At its [email protected] 2023 event today, Acer announced a new generation of PCs, electronics, peripherals, and other products. Key among them is the new TravelMate P4 Spin 14, a convertible business laptop with a premium design, modern internals, and hybrid work optimizations. I was lucky enough to get an early peek at a pre-production unit this past week, so here are some first impressions. Note that some points are vague by design as this isn’t the shipping hardware.

For background, I reviewed the previous generation TravelMate P4 Spin last year, enjoyed its versatility quality, durability, and price, and dinged it for its 16:9 display, tiny stylus, and crapware.

The 2023 rendition is a similar device but with some key upgrades, none more appreciated than the new 16:10 display that addresses my key concern with the previous version. This is a WUXGA (1920 x 1200) IPS panel that makes better use of the space afforded it, with smaller bezels than before. This type of display is ideal for productivity work, but it’s also a better fit for anyone who wishes to use the TravelMate as a tablet.

As before, the body is made of a magnesium alloy, which is handsome and remains cool during use. It’s more laptop than Ultrabook, and though it weighs a bit less than its predecessor, it’s a bit thicker (at 0.74 inches) while being less tall and wide.

This size allows for a full-sized keyboard, which has a great feel and terrific 1.55 mm key travel, speakers on each side of that keyboard, and a larger quiet-click touchpad.

It also affords a nice combination of legacy and modern ports. In addition to the proprietary power port, there are two Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Type-C ports, a full-sized HDMI port, and a full-sized USB-A port on the left.

And on the right, Acer outfitted the TravelMate with a lock slot, an Ethernet jack, and a second full-sized USB-A port, and a headphone/mic jack, plus a garage for the tiny stylus.

Internally, you will find the latest 13th-Gen Intel Core i7 vPro processors, optional dedicated NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 graphics, up to 64 GB of DDR4 RAM, and up to 1 TB of PCIe Gen4 SSD storage. Connectivity is likewise modern, with Wi-Fi 6E and 4G LTE cellular data.

Battery life should be improved year-over-year, thanks to an upgrade to the battery size from 56 Wh to 65 Wh. Note that the TravelMate includes a 65-watt USB-C charger, and not a proprietary Acer charger. The company tells me that a 30-minute charge should provide 4 hours of video playback time.

From a hybrid work perspective, the TravelMate includes a Full HD webcam with Acer Light Sensing and User Sensing technologies that supports Windows Hello facial recognition and includes a manual privacy shutter, upward-firing stereo speakers with DTS audio, and microphones backed by PurifiedVoice AI noise reduction. There is also a Windows Hello fingerprint reader in the power button, which has been moved to the top right of the keyboard.

I’m not sure that I’ve seen this kind of thing highlighted before, but the TravelMate’s cooling system has been upgraded to the latest version of Acer’s DustDefender technology, which helps the fan expel dust and keep the system as dust-free as possible. An automatic cleaning process kicks in after every 6 hours of use.

From a sustainability perspective, Acer says that the TravelMate includes post-consumer recycled materials and 100 percent recyclable and plastic-free packaging, and is EPEAT Gold registered.

And I think that’s all I can say for now. I’m not sure about pricing yet, but if it lands anywhere near its predecessor, it will be easy to recommend to the small business, hybrid worker, or mobile professional customers that Acer is targeting.

Hopefully, I can provide a more complete evaluation soon.