Two ports on the laptop, six things to plug in. Check the HDMI specification rather than the port count before you buy — plenty of hubs quietly cap an external display at a refresh rate that is miserable to work on.
I treat this as insurance rather than storage. A laptop dies during finals week about once per friend group per year, and the difference between an inconvenience and a catastrophe is whether last night's work exists anywhere else.
The one specification that matters in a shared room is the switch. Tactile browns are audible; clicky blues are a roommate problem. Tenkeyless also gives back the desk width you need for a mouse.
The scroll wheel is the actual product. Horizontal scroll turns wide spreadsheets and long timelines from a chore into a flick, and quiet clicks matter when someone is asleep six feet away.
