Acer’s TravelMate series of convertible 2-in-1 business laptops are known for their thin and light designs while offering great performance and battery life. We recently got to try out the new Acer TravelMate Spin P6 that features the latest Intel 11th generation processors, fast storage, and more. Here are our thoughts about the laptop.
Design
The Acer TravelMate line-up as the name suggests is all about offering business users premium laptops that feature a thin-and-light premium design. The laptop comes with a 14-inch IPS display which offers great viewing angles along with touchscreen functionality. While many laptops come with higher resolution displays, the panel on the TravelMate Spin P6 features a screen resolution of 1920 x1200, which is still more than enough for business users. The touchscreen also offers 100% sRGB coverage that displays accurate and vibrant colors.
The aspect ratio of the display is 16:10 on this laptop that provides more content on the screen. Users will be able to view more content without the need to scroll down so much. The touch panel also is scratch-resistant which should help to avoid any of the minor damages caused unintentionally while using the laptop.
However, the brightness could have been a bit better since this is a business laptop where users will use it in outdoor sunny situations. That said, the touchscreen panel has support for stylus pens and the laptop does come with its own Acer Active Stylus with Wacom AES 1.0. The pen features 4096 different levels of pressure sensitivity so users will have the natural feeling of holding a pen to paper.
Since the TravelMate Spin P6 is a convertible laptop, you can easily set the laptop in tent mode to watch movies or presentations, use it in tablet mode, stand mode, and so forth. On the out lid portion, Acer placed the branding on the top right side with a brushed aluminum surface. The laptop also has exhaust air vents on the rear side and also underneath the laptop. The weight of the laptop is hardly 1.37 kg.
Acer also has included an amazing keyboard and a large trackpad on the TravelMate Spin P6. The touchpad features Corning Gorilla Glass that not only offers a smooth scrolling experience for your fingers but it is also damage-resistant and very responsive. The touchpad is also very large so you got enough room to move your fingers while browsing the web or using other productivity applications.
The keyboard is easy to type and I was able to get used to the keyboard layout in less than an hour. The keys are flat and smooth to touch while offering a premium and enjoyable tying experience. They are also backlit which should help to use in poorly lit situations. The power button that is located on the top left side as a part of the keyboard layout itself also doubles as a fingerprint scanner.
The palm rest of the keyboard features a smooth surface and is comfortable to place our hands there to type. Acer has placed dual upward-facing speakers that are located on the top area of the keyboard layout. The laptop comes with DTS Audio and a Smart Amplifier that offers high-quality and distortion-free audio along with deep bass effects.
Acer has also included a MIPI webcam that is optimized for conference calls. The MIPI webcam is capable of bright and clear images even when users are trying to do a video conference session in low-light situations. There is also a camera shutter that lets users close the lens for privacy reasons while not in use. Acer has also included an AI-powered noise reduction technology that aids in improving the clarity for crystal-clear voice communication and reducing background noise.
Acer also ensured that the laptop has enough ports so business users will be able to connect to different devices. On the left side of the laptop, you will find two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports that offer transfer speeds up to 40 Gbps. The Thunderbolt 4 ports also are used to charge the laptop and can connect up to two 4K displays.
There is also the full-sized HDMI port, a USB Type-A port, and indicators for battery status, and the laptop On/Off LED on the left side. Looking at the right side, you will find the Kensington lock, a MicroSD card reader, a 3.5mm audio jack, and the port to insert the Acer stylus pen. You easily eject the stylus when needed and insert it back to charge the device. You can also make use of the MicroSD card slot included in the laptop.
Acer also mentions that the laptop is MIL-STD-810H certified, indicating that despite the thin body profile, the Spin P6 is able to handle rigorous situations that can happen during business travels. Acer also ensured that the keyboard and touchpad are also spill-resistant that can also protect internal components.
Specifications and Performance
The Acer TravelMate Spin P6 not only features a sleek design but also comes with one of the latest specifications of the market. The laptop comes with the latest 11th generation Intel processors and our review copy came chipped with the Intel 11th gen i7-1165G7, clocked at 2.80 GHz speeds. The memory is 8GB LPDDR4 and there is the high-speed 512GB PCIe SSD (HFM512GD3JX016N) with Windows 10 Pro installed.
While 8GB DDR4 RAM is quite enough, we think that business laptops should have 16GB RAM, at the least. And thankfully, this series does come with options up to 32GB LPDDR4 and up to 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD. That said, we are impressed with both the design and the performance of the laptop. The performance was snappy most of the time while I did most of the editorial and office work with the laptop. Watching movies was fun and enjoyable, thanks to the solid colors of the IPS display and the dual-upward facing DTS Audio speakers.
We also should mention that the Acer TravelMate Spin P6 comes with its own industry-grade security such as hardware-level Trusted Platform Module 2.0 for secure authentication of safeguarding sensitive data and vPro for remote management technology. There is also the Acer User Sensing Technology that helps for accurate detection of users based on range and movement. The laptop locks out the screen when you leave and logs back in easily with the help of the Windows Hello and IR webcam. And as we mentioned before, there is also the fingerprint scanner atop the power button.
We have run some benchmarks that include FutureMark tests such as the PC Mark 10 Extended, PC Mark 10 Storage, FireStrike, Night Raid, GeekBench 5 single/multi-core, GeekBench 5 GPU tests, Cinebench R23 single/multi-core CPU tests, and CrystalDiskMark. Based on our results, we got a score of 4882 points for PC Mark 10 Extended, 5003 points for FireStrike test, 17619 points for Night Raid GPU test, 5625 points for GeekBench 5 multi-core points, and 5233 points for Cinebench R23 multi-core test. We also got a read speed of 3557 MB/s and a write speed of 2688 MB/s with CrystalDiskMark. Have a look at our test scores below.
Benchmarks
Battery
Acer mentions that the new TravelMate Spin P6 is capable of lasting up to 18 hours of operations for office work. The laptop series also comes with fast charge support that fills 80% of the battery in just an hour. The fast charge feature is only there for models that feature 56Whr battery. With my usage, the laptop was able to last for almost a day of office and editorial work. We also did the PC Mark 10 Modern Office Battery test and the run lasted for 16 hours and 30 minutes.
Verdict
We have come across several thin-and-light business laptops and the Acer TravelMate Spin P6 is one of the best that we have reviewed. The new convertible is one of the lightest laptops in the market and comes with a fantastic 14-inch IPS display with narrow bezels. The keyboard is enjoyable to work on along with a large touchpad and the Acer stylus pen for better productivity.
The laptop also features the latest 11th generation Intel mobile series chipsets, enough RAM for multitasking, and high-speed PCIe SSD for fast loading and copy speed of apps and files. The battery life also lasts for a day of use along with fast charge support. We would recommend the Acer TravelMate Spin P6 for anyone looking for a fast and lightweight business laptop.
