Acer TravelMate P6 review: Worthy business machine

Specifications:

Processor: 11th Generation Intel Core i7-1165G7 @ 2.80 GHz

RAM: 32 GB LPDDR4x

Graphics: Intel Iris Xe

Storage: 1 TB M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD

Display: 14-inch FHD+IPS display with 100 per cent sRGB coverage and 16:10 aspect ratio

I/O ports: USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 4) x 2; HDMI 2.0, USB 3.2 Type-A; Micro SD Card; Nano SIM Slot 5G, 3.5mm audio

Keyboard: LED Backlit

Touchpad: Corning Gorilla Glass touchpad

Network: Wi-Fi 6; Bluetooth 5

Battery: 56 WHr, up to 20 hours

OS: Windows 10 Pro

Acer is getting to be known for coming up with compact machines for business and on-the-go use.

In today’s fast world where being mobile is part of a lot of folks’ job profile, carrying a bulky laptop will be back-breaking. This is where a machine like the TravelMate P6 comes in handy.

Obviously, the most positive aspect of the TravelMate P6 is the weight – a paltry 1 Kg – and secondly the compact dimensions for a 14-inch laptop.

The reason for the low weight is the magnesium-aluminium body that also gives it low flex. This means that the machine is going to be sturdy and can take a bump or two. The top of the machine isn’t smooth and glossy and has a certain texture to it. The top won’t be a fingerprint magnet.

Despite the light weight, the lid can be opened with one hand and goes all the way to 180 degrees. Opening it reveals the backlit keyboard with the power button on the right.

The keyboard layout is neat and the function keys double up as the volume and brightness up/ down, backlighting on/ off and other functions. The keys themselves are firm to the strike. Below the keyboard is the Corning Gorilla Glass touchpad, which is generous in terms of real estate. Above the keyboard are the upward firing speakers.

The screen is a 14-inch HD display with an 85 per cent screen-to-body ratio. The bezel houses the HD camera, IR camera and two mics. There is a physical shutter to cover the HD camera lens.

The left has two Type-C (Thunderbolt) ports, a HDMI port and a USB Type-A. The right has the Kensington lock, Micro SD card and Nano SIM slots and the audio socket. The back and bottom have heat vents.

Our review machine featured the 11th Generation Intel Core i7 processor with 32 GB of LPDDR4x RAM, Intel Iris Xe graphics and a 1 TB solid state drive. With these specifications, office work, video conferencing on Zoom were a breeze. A configuration like this is good enough for Photoshop-like creativity or even light gaming.

Video performance was good with playback of 4K YouTube clips. Greenery did not seem overly saturated and colour tones were pretty natural. However, the screen could have been brighter.

With the audio, the midrange is pretty prominent and the high frequencies less so. However, the high frequencies lacked a bit of detail. But this is not a very big drawback since the use of the machine is largely for business.

Upon being pushed in the Cinebench R23 multicore test, the fans turned on. But the noise was tolerable. It performed reasonably well multicore test, but shone in the single core test.

The 56WHr battery took about one and a half hours to charge from about 10 per cent to full and it easily lasted the whole day with tasks like surfing the web, emails, general office work and with some YouTube viewing.

So, it is a go from us with the TravelMate P6.

Prices start from Rs 95,550 without 5G.

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