What’s new? What do you need to know? New devices are being pitched at the education market all the time. INTERFACE Editor Greg Adams checks out a new device from Acer that’s designed to meet the demands of teaching.
Acer TravelMate Spin P4
There’s something about the Spin P4 that makes it immediately appealing. From the look and feel, to the performance, there’s a lot to like about this device.
Practical and professional
The Spin P4’s versatility will meet most working environments, with its hybrid design offering 360-degree rotation into laptop, stand, tent, or tablet modes.
This is clearly a professional, business-grade device. It’s smart and sleek – I like the subtle-shade-of-dark-blue colour, the semi-metal design, and the slightly retro, raised logo on the lid corner. It’s also light-ish (1.5kg) and relatively compact (17.99 mm thin).
Inside it packs a punch, coming with Intel’s 11th Generation ‘Tiger Lake’ processors, 8GB SDRAM/256GB SSD, and improved graphics with Iris Xe. Acer rates the battery life at 14 hours but this, of course, will vary depending on individual usage. What I can say is that it lasted the day well in the office.
Tested to MIL-STD-810G standards, the Spin P4 can withstand extreme conditions, including drops, falls, water … all of which means school classrooms should be well within its limits!
Screen, keyboard and ports
The 14-inch, 1080p touchscreen looks pretty decent. It’s made from scratch-resistant 14-inch FHD Corning Gorilla glass and the colours, in general, seemed bright and accurate. The touchpad’s responsive and the backlit keyboard’s comfortable, with no spacing or format surprises and sturdy keys that are nice and ‘clicky’.
Above the keyboard are dual speakers that provide a crisp, clean sound.
There’s a handy, in-built pen and tons of ports: Thunderbolt 4, 2 x USB-A, 1 x USB-C , HDMI, and Ethernet, MicroSD card, and a standard headphone/mic jack. An IR camera and a webcam sit on the top bezel along with a privacy shutter to block the webcam if required.
Ticks the boxes
Acer’s TravelMate Spin P4 is a practical, productive device that could have the edge on premium notebook rivals. It looks good and performed well for this review. If I had to nitpick, it’s a little cumbersome in tablet mode and could be a bit lighter.
Overall, excuse the cliché but it ticks pretty much all the boxes. The Spin P4 should definitely be a contender for any teacher weighing up their options when renewing a laptop.
Performance: 4.5/5 stars
Design: 4/5 stars
More on the Acer TravelMate Spin P4 here.
TELA currently stocks the TravelMate P4 (non-Spin ). The Spin P4 version will be available soon.
Find out more about how Acer can help your school contact education.aca@acer.com
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© INTERFACE Magazine March 2021
