I have found my exact unit ACER ASPIRE 4715Z-3A0508Mi on the internet with the specs:
http://www.cooltoyzph.com/viewitem.php?iid=622

And apparently, this store declares that it comes with "Linux as default" but to try the features of the laptop, they can "pre-load a trial version of Windows XP"

Does it mean that the laptop does not support Linux "out of the box" and that is why they are hinting on using XP to try it out?

Strange.