It's almost time to hit the books - or laptop - again as back to school is on the horizon.

As more schools and colleges go digital, Newstalk Tech Correspondent Jess Kelly takes a look at some of the best essentials.

She told The Pat Kenny Show it's important to figure out what you need.

"The first thing when it comes to buying a device, before you do a single bit of Googling, you need to find out what is the policy at the educational facility that your child will be attending," she said.

Jess said there's a few essentials to look out for on laptops such as the processor size, RAM/memory - with the terms used interchangeably - and screen size.

"If you're doing a lot of cloud-based stuff 4 gigabytes of RAM would be sufficient," she explained.

"If I was doing something like architecture, for example and I needed a heavy-duty machine, maybe I'd need 16 gigs of RAM.

"It's the memory that's used while you are using different programmes.

"Anything to do photography or videography or anything like that you want as much RAM as possible".

Cloud options

Jess said memory in hard drives where files are saved is getting smaller as more people use cloud computing services.

"A lot of people are using the likes of Google Docs, DropBox or OneDrive to store their data," she said.

"For me personally I would look at the RAM over the hard drive size - that is going to impact your performance on a day to day basis".

Screen size

"I'm a glasses-wearing human, I like a bigger screen when I'm working," Jess said.

"I have a laptop but I also have an external monitor which is something to consider.

"The battery is a really important one and it correlates with screen size.

"If the store says [a laptop] has a stunning 1080p screen, everything looks HD and it's fantastic - that's all great but it's going to drain your battery."

Jess said power banks are always helpful to keep phones, tablets and laptops on the go.

Jess's (lap)top picks

ACER Swift Go

• Price: €499.00
• Weight: 1.25 kg
• Screen: 14”
• Battery: 14.5 hours
• Processor: Ryzen 5 (8 GB of RAM with 512 GB of storage)
• Full HD webcam built-in
• Jess's verdict: "Ideal for day to day computing and getting your bits and pieces done"

HP Pavilion 15-eh1507sa

• Price: €469.00
• Weight: 1.75 kg
• Screen: 15.6" (Full HD touchscreen)
• Battery: Up to 9 hours
• Processor: Ryzen 5 (8 GB of RAM with 512 GB of storage)
• HP Fast Charge can get from 0 to 50% in 45 minutes
• Jess's verdict: "This is a really solid powerhouse"

HP Stream 11-ak0515sa

• Price: €179.00
• Weight: 1.05 kg
• Screen: 11"
• Battery: Up to 13 hours and 15 minutes
• Processor: Intel Celeron (4 GB of RAM with 64 gigs of storage)
• Programmes can't be installed on it
• Jess's verdict: "This is essentially a Chromebook to give internet access"

Jess said people should always check the technology policy of their school and college first.