Kindle Cases for Students: What to Look For

University is a lot. Lectures, assignments, group work, and somewhere in the middle of it, the reading you actually want to do. If you've switched to a Kindle for that, good call: the whole course list and a stack of fiction, in something that slips into a bag.

The case matters more for students than for almost anyone. Here's what to look for.

Why Student Kindles Take More Punishment

Think about a normal week. The Kindle lives in a bag with a laptop, a water bottle, chargers and keys. It comes out in lectures, balances on a knee in the library, rides buses and trains, and gets left on a café table more than once. Very few devices get handled that hard.

What to Look For

Hard-Backed, Not Soft

A folio case with a rigid back takes an impact. A soft sleeve doesn't. If your bag gets dropped, and it will, that's the difference between a scare and a cracked screen.

Auto Sleep and Wake

Magnets in the cover that sleep the device when you close it. Between classes you're not thinking about battery, and you don't have to.

Slim

You're already carrying a laptop. A case should wrap the device like a small book and add almost nothing to the weight.

Something You Like Looking At

This sounds like the soft option and it isn't. In a day made of screens, a Kindle that doesn't look like your laptop is a Kindle you pick up in the ten minutes between things. A case you like is a device you reach for.

A Note on Sizing

Cases are cut to a specific model, so check the back of your device or the box before you order. A 6.0" case will not fit a 6.8", and a case that nearly fits is worse than none.

Where to Start

If you want the shortlist rather than the criteria, our guide to the best Kindle cases in Australia runs through the current picks. Otherwise, browse the Kindle case range and find one that will get you through a few semesters.