Acer are heavily promoting the 8481T and say that it offers “All Day Battery Life”, “Enterprise-Class Security and Manageability” and a 14-inch screen in an ultraportable 13-inch form factor – these are some bold claims, however having read the full press release over at Engadget it looks like these claims are backed up.

Let’s start by talking about the form factor claims, as mentioned before you get a 14-inch display (Acer ComfyView LCD LED backlit display to be precise), but on the outer edge of the display the bezel is a third smaller than usual. This ultimately means less plastic around the edges and more space for a display, we are not quite sure how they claim a 14-inch display fits into a 13.3-inch form factor, but what’s important is the fact that the design is smaller than most, if not all, 14-inch notebooks.

Now when a notebook manufacturer says that a device offers “all day batter life” don’t assume that you will get a 24 hours from a single charge, but what it means is the battery should last you an entire working day. Apparently depending on usage you will get 13 hours of battery life from a single charge, but that’s not all, the eight-cell lithium ion battery is said to be one of Acer’s PowerSmart long cycle batteries, this means that the capacity shouldn’t deteriorate as quickly as other batteries – in fact we are told that the battery maintains 80% capacity after 1000 cycles, that’s impressive.

Before talking about specs we must briefly mention its security and manageability claims, the 8481T comes with multi-level Acer ProShield Security with BioProtection Fingerprint solution, this means your data is secure as long as you use this means of security, unless perhaps you lose a finger!

Ok let’s give you the information you guys want to hear: specs and pricing. Now like any modern-day notebook there will be plenty of options to choose from, however we can confirm that as standard you get 4GB of RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet, a high-def webcam, built-in microphone, Intel HD 3000 graphics with 128MB of dedicated system memory and a resolution of 1366×768. In terms of performance hardware there will be second-gen Intel Core i5 processors on offer and 7200rpm hard drive offerings which are protected by next-generation DASP (Disk Anti-Shock Protection. All this fits into a chassis which is just 0.87-inches thick and weighs just 3.7 pounds.

Prices will start at $999.99 and as mentioned before they will become available in the U.S. and Canada in early September, below we have embedded a photo of the notebook.

Acer seem to be pushing this particular model as a serious business machine, there will probably be plenty of options to choose from, all of which will feature a 14-inch Acer ComfyView LED-backlit display which supports a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768.

The model Engadget got to see boasted an Intel Core i7 processor, Intel HD Graphics 3000, a fingerprint reader, a battery which allows for up to 13 hours of life, Windows 7 Home Premium, a built-in webcam and a 320GB HDD.

In terms of connectivity and ports you get one USB 3.0 port (which features power-off USB charging), HDMI-out and Bluetooth 3.0+HS, there is no mention of WiFi b/g/n but this is pretty much guaranteed these days. Photos over at Engadget clearly show that there is an eSata port, VGA-out, heaphone and microphone jacks, 2 x USB 2.0 ports and a Kensington lock slot.

One strange thing about the Acer TravelMate 8481 is the fact that it boasts a super-thin bezel, this sounds great, however the display does not meet the bezel so it has a black frame around it, you can see what we are trying to explain via the image below.

Does the TravelMate 8481 interest you?