Working remotely: why an ultrabook can make it easy.

Intel’s Ultrabook platform is taking the laptop world by storm, accounting for almost a third of all new laptop sales across North America. It’s not hard to see why: Ultrabooks shy away from the trend of “cheap and cheesy”, opting instead for high quality materials, better industrial design, and serious cutting edge hardware.

Apple made a lot of noise back when the iMac was first introduced by stripping the floppy drive and legacy connections out of the system. Ultrabooks are doing the same today, dropping older ports and ancient optical drive technology. Sure, it means that you’ll need to get creative if you’re installing older software, but companies are adapting. You can buy Microsoft Office license codes directly from Staples.ca or in-store in over 300 locations across Canada, and install them from downloads from Microsoft’s site without ever needing a DVD. As more software moves in this direction we can finally say a fond farewell to optical disks; they’re still handy if you want to back up, but their time has come and gone.

Ultrabooks are also ditching older hard drive technology too. By switching to SSDs or Solid State Drives, they’re getting rid of excess weight (SSDs are lighter), enhancing reliability (there aren’t any moving parts in an SSD), and better on battery (no moving parts means less energy used, which means better battery life)!

These two elements, weight and battery life, are incredibly important for mobility, but Ultrabooks take it even further. They’re thin; every Ultrabook has to be no more than 2cm thick. They have to come out of hibernation fast: Intel has mandated that they have to wake up in under seven seconds. With technology like Instant-On, they can–it gives each Ultrabook that tablet-like fast wake-up speed. And every ultrabook features fast wireless networking–both 802.11N (or better!) Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Many new units are featuring low-power-consumption Bluetooth 4.0 to pair with smartphones, letting them share 3G/4G connections.

Add all of that up, and an Ultrabook is going to be the best option for travelers looking for a portable computer experience.

By Adam

May 15, 2012