It’s that time of year again when parents start preparing to send their kids off to College/University. There is so much to sort out and most of it costs a lot of money – that includes their IT needs. Kids want laptops and netbooks and IPads and IPods and Smartphones and whatever else the current favourite tech is. Not like in my day when I dragged my massive beige PC and its equally massive 17inch CRT monitor up the many flights of stairs of our dormitory. This was the same PC I had used for about 7 years albeit the internals upgraded many times over!

Orbits can assist you in finding the right tech for your kids. Tell us what their needs are and we will provide you with the  most cost effective but practical solution. Just give us a call as many other parents/students have over the last weeks to talk over your requirements.

There is a way to keep your IT costs down though. Buying the laptop or notebook  etc is only half of the story. You then need to spend money on the software. Office systems, Video Editing suites, Music creation tools and Computer Aided design packages are now all widely used by students on their courses. To get ahead they will want to have this software on their own machine.

Here is where the generous side of Software companies come in.

Companies like Microsoft, Adobe and Kaspersky all have student schemes whereby if you are a student (or have a child in education) you can pick up software for a ridiculously low price. Example:

Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus. I pay up to £429.99 for the privilege whereas someone who qualifies for the student discount will pay just £38.95 all in. Now thats a saving of nearly £400 – or the cost of a laptop.

To take advantage of these bargains, have a look over at Software4Students and tell them Orbits sent you.

I can’t wait until my kids are in school. I haven’t got any kids yet but this is another excuse to start trying ;)