In the Community Spotlight - Mike and his (Ultrabook) Machine

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He proudly calls himself a Coder, Thinker and Dreamer. And he has the chops to back him up. Meet Michael Archambault, a multi-hyphenate who at 18, is already CEO of his own software company, and who still manages to find time to indulge in his favorite past-time of gaming, and entertain his one-year-old parrot on top of juggling school work/ projects/ work commitments.

We managed to tie down this entrepreneur for a few moments to find out what his experience with our Ultrabooks have been like (he owns a U300s), as well as his thoughts about how the future holds for this series of products.

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Serene : Hey Michael, glad you could spare us some time to do this! Tell us a bit about yourself.

Michael: Hi, glad to be here! I'm currently a student studying at the New York Institute of Technology and I run a software development company, NARAUK, which works on various projects for consumer and enterprise use. I'm also a blogger in my free time.

Serene: What got you interested in Lenovo?

Michael: There is a ton of technology companies (both hard and software) out there trying to push the limits of computing today and Lenovo is strongly at the forefront. Its ThinkPad line has established for
itself a solid reputation for reliability and toughness, and with the wild designs coming out from the Lenovo Beijing team as seen in the IdeaPad line, Lenovo really is raising the bar for technology and innovation and catering to both businesses and consumers.

Have you seen the touchscreen IdeaCenter A720 and IdeaPad YOGA yet? They are amazing and I bet my bottom dollar that they will be two of the best machines available when Windows 8 is released later this year.

Serene: Your personal machine is a Lenovo U300s Ultrabook. Why did you pick it?

Michael: I was a ThinkPad user until recently, and only made the switch as I was drawn to the form and functionality of the U300s. I really needed a machine with an i7 processor, but also a light machine to  carry around frequently.

In short, the U300s looked and felt good - it is tough (many people don't know it has a roll cage), powerful, and is a super thin machine like no other. Other manufacturers have had some decent Ultrabooks, but Lenovo was able to perfect a unique and strong design while instilling interesting innovation into the machine, such as the ultra silent fans and heat ventilation system that uses the keyboard to take in air -how cool is that?!

Serene: So what has it been like making the switch from Think to Idea?

Michael: So far my experiences have been wonderful. When I'm at my desk I connect the unit to my external 1080p monitor and USB Hub and it zooms along, compiling code and handling whatever I throw at it. And I can do my work on the go as it’s so light and portable. Plus the fact that it looks so good just adds on to the feel-good factor as it is such a head-turner – I have actually had people stop me and ask what machine I was carrying. People cannot believe just how small and light this machine is.

Serene: What improvements would you hope to see in the future? Do you think Ultrabooks will take over the world?

Michael: The U300s is a solid machine, but I would hope to see the addition of a backlit keyboard and a higher resolution display in the next model.

I think Ultrabooks will definitely obtain world domination! Ultrabooks are just the next step in computing - they are a bold attempt from Intel to take machines and thin them down while still keeping the specifications and standards high.

A good way to predict what is around the corner is simply to look to more expensive and larger machines. Today's premium and ultra sleek systems are tomorrow's standard, so I think we can simply look to more
powerful laptops in the two to three thousand dollar range to see what will be coming. For example as we move on in the future the idea of an Ultrabook with a quad core processor, dual dedicated graphic cards, longer battery life and an even thinner frame is closer than most people think.

Catch Michael Archambault as he shares his gaming experience… and on an Ultrabook no less, in the Lenovo Blogs soon (we’ll update this link when it’s live). And if you have a question about Lenovo Ultrabooks, stay tuned for something very exciting coming your way in the Lenovo Forums from Jun 20-22!