Intel challenged Shedoesthecity to test out the new Intel Ultrabook laptop. We shipped Ultrabooks from Vancouver to Halifax and asked four of our resident bloggers to swap their current computer for a new Ultrabook for one week.

In this post, Micki Cole of Vancouver weighs in on the ultra light and purse-portable benefits of the Ultrabook. Micki is a Calgary native who moved to the West Coast last year to enroll as a student in the Fashion Merchandising and Marketing program at Vancouver’s Visual College of Arts and Design. Daily life for Micki means commuting to and from class and balancing school projects that involve a whole lot more than pumping out essays on Word.

They say that once you go Mac, you never go back. LIES! As a student, everyone will tell you to buy a Mac, so that’s what I did. After using the HP Ultrabook for a week, I wish I had given Intel another chance. The computer is light, efficient, offers tools that my Mac doesn’t even have, and the battery life is like the Energizer bunny.

Every day I’m lugging around my Macbook, and my body hates me for it.  My shoulders have permanent indents where my messenger bag sits just because of my computer. After carrying around the Ultrabook for a week, I was sold. Its sleek lightweight material makes my daily walk to school a breeze. If my shoulders could talk they would be screaming thank you.

Another great feature that I appreciate as a student is the snipping tool. I never thought I would say this, but it definitely beats the click, drag, and drop feature the Mac has. With this feature, you can outline any part of a page that you want to copy by moving an adjustable square overtop of it, then bam, you have the exact part of the picture that you need. When putting together presentations, reports, or collisions this is your “go to” tool.

Even though Apple has equivalent programs to Word, PowerPoint and Excel, I find that most Mac users still stick with the PC programs. In my school career, this has been one of the most frustrating things. I constantly have to change my reports over to Word, and it never translates over properly, leaving me to do twice the amount of work.  The Ultrabook is compatible with the programs that my school uses, which is a huge time saver for a busy student like myself.

One of my favorite features was the long lasting battery life. I fully charged the computer, and then I told myself that I would stop working whenever the computer stopped.Well, I never stopped; I worked from morning to evening, and didn’t have to charge the Ultrabook once. The main reason why I never had to charge the computer was because of the Intel processor.  I didn’t know why or even to think why a Intel processor matters – or even a processor existed – but now I’m going sound all “techy” and smart – when I shop for my next computer.  It really makes a difference on the performance, battery life and all these cool features.

As a student, I recommend that you try out the HP Ultrabook. It is ultra thin, ultra stylish and ultra portable.

Desperately in need of a new computer? Find out how you could win a new Toshiba Z830 Ultrabook(™) powered by 2nd Gen Intel® Core(™) i5 processor.