80% of British students own a laptop; 40% spend 3-4 hours a day online

"The study (of over 1,000 students) indicates that despite difficult financial times students are willing to embrace paid for content with over a third having paid for some form of online content, such as apps and online gaming credits. The research shows that students are fully equipped with the latest technology with significantly more saying they own laptops (80%) than TVs (57%), 50% are spending a proportion of their time accessing the internet via their smartphones. When asked this rose to three quarters who claimed that they will be accessing the internet via a smartphone handset in the next 2 years.
The study highlights that nearly 40% of students questioned are spending between 3-4 hours per day online; the majority being on social network sites. The research showed that almost a third are following brands on social sites with the likes of River Island, New look and Adidas being in the top ten mentioned - in some cases specifically for discounts (35.2%) and exclusive content (29.5%) with over two thirds contributing to existing content on friends’ walls, pages and statuses."

Source:  Research conducted by the IAB (UK) and Student Room, reported on the IAB website, 13th April 2011