Acer TravelMate Spin P4: A convertible workhorse.

We recently reviewed Acer's creator-focused Swift X laptop, which combined strong performance and an attractive, lightweight design at a competitive price. The company's updated TravelMate Spin P4 (TMP414RN), examined here, is more of an everyday workhorse, whose lightweight and sturdy convertible design makes it a good choice for a variety of mobile use cases.

Design & features 

Rather than the conventional clamshell form factor of the Swift X, the TravelMate Spin P4 has a more versatile convertible design that allows the 14-inch touch screen to be reversed for presentations, or simply folded right back to function in tablet mode when you don't need -- or have room for -- the keyboard. 

The 14-inch IPS display may only provide FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels, 157.3ppi), but it's sharp and colourful, with good viewing angles. The glossy screen coating is highly reflective, which can be a little annoying at times -- when you're working outdoors, for example. 

Acer TravelMate Spin P4

pros and cons

• Slim and light 14-inch 2-in-1 convertible
• MIL-STD 810H impact resistance
• Good selection of ports and slots

• FHD display resolution
• Reflective screen
• Limited range of configurations
• 720p webcam

It's unclear from Acer's published specs what colour standards are supported by the display, but the TravelMate is clearly designed for general business use, rather than high-quality graphics or design work, so that's unlikely to worry potential buyers too much. 

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More important is the fact that the TravelMate is aptly named, with an attractively svelte design for a 14-inch laptop. It measures just 17.9mm thick, 325mm wide and 236mm deep, and weighs 1.5kg. That is, admittedly, a little heavy for a laptop with 'ultraportable' aspirations, but that's due to the convertible design and the fact that the slimline chassis also meets the military-grade MIL-STD 810H standard for impact resistance (although 'sand and dust testing' is based on the older 810F standard). 

The Spin P4's keyboard is backlit and spill-resistant.

The backlit keyboard feels firm and responsive, and is also spill-resistant, making the TravelMate a good option for those who need a sturdy laptop that can cope with a variety of locations and conditions. If there's a weak spot here it's the power connector, which -- as with the Swift X -- juts out from the side of the laptop at a right-angle and looks a lot less sturdy than the laptop itself.  

Connectivity is another strong point, with HDMI for an external display, plus a Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) port that also supports DisplayPort for video output. There are two additional USB-A (3.2) ports, a MicroSD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The TravelMate supports Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), and also includes an RJ-45 Ethernet port for wired office networks. The only real disappointment is the less than flattering image quality delivered by the 720p webcam. 

Price & options 

Not for the first time, we found the information on Acer's website to be vague to the point of being downright misleading. Acer's UK and US websites state quite clearly that the TravelMate offers "remarkable graphical performance from the Nvidia?MX350", yet the datasheet provided by Acer and the various configurations listed on the websites all show that the only GPU option is the Iris Xe Graphics module that's integrated with the TravelMate Spin P4's 11th-generation Intel Core processor. Optional LTE broadband is mentioned too, but equally absent from any currently available models. 

US pricing for the TravelMate Spin P4 ranges from$799.99 (Core i5/8GB/512GB) to$1,199.99 (Core i7/16GB/512GB).

Our Acer-provided review unit costs