Acer TravelMate Spin P4

It’s showing its age in places, but the Spin P4 is a great buy if you can find it for the right price

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PRICE Range starts at £694 (£833 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

Technically, the Acer TravelMate Spin P4 sits in the same genre as the HP Elite Dragonfly G2: they’re both 2-in-1 convertibles that target business buyers. In the hand, however, they couldn’t be more different. The Spin P4 feels every gram of its 1.55kg weight, and we measured it at 18.5mm thick: a shade more than Acer’s 17.99mm claim and notably thicker than the Dragonfly’s 16.1mm.

Another obvious difference is the size of their screen and bezels, with the 14in Spin P4 measuring 236mm from front to back compared to the 198mm of the 13.3in Dragonfly. The P4 is far chunkier, a fact that becomes even more obvious when you use it in tablet form and the thick bezels dominate either side; if only Acer had chosen a 3:2 aspect ratio screen to fill the space rather than a 16:9 Full HD panel.

The screen is glossy and proud, with Gorilla Glass to protect it from harm. Pump it up to the full 277cd/m2 and its excellent whites make a great impression. It covers only 56% of the sRGB gamut, with a poor average Delta E of 4.64, but that high gloss finish and a 1,418:1 contrast ratio mean that it looks punchy.