14 DAY TRIAL // The past two months have been so crowded with news and reports about systems running Windows 8 that there has barely been room for anything else. Acer doesn't seem to be letting that faze it though.
The IT player has formally introduced the TravelMate P453 notebook which, in addition to playing things ergonomically, runs Microsoft's Windows 7 Professional operating system.
The OS can be upgraded to Windows 8 of course, but there is that tiny matter of the new OS being tailored more to consumers than businessmen or professionals.
Eventually, Windows 8 will have all the benefits Windows 7 currently offers, but until such a time, the latter is the only one with specific optimizations to startups, email management, Windows Desktop Search, etc. It also doesn't hurt that the Start menu is not missing in action.
As a professional notebook, Acer's TravelMate P453 is best suited for small businesses and small offices.
The screen measures 15.6 inches, while the insides revolve around the third-generation Intel Core CPU Series.
Those aren't the traits Acer dwells upon, however. We might even say it is not all that hard to understand why. Notebooks tend to have the same basic specs nowadays (4-8 GB RAM, HDD/SSD storage, all I/O and networking, etc.).
What Acer does consider important is security, so it tossed in things like BIOS/HDD password protection (Acer ProShield), the ability to create a Personal Secure Drive where critical files are stored and encrypted, the File Shredder Utility (destruction of files beyond recovery by even the most obscure programs), and more.
As for productivity, Intel Smart Business Advantage is present and accounted for, composed of a PC Health Center, Software Monitor and, among other things, a Data Backup & Restore utility.
Acer is shipping, or will ship, the un-priced new laptop with Intel Anti-Theft technology and, thanks to its capacity for energy savings, Energy Star 5.0 compliance and EPEAT Gold qualification.