FatWallet.com, the savings resource for millions of online deal hunters, announced results of its Back to School Tech Survey (*Survata), which revealed 28% of parents plan to purchase student laptops and/or smartphones during back to school sales this year for their children in grades K-12 (up from 20% in 2015). More than one-third of those parents rank back-to-school sales as the best time to find student laptop deals, out-ranking Black Friday for the third year in a row. Parents also said the most stressful part of buying a laptop for their children was finding the best value for their money, while 54% indicated some level of concern with their children having their own laptops.
Of the 28% of parents who plan to purchase student laptops and/or smartphones this year for their kids in grades K-12:
57% indicated they think laptops are better learning tools for their kids over smartphones, while 37% thought students need both
46% agree it’s practical for children ages 13-15 to have their own smartphones, and one-third said ages 10-12 is practical
54% are concerned with the expense of replacing a broken smartphone
65% will spend $500 or less on student laptops, 27% will spend less than $300, 23% between $501-$700 and 12% will spend more than $700
37% said the best time to buy a student laptop is during back-to-school sales, but 32% said during Black Friday
26% said MacBooks are the best laptops for their children’s school needs, 20% Dell, 19% HP and 8% each for Microsoft Surface Book, Chromebook or ASUS
80% said laptops (or tablets) are offered in school for some grades, while 32% said they’re available for all grades
51% are concerned with getting the best value (for the money) when buying student laptops, but one-third are concerned there are too many choices
54% are concerned with their children having their own laptops
Review FULL RESULTS and infographics.
To help parents with their back-to-school shopping concerns, FatWallet has launched a new Student Laptop Buying Guidefeaturing easy-to-follow steps on how to choose the right laptop model and features and the best value in their purchases. The guide also includes hand-picked laptop deals and access to a comprehensive list of the most current laptop deals, backpacks, software, accessories and additional savings opportunities from hundreds of online coupons from top electronics-focused retailers.
Other back-to-school shopping resources include:
