With each passing day, notebooks are becoming more radical. Whether it be experimental foldable ones, or convertible options for hybrid work, the gamut is fairly wide these days.

As the wealth of notebooks continues to increase, there are still a few mainstays of the segment. An example of this are business or enterprise notebooks. These are the kinds of devices that are normally purchased in batches and distributed throughout an organisation to get employees working.

These notebooks are not going to set the world ablaze, but still need to meet some stringent requirements in terms of keeping a workforce… well, working.

This brings us the the TravelMate series from Acer, and in particular the TravelMate P6. Unlike the Taiwanese manufacturer’s Spin or Swift options, which tread the line between work and play, the TravelMate P6 is very much designed for those in the business world.

That said, it is still one of the better specced options within Acer’s business lineup.

To gauge whether it is indeed a useful device for those working remotely, adopting a hybrid approach or at the office full-time, we have been reviewing the P614-51TG-G2 over the past couple of weeks. We will refer to the notebook as the TravelMate P6 from here on out, particularly as its full model description does not exactly roll off the tongue.

So, with that out of the way, here’s what we learned about the TravelMate P6.

A grey slate

We start, as we normally do on product reviews, with design. And here, it seems like the P6 was very much designed by committee. We mean no offence by this, but are rather pointing out that all the elements onboard are rather utilitarian and driven by function instead of form.

That is not a bad thing either, as there can be something quite interesting in a grey slate like the P6 – just look at brutalist architecture as an example.

Now, back to the device and as mentioned, Acer has gone for a design that is going to fit in seamlessly in an office environment. There are next to no flourishes, with only the brushed silver logo on the lid of the notebook and silver hinges being the only elements to stand out against a sea of charcoal grey.

This serves a purpose, as all eyes are focused on the action on the screen. For the P6 the display in question is a 14″ FullHD affair from Acer, which has also been given a ComfyView capability to assist when looking at the screen for long periods.

We will touch on the display a little later, but the rest of the device is also swathed in charcoal grey.

By all accounts then, the P6 sticks to the billing when it comes to a business notebook. One aspect that did surprise, however, is weight, with the P6 only tipping the scales at 1kg. Added to this is a rather thin chassis at 16.8mm. As such, for anyone expecting a dense, unwieldy device, the P6 is delightfully deceptive.

That thin and lightweight construction does come at a price though, as the P6 is rather heavy on the plastic. That is nothing new from a business notebook, but the grade of plastic here also feels a tad thin itself. You therefore feel a slight flex and bend in the chassis when opening up the notebook while holding the lid.

On this front would have appreciated a more premium touch, even if it came at the cost of the weight of the device. That said, Acer does note that the P6 is MIL-STD 810H rated in terms of durability, so it should be able to take a few knocks.

The keyboard and keys are also a little plastic-y too and while the tying experience is serviceable by chiclet standards, we would have appreciated a little bit more snap. This may be a side effect of a mechanical keyboard being our daily driver while working remotely or at the office though, as we could level the same criticism about most mid-tier business notebooks.

Luckily the trackpad was solid in providing a satisfying click and responsive when it came to cursor travel and accuracy.

As such, there is a bit of give and take throughout the TravelMate P6.

Quite capable

Switching gears to performance now and once again the P6 has the ability to surprise.

After the initial boot up took a while we were a little hesitant, but once signed in, the device itself did not disappoint, yielding a suitably rapid performance in terms of multitasking and handling day-to-day requirements expected of a business notebook.

This particular model was specced out with an Intel 11th Gen i7-10510U processor, along with 24GB of LPDDR4x RAM. It’s a handy enough combination that keeps the P6 ticking over at a respectable 1.80GHz.

It should be noted that this is probably not a device you will be able to run processor-intensive workloads on, but the fact that UserBenchmark rated its gaming performance at 63 percent, does not that it can handle some entertainment when the occasion calls.

With touch controls and a display capable of rotating into a few different modes also lending itself well to applications outside of data capturing or creating presentations.

Sticking with entertainment for a moment, the display caters to 100 percent sRGB colour coverage and it is capable of yielding up to 20 hours of battery life. In our own testing with basic day-to-day tasks, we got closer to the 12 hour mark, which is still solid, and were event able to get through two and a third viewings of The Batman before the notebook ran out of juice.

If you’re a road warrior then, the P6 should have you covered.

Lastly, we need to highlight the fact that Acer has this notebook well appointed when it comes to the extras.

The company has optimised it for videoconferencing with a dual speaker and dual microphone setup when headphones are not close to hand. Added to this are a few security features such as obscuring most of the screen in a 90 degree direction with the PrivacyPanel, as well as presence detection.

While the TravelMate P6 looks like your run of the mill business notebook, there are some interesting elements at work here.

Final verdict

As far as business notebooks go, the TravelMate P6 is punching above its weight despite looking rather buttoned-down. That said, it is by no means a low priced option, with pricing for the P6 ranging between R21 699 and R25 999 depending on the retailer.

At that price point, we wanted a few more premium elements to be added to the mix.

That said, the P6 still performs well and is certainly one of the better business notebook options out there.