In the fall of 2013, Acer refreshed its business-oriented TravelMate-line with new models and announced the P6 Ultrabook. The newest member of the company's higher-end Travelmate P6-series (there are also series B, P2, P4, and X notebooks) comes with a 4th generation Intel ULV Haswell processor, a large SSD, docking station support, and a business-tailored array of security features. At last count, Acer's website offers 15 models within the P6 series, ranging from a 13.3-inch model with an i3 processor to a 15.6-inch version with a quad-core i7 CPU. There are three versions of the Ultrabook with i5 or i7 processors, 4-8 GB of RAM, and either a 120 or 256 GB SSD. The lowest version with i5-4200U, 4 GB of RAM, 120 GB SSD, integrated GPU, and 1366 x 768 pixel resolution screen has an MSRP of $950.

The average consumer is probably not too familiar with the TravelMate offerings, as the Aspire Ultrabook S3 and the ultra-slim Aspire S7 tend to garner most of the spotlight. The specs of the new Ultrabook should make it a compelling choice for the non-business user as well: in addition to the Haswell i7-4500U. 8 GB of RAM, and the generous 256 GB SSD, the model also sports a dedicated Radeon HD 8750M. Alas - a touch screen is not an option, which might be a turnoff for some prospective buyers, considering that more or less all new notebooks ship with Windows 8. Although the TravelMate does come with the aforementioned OS, our review model arrived downgraded to Windows 7, which is still the number one choice for businesses anyways and the better choice since this Ultrabook is not touch-enabled.



Considering the hardware, the current street price of $1250 also seems quite fair, given that a Lenovo ThinkPad T440s Ultrabook with 256 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM is closer to $1600 - and that's without a dedicated graphics card. Same is true for the Dell E7440 Ultrabook, which also doesn't come with a dedicated GPU and costs north of $1800 with a Full-HD touchscreen and 4th-generation i5 CPU. From a price/performance standpoint, the Acer definitely has a leg up on the competition. But how does the lesser-known business machine fare compared to the well-known brands?