College Technology

So, my very first year of college is around the corner. High School graduation is over with, my Graduation Party was a blast, and now I'm stuck with the greatest task of this summer: preparation. There's a solid three bins full of dorm essentials stuffed haphazardly in my closet, and I'm growing more electric with excitement every minute that ticks by. Yet, at the beginning of the summer, I was plagued (so dramatic, I know) with the task at hand; it was the time for dreaded upgrades. My darn iPhone 4 was puttering away with 3G's (GAH, GOSH DARNIT, GRR), and my laptop ran just about as fast as I can. So both devices were fairly pathetic. My parents were kind and generous enough to provide me with a phone and laptop upgrade to get me through college without ripping my hair out. We went one rainy Monday to AT&T, then Best Buy, and my world turned upside down. I'd used my previous devices for about four years, and the new gadgets were like a dream. I'd never experienced such a fast-paced technological experience, and it was AMAZING. I couldn't believe how fantastic my new gizmos were, and a month later I question how I ever functioned with the inky tiny iPhone 4. I upgraded to an iPhone 6, and a Windows 8.1 Dell laptop. I'd like to review each for any potential college-goers that just need a shiny, new doo-dad to light up their technological life. 

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iPhone 6

WHAT A BEAUT. Gosh darn it, how can anyone live without this love in their life? I'm soft on Apple in the cell phone category - iPhones are just so sleek and natural to me. Anything else is scary territory. I feel at home with a trusty iWhatever in my back pocket. I purchased the black/space gray model and I couldn't possibly be happier. I loved it so much (and showed it off so much ;D) that my boyfriend got sucked into the iPhone 6 craze that's slowly infecting people. The iPhone 6 runs so fast with LTE and even 4G - I hated 3G with a burning, raging passion. I will never miss my iPhone 4, trust me. The only downside I found with the iPhone 6 was my plan. I have a 2GB/month plan, and it ate the 2GB up in literally a few days. I'd never really run over the 2GBs before with my iPhone 4, and in a matter of days I was running over into another GB of data for the month. All you have to do is be smart and not leave your apps open (oopsies) and you'll be fine. I learned that the hard way. 
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Dell Laptop 

Sadly, I do not know the exact name of the laptop I got, but its incredible. I originally played around with the thought of getting a MacBook, and almost even bought one, but I panicked last minute at the thought of not having a Windows computer, and I'm glad I did. Laptops these days are AMAZING. This dell laptop is touch screen, 13.5 inches, a yoga-type (flips over into a tablet), enables split-screen mode, has Windows 8.1, 1 TB Hard drive, 8 GB ram, an intel i7 processor, and is so portable its not even funny. I went from a clunky 17.4 inch screen laptop (and I'm a little lady) with a 30 minute battery life to this beaut with a 6 hour battery and all the above specs. It was about $850.00 - much better than a MacBook, and I get way more for my money. This is my first laptop that has been mine, not a hand-me-down, and I think I chose the best possible laptop for my style of browsing and gaming. I have Spotify, iTunes, Temple Run, Netflix, and more installed. I don't need much, but the specs that came with this laptop leave room for amazing gaming abilities. I obsessively play the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (don't play any other games) and it runs Skyrim beautifully. My old laptop ran Skyrim surprisingly well, but this allows me to mod to my heart's content and enjoy gameplay without being connected to an outlet constantly. I have a plug-in Xbox Controller to complement gaming on this computer - it works so well!! I couldn't have chosen a better computer. I highly suggest this type of laptop over a traditional laptop (no touch screen, etc) any day. It's an experience using the laptop, in itself. :)
Hope this helps someone out there. 

Lots of love, 
Sara
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