Made to seamlessly slot into a workplace’s IT suite, the Acer TravelMate P6 14 is a laptop that puts its head down and gets the job done.
Similar in many ways to Acer’s consumer-facing Swift Go 14 laptop, the TravelMate P6 does all the right things; it’s portable, has plenty of ports, and gets through the day without fuss.
It’s a little on the pricey side, however, producing similar performance levels to the Swift, albeit at a higher price due to its built-in enterprise features. While these features make it a reliable device for workplaces needing to manage an entire fleet of computers, individual users can get more value from a consumer laptop.
In a work context, the Acer TravelMate P6 proves itself to be a reliable colleague for all your white-collar pursuits.
Acer TravelMate P6 14 (2024) review
First impressions
Like Acer’s more consumer-oriented Swift Go 14, the TravelMate P6 14 isn’t the sexiest machine going around. It’s a little bit boxy in its shape, although the dark finish is a nice touch.
But this isn’t a laptop for show. No, siree. This is a computer built to get stuff done. It’s light, portable, and has loads of ports for docking stations and peripherals galore.
The Acer TravelMate P6 also continues the uptake of OLED displays in laptops. Its sharp 2880 x 1800 14-inch screen is nice to look at and is easy to glimpse from various angles.
As for the initial boot-up experience, you get a known quantity in the form of Windows 11 – no surprises there. It does mean the laptop features a Copilot key and the operating system’s built-in chatbot functionality.
It’s still early days in the world of generative AI, with not much in the way of must-have features just yet. With this in mind, I won’t focus much on AI functionality.
Acer TravelMate P6 14 (TMP614-73) specifications
| Display | 14-inch 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED DCI-P3 100% colour gamut |
| Dimensions | 313.4mm (W) x 226.5mm (D) x 16.9mm (H) 1.19kg |
| Processor | Intel Core Ultra 7 155H |
| Graphics | Integrated Intel Arc Graphics |
| Memory | 32GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage | 1TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD |
| Battery | 65Wh Li-ion battery 100W Type-C PD adapter |
| Connectivity | Two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports One HDMI 2.1 port One USB 3.2 USB-A port 3.5mm audio jack MicroSD card slot Wi-Fi 7 Bluetooth 5.3 Kensington lock slot |
| Price (RRP) | $3,699 |
| Official website | Acer Australia |
Design
Without blowing anyone’s socks off, this is a nicely designed laptop. Its 14-inch OLED display is spacious enough to see what you’re working on, and at just over a kilogram heavy, it’s easy to carry with you.
Even though my preferences skew towards bright and colourful, I really like the sleek dark finish of the Acer TravelMate P6. Despite my best efforts, my sweaty hands leave unwanted smudges and fingerprints on nearly every device I touch. Fortunately, the TravelMate is as smudge-resistant as they come, leaving minimal traces of my clammy mitts.
This is mainly true of the chassis, however. Its trackpad, while smooth and responsive, does attract smudges. It’s not a big deal considering the rest of the laptop is so low maintenance.
I really like the TravelMate’s elevated keycaps; they’re responsive, tactile, and feel very Mac-like to type on. Considering the main purpose of this laptop is to get work done, it’s good that Acer has nailed the keyboard. I’ve used consumer and business laptops alike that have muddy and unsatisfying keyboards – no such complaints here.
It’s not lacking in ports, either. Both of its USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 4-compatible, meaning they support both power delivery and speedy file transfers. I also appreciate the inclusion of a USB-A port, so any legacy peripherals aren’t left behind. A full-sized HDMI 2.1 port is also an essential addition. Sure, you can wirelessly connect to many external displays these days, but sometimes a wired connection works the best.
Performance
Built with Intel’s Core Ultra chip, the Acer TravelMate P6 14 delivers a decent all-around mix of performance. Without a discrete GPU, it’s not a laptop for powering through visually intensive work, but that’s not what this laptop is built for. Recent advancements in system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs means that you still get reasonable graphical performance from the integrated GPU.
For its intended purpose, the Acer Travelmate P6 is a no-frills machine that gets things done. It handles productivity tasks, like word processing, browsing countless browser tabs, and videoconferencing without fuss.
Acer claims the laptop’s 65Wh battery lasts up to 12 hours between charges. I found this to be fairly accurate, getting through a day of basic productivity work without hassle. Keep in mind that your specific workload also determines how long you’ll get out of a laptop’s battery. Throw in some games or video editing, and you can expect to seek out a power outlet before the day’s end.
Benchmarks
Interestingly, the Acer TravelMate P6 isn’t quite as powerful as the non-enterprise Swift Go 14 model. Based on a range of benchmarks, it’s a solid performer, although it consistently returned marginally lower scores than its cheaper counterpart.
A score of 6,676 on PCMark 10 equates to a healthy performance across most computing tasks, putting the TravelMate on par with the Swift Go. One advantage the TravelMate has over its counterparts is disk speed. Tested on CrystalDiskMark, it returned sequential read speeds of up to 7,150 MB/s and write speeds reaching 6,700 MB/s, which is pleasingly fast.
| Device | CPU (Single-core) | CPU (Multi-core) |
| Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 | 2,903 | 17,385 |
| Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 8) | 2,870 | 17,089 |
| MacBook Pro M2 Max | 2,701 | 14,916 |
| Dell XPS 14 | 2,349 | 12,941 |
| Acer Swift Go 14 | 2,421 | 12,639 |
| Macbook Air M3 | 3,075 | 12,015 |
| Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 | 2,581 | 12,160 |
| Asus ROG Ally | 2,543 | 12,181 |
| Acer TravelMate P6 14 | 2,413 | 10,230 |
| Lenovo Legion Go | 2,346 | 9,619 |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 | 1,567 | 8,761 |
Graphics
Although not designed for gaming as such, the Intel Core Ultra SoC means it’s not impossible. Tidy results across Geekbench 6’s GPU test and the gaming-focused 3DMark benchmark indicated that the TravelMate P6 can handle a spot of multimedia production and gaming on the side.
| Device | GPU (OpenCL) |
| Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 8, RTX 4070) | 158,787 |
| Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (RTX 4070) | 119,970 |
| Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (RTX 4060) | 96,452 |
| MacBook Pro M2 Max | 72,833 |
| Dell XPS 14 (RTX 4050) | 65,396 |
| Acer Swift Go 14 | 34,388 |
| Acer TravelMate P6 14 | 30,957 |
| Macbook Air M3 | 30,479 |
| Device | TimeSpy score |
| Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 8, RTX 4070) | 13,796 |
| Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (RTX 4070) | 12,881 |
| Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (RTX 4060) | 9,620 |
| Asus TUF A16 | 9,196 |
| Dell XPS 14 (RTX 4050) | 5,445 |
| Acer Swift Go 14 | 3,879 |
| Acer TravelMate P6 14 | 3,602 |
| Asus Zenbook Duo (2024) | 3,235 |
| Asus ROG Ally (30W) | 3,198 |
| Lenovo Yoga 9i (2023) | 1,655 |
TravelMate versus Swift Go
When the Acer TravelMate P6 launches later this year in Australia, it’ll fetch an RRP of $3,699. That’s a pricey laptop, no matter which way you slice it. By comparison, you can find the Acer Swift Go 14 for less than $2,000.
Both laptops are nearly identical in performance, so why choose the TravelMate? It does have double the RAM for one (32GB versus 16GB), and double the onboard SSD storage. It’s also lighter, making it slightly more portable for taking on work trips.
You’re also paying a premium for the business-centric features. They may not register as exciting features for individual use cases, but they’re important to workplaces managing a fleet of IT devices. The TravelMate P6 carries the “Intel vPro” label, meaning it’s compatible with additional professional-grade security and IT management tools out of the box.
As part of its impressive array of ports, Acer’s business laptop also includes a Kensington lock slot. This allows workplaces to secure laptops to workstations as a theft prevention measure. It’s separate from the authentication devices you can get from Kensington and Yubico, adding a physical layer of protection.
Who is the Acer TravelMate P6 14 for?
There’s no doubting the fact that the Acer TravelMate P6 14 is a decent laptop. It’s lightweight, reasonably powerful, and comfortable to use.
You are, however, paying a premium for enterprise-level security and IT management compatibility. Think of this laptop as a workplace-specific version of the more affordable Swift Go 14. If you were looking for a laptop purely for personal use, the Swift Go delivers identical performance. That being said, the TravelMate is miles cheaper than the special order Ultralight Dell Latitude.
Regardless, if your workplace needs a fleet of enterprise-ready laptops, the TravelMate P6 is a decent choice.
The post Acer TravelMate P6 14 (2024) review: a white-collar ready laptop appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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