College electronics prep help?

I'm going to an Ivy League college next year and I am going to need to extremely upgrade on my electronics. As of now I have a crappy Android ZTE phone for T-Mobile and thats pretty much it. I use the family desktop for school related work. Recently I won a $500 award and I guess things are looking up, I have been looking at other electronics other than Apple which is really pricey. I want to treat myself with an iPad Air but I want to look at other electronics to get the best value for my dollar. Should I get a Tablet-Laptop combo? Work over the summer and buy a laptop? I have no idea! If I get an iPad Air I would get a used 32 GB because of the extra space and lower price and if I wanted a laptop, I would get a Lenovo ThinkPad or something like that. I really don't care about a new phone now because when my parents' contract ends I will get an upgrade so no big deal really. Thanks everyone!

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