser.
The HTC Touch Pro, at the time this guide was written, is not officially available in North America. You can, however, find it on eBay with Buy It Now prices in the $1,200 range.
Corsair Survivor 32GB Rugged USB Flash Drive
Yeah, you could boot around town with a budget USB flash drive. You could probably make do with just 2GB or so, possibly bumping up to 4GB or 8GB when you’ve got a little more to share with your classmates. But where’s the fun in that? It’s much more awesome to rock the Corsair Survivor 32GB Ultra Rugged USB 2.0 flash drive.
There are a few reasons why you may want to consider this particular flash drive over something like the DataTraveler line from Kingston. For starters, it has a massive 32 gigabytes of storage capacity. That’s almost half the size of the hard drive on most consumer-level notebooks! You’ve got more than enough room to ship a few high-definition video files around. Just make sure you have the hard drive space to spare.
Secondly, the Corsair Survivor has been housed in a casing that is made from CNC-milled, anodized aircraft-grade aluminum. Believe me, this thing can take a beating. You can dunk it water up to 200 meters deep. You can freeze it, boil it, and drop it from the top of the student union building. It will survive. Heck, you can even drive over it with your Hummer H2 and it’ll still work.
Pricing will vary from retailer to retailer, but you’ll typically find the Corsair Flash Survivor 32GB on sale in the $150 to $190 range.
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Flybook VM Notebook Computer
Many students and mobile professionals alike are starting to dig the smaller form factor offered by subnotebooks like the MSI Wind and Asus Eee PC. The idea is that those smaller laptops can be remarkably affordable, yet still offer a decent web-browsing experience on the go. The Flybook line from Dialogue, however, is a different beast altogether.
What you see here is the Flybook VM. It features a 12.1-inch widescreen display on a “swan neck”, making it perfectly friendly to confines of a tight airplane seat. You know, just in case you couldn’t get that first-class ticket your uncle promised. Also, as a baller, you fly home from school every weekend…right?
Among the features are an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processor (who needs Atom?), 2.0GB of DDR2 RAM, 80GB hard drive, HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0, and Wi-Fi. If you want something smaller, there is also the convertible Flybook V5 with its 7-inch display. Both notebooks hover around the $3,000 mark which is nothing for a baller like you.
Hasselblad H3D II Digital SLR Camera
Point and shoot? Entry-level DSLR? Please. When you have more money than you what to do with, you really can’t settle for anything less than the absolute best in the photography realm. For people who are serious about massive pictures, there isn’t much that competes against the Hasselblad H3D II DSLR.
While it may not necessarily be fair to compare cameras based solely on their megapixel counts, there is something to be said about this particular DSLR. That’s because the Hasselblad H3D II can capture stills at an unfathomable resolution of 39 megapixels. Yes, you read that correctly. Thirty-freaking-nine megapixels. The image sensor measures 28 x 36mm.
Other features include a top-line RAW converter, 3-inch preview LCD, CCD heatsink, and integrated GPS. Go ahead and geotag your massive pictures too… just be prepared to pay for it. The Hasselblad H3D II DSLR retails for around $37,000. That’s the price for the body alone, so you’ll need to fork out a few more tens of thousands for an equally ballin’ set of lenses.
Tesla Roadster Electric Sports Car
Regular students invest in a bus pass. Others may opt to get a bicycle for getting around campus and those with a little more money may be able to afford a budget-minded car. None of these options will suit the wealthier amongst us. To experience some speed, exude some style, and be environmentally-friendly all at the same time, you may want to get a Tesla Roadster electric sports car.
The fully electric sports car gives you about 350km (220 miles) of range on a full charge. Along the way, you’ll be able to rocket from 0-60mph in 3.9 seconds. Thankfully, the equivalent fuel economy works out to about 105 mpg (2.24L/100km). Not bad for such a hot ride.
The 3-phase, 4-pole electric motor delivers 248hp and 200 lbs-ft of torque. The motor caps out at 13,000 rpm, pushing you to an electronically limited top speed of 201 km/h (125mph). The rear-wheel drive Tesla Roadster tips the scales at about 2,700 pounds (1,220 kg). Too bad it’s completely sold out. Even if you could get your hands on one, it’d cost you north of $100,000, which is obviously nothing to a baller. Maintaining the car wouldn’t come cheap either, but you have people to do that for you. At least you’ll save on gas, but you’re a baller. You don’t know how to save.
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