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Late Additions to Your Back-to-School List

Eric Gillin

All over campuses, parents have said their goodbyes, shed a tear or two for the empty nest back home and left their sons and daughters with enough gear to outfit the Russian Army.

This year, a study from the National Retail Federation says that parents and students will spend $25.7 billion on goods related to the return to college. But no matter how many hotpots, backpacks and laptops that students have, there's always something missing -- some crucial last-minute item that seems unnecessary. That is, until the second week of school, when everyone else is strolling around the quad with them.

This week, the Good Life heads back to school to look at six products -- from ramen to PDAs -- that you may be shipping off in a care package sooner than you think.

The Do-It-All Printer

Keep kids from late-night Kinko's runs with an all-in-one device that can do it all and then some, combining a printer, copy machine and flatbed scanner into a slim, compact unit.

These all-in-ones have been hot college items for a few years now, but the prices have plunged while the technology has improved, making printers faster, resolution sharper and performance more dependable. Lexmark's new X5270, at just $130, is a best-in-class model, employing a new cartridge system that uses six dye- and pigment-based inks to produce vibrant, photo-quality pictures that resist fading.

The printer's PrecisionSense function detects what kind of paper is in the machine and automatically adjusts the cartridge to produce maximum results. And, at just 17.4 inches wide and 12.6 inches deep, the X5270 has a very small footprint -- packing an exceptional number of features into a 10-pound unit that won't hog precious counter space.

The X5270 doesn't sacrifice speed for quality. This is a zippy unit, one of the fastest in its class, able to pump out 22 black-and-white pages per minute, and 15 pages per minute in color from its 100-sheet paper tray. The copy machine function is slower, only able to print 15 black-and-white copies a minute and nine color copies a minute, but that's still fast enough to keep kids away from the copy center at three in the morning.

Bill-Free Cell Phone

It only takes a quick glance at that first semester's mobile-phone bill to realize that talk isn't cheap. Leaving that cell phone at home isn't a realistic option, but the Motorola Talkabout T7100 two-way radio can help pare down those bills.

"It allows students to own a communications device and not have to pay monthly minutes or anything other than buying the product," said Cheryl Gray, spokesperson for Motorola. "They can talk in their dorms instead of having to pick up the phone. But it's also good if they're on campus and walking around; they can get in touch with their friends. It's quick and easy and a lot cheaper than cell phones."

The T7100, which hit the market in March, is essentially a walkie-talkie. But unlike those squelchy sets sold in toy stores, the Talkabout has a range of 7 miles, enabling students to cut down on the minutes they waste on local, on-campus calls to friends. The unit costs $110 and is powered by a rechargeable NiMH, so you save money on batteries, too.

The Super Fridge

There was a time when refrigerators and microwaves were luxuries confined to communal areas. Much to the chagrin of many a parent with a weak back and limited car space, that era has passed. Don't haul mini kitchen appliances to campus a la carte, consider one of MicroFridge's all-in-one units, which save both space and electricity.

"We take microwaves, freezers and refrigerators and put them all into one appliance, so that it all works on one plug," said Phil Emma, vice president and general manager of MicroFridge. "It's our Safe Plug technology, so that when the microwave goes on, it puts the fridge and freezer to sleep. And when the microwave stops, the fridge and freezer go back on after 60 seconds so it doesn't blow any circuits."

The company's best-seller for the college set is its 2.9 cubic foot three-in-one unit, which has a true zero-degree freezer, a 600-watt microwave oven and an expanded refrigerator that holds a week's worth of food.

According to the company, the fridge can hold a dozen 16-ounce bottles, three 2-liter bottles, six yogurt containers and four containers of take-out Chinese with ample room for condiments on the door. The freezer holds seven full-sized frozen pizzas, a half gallon of ice cream and four ice cube trays -- at the same time.

The 2.9 cubic foot model -- which comes in trendy stainless steel -- is currently on sale for $375 at the company's Web site, www.microfridge.com, not including $55 for shipping. While a $430 fridge may seem a bit pricey, when that cost is spread out over four years, it's cheaper than renting one from the school -- and it beats emergency visits to the chiropractor.

Digital Earmuffs

When it comes to loud dormitories, wadded-up cotton balls can only do so much. Instead, hard-core studiers should block out background noise with noise-canceling headphones, which employ digital technology to cover the gaps where earplugs fail.

For the last few years, business travelers have been silencing droning jet engines with these innovative headphones, which work by fighting fire with fire, using a tiny microphone to read background noise and then producing an equal and opposite signal to cancel it out. As a result, any moderate, steady sounds -- from snoring to air conditioner units -- are silenced, enabling students to listen to music and study at lower volumes.

Noise-reducing headphones don't completely block all noise, however. Because of the way they work, abrupt, high-pitched noise, like a screeching roommate, will sneak past the digital barrier. Then again, that's not always such a bad thing, especially when the dormitory's holding a fire drill or the parental units are calling to discuss the latest bill.

A number of companies make noise-reducing headphones at price points ranging from $40 all the way up to $300, but be sure to look for the ones that take batteries, since they use active technologies to cut the chatter -- non-powered versions are glorified ear muffs.

Koss QZPRO headphones are a nice value at $60, but Bose QuiteComfort 2 headphones are the gold standard at $300, able to block low and high frequencies, including phone calls from home.

The Choice PDA

After attending school every day at the same time for more than a decade, the transition to 8:40 a.m. seminars that meet Tuesdays and alternating Wednesdays can be a bit jarring for new underclassmen. But that's where the new Palm Zire72 personal digital assistant comes in.

"New students need to get organized," said Mike Lorion, vice president of business verticals for PalmOne. "With the Zire72, not only do the traditional Palm tools come into play -- the calendar, the 'to do' lists, the alarms -- it features a 1.2 megapixel camera. You could take a picture of a professor's notes on a whiteboard and gather information that way. Or you can take verbal notes. There's a voice-recorder built in."

The Zire72's good for more than simple scheduling and note-taking. In a pinch, it's powerful enough to replace a laptop, equipped with 32 megs of memory, a crisp color screen and Microsoft Word and Excel. With an available keyboard attachment, procrastinators can pound out papers and email them to professors.

And because the new Zire72 runs on the Palm platform, there's a wide array of software out there, enabling it to double as a graphing calculator, Cliff Notes study guide or concept mapper -- an especially good function when its time to write thesis papers.

The PDA, which costs $300, has a playful streak as well. In addition to still pictures, the Zire72 can capture and playback video. It can store and play MP3 sound files, too, making it a decent alternative for those who want their iPods to do more than look trendy. And with a couple of snappy games loaded onboard, the Zire72 can make those grueling early-morning lectures a bit more interesting.

Don't Be Square With Ramen

Ramen noodles and college students go together like fraternities and the Greek alphabet.

While bricks of the freeze-dried Japanese noodle are economical at 20 for $1 at the local Sam's Club, they're also incredibly unhealthy. To dehydrate the noodles, companies deep fry them in palm oil, imbuing ramen with massive amounts of fat and empty calories while the "flavor packets," which do little more than color the water the noodles sit in, are loaded with salt. A single serving of Nissin's Cup of Noodles chicken flavor has 6.3 grams of fat, 70% of the daily recommended value, and 1,433 mg of sodium, 60% of the daily recommended value.

There's more to ramen than flash fried square bricks and salty seasoning. In Japan, where ramen is also known as gakusei ryori or "student cuisine," ramen is like soul food -- homey cuisine that's sold in restaurants and eaten as a full meal, not just a late-night snack. While the local supermarket may not have them, there are loads of healthy and exotic ramen options available online at sites like koaMART.com, an Asian foods superstore.

To cut down on salt and calories, look for non-fried or baked ramen and cold noodles, which have not been dehydrated. And move away from the standard chicken or beef, sampling more interesting, authentic flavors like kimchi, black bean, cuttlefish and soba. With prices between 40 cents and $1.80 per packet, these options will cost a lot more than the ramen usually sold on shelves, but buying by the case can save you 20% to 30%.