14 DAY TRIAL // After being showcased at the Computex 2011 fair, Acer's TravelMate 8481 notebook that was specifically designed for users who do a lot of traveling, was finally announced by the Taiwanese company with availability expected to follow in the next few weeks.
The notebook is based on the Huron River platform and thus features a second generation Intel Core processor paired together with a 6-series mobile PCH controller.
Users have the option of choosing between several Core i5 and Core i7 chips, all of them featuring a dual-core design, which can be seconded by as much as 8GB of DDR3 system memory.
In the standard configuration, graphics are run by the Intel HD 3000 core found inside the Sandy Bridge CPUs, but Acer also allows its customers to include a Nvidia-built discrete graphics card to provide them with better performance.
Sadly, Acer has refused to decline the Nvidia GPU models that will be available in its latest creation, but we do know that Optimus is fully supported, so battery life won't take a hit when the discrete graphics isn't in use.
In terms of storage, the TravelMate 8481 laptop can be equipped with a standard HDD with up to 320 GB of space and an mSATA SSD with up to 64GB of capacity.
Acer states that this combination can be used to boost the performance of the system, but it doesn't specifically say if the 8481 supports Intel's Smart Response technology or not.
The rest of the notebook's configuration includes 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, one USB 3.0 port, HDMI and VGA video outputs, a fingerprint reader, a TPM module, as well as a battery pack that Acer says it can work up to 9 hours without a recharge.
All of these are housed inside a magnesium-aluminum enclosure designed to uniformly distribute all external forces and withstand extreme pressure, which is paired with metal alloy display hinges and a so called DASP (Disk Anti-Shock Protection) suspension mechanism for the HDD.
The 14-inch LED backlit display is built by LG to feature a frameless design and sports a 1366x768 resolution.
Pricing hasn't been announced at this point in time, but the notebook should arrive in retail in the next few weeks.