After Christmas, back to school shopping is the biggest time of the year in consumer electronic sales.
So what should a high school or college student have for their school work?
The number one item is a good laptop. While sales are climbing for smart phones and tablet computers, experts still a laptop computer is still the best for keeping up on homework.
"You need it for the memory, you need it for the power and you need it for the touch keyboard," said Jim Barry with the Consumer Electronics Association.
Barry says laptop prices are nearly half of what they were five years ago. Thin, lightweight laptops called "UltraBooks" are a growing category that run on flash memory and quickly powers up similar to the Apple MacBook Air.
After the laptop the next important connected device for a student is the smartphone. The popular iPhones and Android phones now have larger screens and faster connections.
Tammi Terrell with AT&T says a laptop and phone are the two important devices for any student to stay connected.
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So what about the tablets like the iPad?
"The smart phone and laptop are the real necessities," said Jim Barry, "the tablet can be a lot of fun but isn't really a necessity."
But Tammi Terrell says the new bluetooth keyboards are helping turn tablets computers into a back to school helpers.
"It allows you to type accurate and fast while you are taking notes at school," said Terrell.
Other popular back to school items include music players like the Dr. Dre Beats, wireless headphones and game players.
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