About three weeks ago as I was planning for the Mom Biz Retreat Denver, and I was struggling to choose which of my four computers to take with me to the Retreat. The choice was really between my 17 inch laptop, my netbook, and my iPad. I needed portability, great battery life, and a powerful processor that would allow me to do my usual multitasking, since we integrate using Social Media, browsing the web for brand and competitor research, and fun things like running videos and streaming music into the Retreat workshops.
The 17 inch laptop has a great processor and is pretty good at all the multitasking I do on a daily basis. But the thing weighs like, 100 pounds, and there was no way I wanted to drag it through airports, on shuttles and in and out of hotel rooms.
My iPad is fun, lightweight, great for streaming videos and music, but even with an added bluetooth keyboard, I find that I don’t go to my iPad when I need hardcore business functionality. It’s more of a fun tool for consuming entertainment and information than it is for producing content.
The netbook is certainly portable–same size as my iPad–but the processor is too weak to even do a decent job of running a Skype session with a client, much less Skyping while also tweeting or browsing the web at the same time. I’ll be passing that little computer onto one of my lucky children.
You guys hear me say all the time how much I rely on technology to give me the freedom and flexibility being a mom entrepreneur demands. I don’t dig technology just to be the coolest mom on the block. But when HP sent me the Folio 13 Ultrabook I’m typing on right now, I completely geeked out. 
Even in the box, the laptop only weighed about 5 pounds. I opened it up and found a very sleek, silver machine inside. It took me about 10 minutes to get it unwrapped, set up, and connected to my wireless router at home. Easy-peasy. And within about 20 minutes, I fell in love.
(Keep reading below so you fall in love, too, and learn how you could get one of these fantastic laptops in your deserving hands via my giveaway!)
Here’s why I love and highly recommend the Folio 13 for busy mompreneurs:
I sat it next to my iPad and a pair of kid’s scissors so you could get a feel for the size of it…pretty close to an iPad, but better.
- It boots up faster than I can say to my kids: “No, you can’t play on Mom’s new computer. Go use one of the other laptops.” Seriously. With all my other computers, I have to fire them up and then go make myself a cup of coffee before they’re ready to do anything for me. Time isn’t something I have a lot of, so this is a big deal to me.
- Call me schizophrenic. I don’t mind. I like to run Pandora in the background so I can listen to my favorite music while I’m blogging, and I’m always posting my Twitter and Facebook updates while I blog. My husband chides me for having “too many tabs in my browser open at once” since it slows down the processing speed so much that I may as well go make myself a snack to go along with that coffee I had earlier. Not so with this little laptop. I do it all, all at the same time, and my Folio 13 keeps on going. It’s been three weeks and it hasn’t crashed a single time. Ask me how many tabs I have open right now (and all the time): eleven. Normal, right?
- It’s a full-size keyboard, unlike my iPad. I can type 70 wpm on a full-sized keyboard, but I only type about 25 wpm on my iPad. I can’t believe that something this size indeed feels full-sized.
- Do you blog and tweet in the dark? Yeah, me too. I finally own a laptop that has a backlit keyboard! Cowabunga! I appreciate not having to hunt for the special keys in the dark when I need them.
- I can stay unplugged for an entire day. At the Mom Biz Retreat in Denver last weekend, I left the power cord for the Folio 13 up in my suite and used my laptop to power my presentations during our all-day work sessions. I had plenty of battery life even when I plugged it back in late at night. Talk about flexibility.
In the interest of full disclosure, HP gave me this laptop to keep (thank you, HP!!!), since I meet the exact profile of the kind of person who could benefit from using it. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have agreed to keep it and tell you about it. But they have me pegged, and I’m so fond of this little gem that I’m doing a giveaway to help one of you love it, too!
Here’s the deal:
You may have heard that Shelagh Cummins and I are returning to Caledon, Ontario in September to host the Mom Biz Retreat there. We are looking forward to returning to the city in which we first launched the Mom Biz Retreats one year ago! We know lots of you are talking about joining us there. So we’re going to give you an incentive: We will giveaway one HP Folio 13 Ultrabook just like this one to one of you who registers for the Retreat! We’re just that committed to helping you get what you need to be a successful mom and entrepreneur. Yeah!
Here’s how to grab one of only 50 seats offered at Mom Biz Retreat Ontario.
This giveaway is open to the mompreneurs who register for and attend the Mom Biz Retreat in Caledon, Ontario September 27-30. To qualify for the giveaway, register to attend the Retreat and then leave a comment below telling us you’ve registered and what your top business challenge is. We will cross-reference all comments with our registration list.
- One entry per person.
- Giveaway ends at 11pm ET on August 31st.
- One winning registrant of the Mom Biz Retreat Ontario 2012 will be selected via Random.org.
- The winner will have seven days to respond to my email (sent to the address you include when you leave your comment on the blog), after which an alternate winner will be chosen.
I’m grateful to HP for providing me the Folio 13! Now, how fast can you register so you can get a chance to win yours? GO!
