If you are participating in the BGSU Laptop Program, you may wish to purchase external devices to connect to your laptop, such as printers, Zip drives, floppy disk drives, scanners, etc. These types of externally-connected devices are often referred to as "peripherals", and are not included with this program.

In certain situations, it may not be necessary to purchase any of these items. For example, if you're considering purchasing a printer, but live in the Residence Halls, you could instead configure your laptop to print directly to the printer in the nearest computer lab. Similarly, if you need to share a file with someone, you could always attach it to an email, rather than copy it to a disk. 

However, if you would rather buy your own peripherals, you have several options. Below is a list of commonly-used peripherals, method(s) of connecting the peripherals, and typical price ranges.

Peripherals such as those listed below can be purchased for a discounted price through the University Bookstore. They can also be purchased locally at stores like Staples, Best Buy, Circuit City, The Answer Factory, and Virtual PC. They can also be purchased online from E-commerce stores like Buy.com, Club Mac, and Mac Mall. Most online purchases require credit cards. Using a bot program such as shopper.com will provide you with a list of online vendors and prices for any given peripheral.

Please note:  StudentTech does not endorse any particular product, vendor, or business. The information contained here is for reference only.

Device	Method of Connection	Estimated Cost
Printer	USB	$70 - $160
Cable Lock	N/A	$20 - $50
External Zip Drive	USB	$60 - $110
External Floppy Drive	USB	$35 - $65
Scanner	USB or Firewire	$80 - $200
Airport Wireless Card	Internal	$79
External Hard Drive	USB or Firewire	$120 - $300