Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Acer is rolling out its latest Ultrabook, the TravelMate P645. This 14-inch notebook, which goes on sale this month for $949, features an Intel Core i5 Haswell processor, a 1080p display and a solid-state drive. Acer is also throwing in a host of business-friendly features design to help keep your most important files safe.
Any business-grade Ultrabook worth its salt needs to be lightweight and at 12.9 x 9.3 x 0.8 inches and 3.3 pounds, the P645 is just that. The Acer even manages to undercut Apple's new MacBook Pro 13-inch, which although smaller than the P645 at 12.4 x 8.6 x 0.71 inches, is heavier than the P645, albeit by miniscule 0.16 ounces. Even Sony's impressive VAIO Flip 14, which measures 13.2 x 9.3 x 0.8 and weighs 4.2 pounds, looks chunky next to the Acer.
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In terms of hardware, the Acer can be had with either a 14.6-inch, 1366 x 768-pixel resolution display or 14.6-inch 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution display. Both units offer Intel Haswell Core i5 or Core i7 processors, though the 1080p resolution version features an AMD Radeon HD 8750M graphics chip with 2GB of RAM. Opt for the lower resolution display and you'll get an Intel HD Graphics 5000 integrated graphics chip.
The Acer's RAM can be maxed out to 12GB, while its solid-state drive tops out at 256GB. Customers can purchase the P645 with either Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro. The ports selection includes USB 3.0, USB 2.0, Display port, DVI, HDMI and VGA. There's also NFC capabilities and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.
On the software side, the P645 comes loaded with Acer's ProShield Manager, a suite of security and manageability utilities designed to help ensure your data is inaccessible to unauthorized users. Acer ProShield, which boots as soon as you fire up the P645, protects the notebook from its BIOS level to the applications level.
The laptop also allows users to create a Personal Secure Drive on which they can store encrypted files that can't be accessed if your laptop is lost of stolen. Acer's integrated Office Manager software allows IT managers to enable security policies, monitor IT assets, and schedule maintenance tasks in one simple application on the laptop.
In addition to the TravelMate P645, Acer has also announced its 11-inch TravelMate X313 Windows 8 hybrid. A business-centric version of the Acer Aspire P3-171, the TravelMate X313, which also goes on sale this month for $949 offers the same hardware components found in the P3 right down to the third-generation Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. Unlike its consumer-level cousin, the TravelMate X313 also comes with the same Acer ProShield Manager, as well as Persona Secure Drive capabilities.
Both the TravelMate P645 and TravelMate X313 will be available for purchase later this month starting at $949. Stay tuned for our reviews of both units.
