Back to School tech costs rise for Australian parents for laptops, iPads, tablets as other costs reduce

Parents are about to be hit with higher back to school costs for a popular item, costing an average of $320 per child. SEE HOW YOU CAN SAVE.

Exclusive: Australian parents are set to be slugged with higher back to school costs for popular technology items, which will set them back an average of $320 per child.

New data from BIG W’s Back to School report, conducted by YouGov, has found more than half of all parents will buy new technology items, with computers (35 per cent), headphones (23 per cent) and iPads (16 per cent) topping the list.

Last year, parents spent just $284 on technology per child.

But their overall budget on other essentials is set to reduce by 11.1 per cent — down $66 from $592 to $526 on average per child.

This is largely attributed to the fact millions of parents bought items while homeschooling during Covid-19 lockdowns.

Other expected costs for regular back to school items include school uniforms ($158), shoes ($101), stationery ($76), school bags ($56), lunch boxes and water bottles ($48), sporting gear ($82) and other items ($87).

Tech retailers are prepared despite some delays on items due to ongoing supply chain issues.

Now that many schools have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program, Harvey Norman has a student discount offer on Microsoft Surface laptops, reducing the price by up to 10 per cent.

Billie, 5, Taj, 9, and Zali, 7, Forster, who need new items for school. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

The retailer also has laptops starting from under $400, Samsung Galaxy and Lenovo tablets starting from under $250 and Chromebooks under $500.

JB Hi-Fi also has Chromebooks for under $300, tablets for younger students under $200 and laptops for older students from $499.

“There’s a lot to consider when buying, like what size screen a child needs, battery life is often overlooked … weight, dimension and will it fit in their backpack,” a JB Hi-Fi spokesperson said.

“There’s certainly stock available now. We’ve worked very hard to make sure that we’ve got a really good range.

“We also have huge volumes of sales on USB storage, it really is the new eraser.”

Top money saving tips that parents use: 

• Buying supplies on special (38%) 
• Buying a retailer’s own branded products at affordable prices (32%)  
• Staying focused on the essentials by shopping online (24%) 
• Buying items in bundles (23%) 
• Shop early to cut costs (87%)

Source: BIG W Back to School Report, YouGov

Officeworks is offering Chromebooks under $400 and an iPad 9th Generation for under $500.

Officeworks Managing Director, Sarah Hunter, said they also offer a free online school list service to help parents, and will beat the price on identical items by 20 per cent.

They will also beat a lower-priced identical stocked item (which is not on the online list) by 5 per cent (including sale items).

Kogan is also slashing its prices, with a Chromebook under $300 and a Samsung Galaxy tablet for around $300.

BIG W’s Head of Commercial – Toys and Leisure, Christine Faulkner said the report reflects shoppers’ sentiment to avoid shopping at the last minute.

“They’ll be more cautious, reflecting the financial impacts of Covid-19, coupled with back to school shopping directly following the Christmas period,” she said.

She said BIG W is keeping costs low, starting with an exercise book for 15 cents, glue for $1 and two polo shirts for $5.

Mother-of-three Kelly Forster plans to spend about $100 on essentials for each of her three children Taj, 9, Zahlia, 7, and Billie, 5.

“The older ones have trashed their things like bags, pencil cases and lunch boxes and obviously kindy we are starting from scratch so there’s extras like headphones,” she said.

She will also be buying her son Taj his first device as he enters Year 4.

“I don’t budget as such but I do look for good value,” she said.

“It’s a total headache going through the technical requirements but also finding a decent value notebook and then crossing our fingers it doesn’t get lost or jumped on in the first week of school,” she said.

BACK TO SCHOOL COMPUTER DEAL GUIDE:

Here is a snapshot of computers and tablets on offer:

BIG W

Computers/tablets:

Lenovo Tab M8 2nd Gen Tablet $199

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 11” Chromebook 3i 4GB/64GB $499

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 10.1” Chromebook 4GB/128BG - Ice Blue/ Iron Grey $499

Breeze 14” Windows 401 Laptop Value Edition - Black $399

Apple iPad Wi-Fi 64GB - Silver (9th Gen) $499

HARVEY NORMAN

Computers/tablets:

Asus E12 11.6-inch Celeron-N3350/4GB/64GB eMMC Laptop $396

Asus Chromebook 11.6-inch Celeron-N3350/4GB/32GB eMMC Laptop $399

Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite WiFi 32GB 8.7-inch Tablet - Grey $249

Asus Chromebook 11.6-inch Celeron-N3350/4GB/32GB eMMC Laptop $399

Lenovo Chromebook Duet 10.1-inch Helio P60T/4GB/128GB 2-in-1 Laptop $499

Microsoft Surface laptop discount offer

JB HIFI

Computers:

HP 50R74PA 14” HD Laptop (128GB) [Intel Celeron] $698 on sale $498 from Thu 13/1

HP 50R82PA 15.6” HD Laptop (256GB) [AMD 3050U] $899 on sale $649 from Thu 13/1

Dell Inpsiron 3515 15.6” FHD Laptop (256GB) [Ryzen 5] $999 on sale $799 from Thursday 13/1

HP 4K221PA 14” HD Chromebook (64GB) [AMD 3015Ce] $398 on sale 25% off from Thu 13/1

Lenovo Duet 5 13.3” Full HD OLED Chromebook (128GB) $799 on sale 25% off from Thu 13/1

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 13.3” FHD Chromebook (256GB) [Intel i5] $999 on sale 25% off from Thu 13/1

OFFICEWORKS

Computers/tablets:

iPad 9th Gen Wi-Fi 64GB Grey $497

Acer 14” Swift 1 Notebook Celeron 4/64GB Gold $396

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 2-in-1 Chromebook 10.1” MTK/4/128 GB $395

KOGAN

Computers:

Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 T500 10.4 (32GB Wi-Fi, Dark Grey) $305

Samsung Chromebook 4, 11.6” N4000 Intel UHD Graphics 600 4GB RAM 32 GB $275

Kogan Atlas 15.6” FHD i3 10th Gen Laptop (8GB, 128GB) $659

Kogan Atlas 14.1” N360 Laptop with Windows 10 Pro $349

APPLE

Apple is offering free AirPods with purchase of selected Mac and iPad models with education pricing, plus 20% off AppleCare+.

The offer and education pricing is available to current and newly accepted university students, parents buying for university students, and teachers and staff at all levels.

The offer is valid until March 7, 2022 at Apple Store locations and on the Apple Store for Education website and is available with Trade In.

Additional offers include Apple Arcade 3 month trial and Apple Music and Apple TV+ 3 months free, then student discount ongoing.

Originally published as Back to School tech costs rise for Australian parents for laptops, iPads, tablets as other costs reduce