Acer TravelMate Timeline 8481T aims at business travelers

By Geoff Duncan Published August 25, 2011

Acer TravelMate Timeline 8481T — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Acer may be projecting the fad of tablet computing is already fading away—good luck with that—but the company is eager to prove that traditional computing platforms still have a lot to offer. Case and point: the new TravelMate Timeline 8481T, which aims distinctly at the corporate and business travel set with a mix of power, portability, and (surprisingly) screen resolution. The 8481T’s claim to fame is that it packs a 1,366 by 768-pixel display—normally the realm of 14-inch displays—and packs it into a more-portable 13.3-inch frame.

“True road warriors and professionals need a thin and light mobile PC that is capable of running heavy business applications and presentations,” said Acer America VP of commercial sales and marketing Gregg Prendergast, in a statement. “The TravelMate Timeline 8481T notebook [..] combines everything a business professional requires on the road or in the office, including exceptional performance, enterprise-level security and manageability, and long battery life.”

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Weighing in at 3.7 pounds and measuring just 0.87 inches thick, the TravelMate Timeline 8481T sports a second-generation Intel Core i5 processor and powers that display using Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 128 MB of main memory siphoned off to serve as video memory. Also under the hood, the systems sport 4 GB of RAM (expandable to 8 GB), gigibit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB 3.0, and a 7200 rpm 320 GB hard drive with advanced disk anti-shock protection technology that insulates teh disk from shocks, bumps, and resulting data loss. For presentations and media sharing, the notebook supports WiDi wireless display technology so users can connect to an HD display without cables, and users can charge phones and other devices via the USB port even when the computer is powered off.

Corporate types will appreciate the integrated Trusted Platform Module and fingerprint reader. Even more important for travelers, Acer says an eight-cell lithium ion battery can run the computer for up to 13 hours.

Acer expects to launch the TravelMate Timeline 8481T in the U.S. and Canada early next month, with a suggested retail prices of $999.99.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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