Acer TravelMate P645-MG-74508G75tkk Notebook Review
For the original German review, see here.
Acer’s TravelMate notebooks used to be inconspicuous mobile companions – both in terms of design and hardware equipment. They are business notebooks that were always average in quality and price. The last TravelMate that we reviewed got an overall score (weighted average) without any highlights – neither positive nor negative.
This TravelMate model, however, is an Ultrabook – and therefore small, light, powerful but with a long battery runtime – the complete opposite of a boring 15-inch device. It is no bargain at around 1,500 Euros (~$2032) and costs almost twice as much as other devices from the series. As a result, the P645-MG can hardly be compared with the majority of TravelMates. Acer targets business users who prefer good hardware equipment and solid features to an impressive price-performance ratio.
The spec sheet of the notebook is pretty nice: The i7 processor from Intel suggests a decent performance and 8 GB RAM is a good choice for the system memory. The Ultrabook is also equipped with a dedicated AMD Radeon HD 8750M graphics card, which is unusual for an expensive business notebook. A fingerprint reader on the other hand is a typical feature for such devices – and the TravelMate is no exception. The 3G/UMTS module is another useful component for a mobile companion.
We already mentioned that the Acer TravelMate P645-MG has no competition amongst the predecessors. The primary rivals are premium business notebooks from other manufacturers, for example the current leader of our Top 10 in this category, the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s or the HP EliteBook 850 G1 currently in second place.
Case
The design of the TravelMate corresponds with a modest yet elegant simplicity, which you would expect from a device for your business practice. The color is a matte black and the logos from the manufacturer and the model are very subtle. The inconspicuous design does not use any curlicues.
The whole case is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic as well as aluminum that makes the device very light and sturdy at the same time. It offers excellent stability against concentrated pressure and twisting, which fits the concept of a mobile companion perfectly. The hinges keep the display well in position, even during vibrations, and allow a maximum opening angle of around 120 degrees. There is no criticism with the build quality of the case, either. Our review unit had no problems with loose parts or uneven gaps, which further supports the high-quality impression.
The dimensions of the TravelMate correspond with a thin 14-inch Ultrabook – they hardly differ from the already mentioned rivals from Lenovo and Hewlett Packard. All these 14-inch devices are only 21 mm thin (~0.83 in). However, the P645-MG is around 200 - 300 grams (~0.44 to 0.66 pounds) lighter than the two rivals, weighing just 1.5 kilograms (~3.3 pounds).
Connectivity
A look at the sides of the notebook reveals the port variety. On the right side are two USB 3.0 ports besides the power connector and the Kensington Lock. On the left side is an Ethernet port that is made smaller with a spring clamp, as well as VGA and HDMI ports, another USB 3.0 port and finally stereo jacks for input and output. At the front is the mandatory SD card reader directly next to the status LEDs. Furthermore, you get a docking connector for docking stations at the bottom that is protected by a rubber cover.
Communication
The first positive aspect is the 3G/UMTS module, so the Ultrabook can use the Internet on the road via a SIM card. This module is becoming more popular amongst business devices and is almost mandatory in this price range. Still, the demanding user would certainly be happy about a faster 4G/LTE module, which enables web browsing in DSL quality. For now, this is only possible via tethering with a corresponding smartphone. Still, a UMTS modem in the premium price range is still not a matter of course, like the WLAN standards 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, which are provided by the Intel Wireless-N 7260 (dual-band).
Security
Here we can see differences to a consumer device: Just like all business notebooks by now, the TravelMate is equipped with a fingerprint reader, in this case below the touchpad between the mouse buttons. A large sticker on the right side of the palm rest also indicates NFC – a comparatively new wireless standard for data transfers. TPM 1.2 (Trusted Platform Module) allows a clear identification of the notebook, which can be used to decrypt the data and therefore prevent their use in other notebooks.
The software Acer Theft Shield prevents thefts with an acoustic alarm when the device is removed from an appropriately configured smartphone or wireless network. Acer ProShield is a tool that controls the notebook access via fingerprint reader and TPM.
Accessories
The accessories are not very generous: Besides the mandatory power adaptor, you get a driver CD as well as some brochures. However, Acer offers an optional docking station for the TravelMate P645 – the Pro Dock II. The docking station can be attached at the formerly mentioned proprietary port at the bottom and extends the port variety of the Ultrabook with four additional USB 3.0 ports, one DisplayPort as well as DVI-D. According to the manufacturer, it weighs 750 grams (1.65 pounds) and the current street price is around 180 Euros (~$244).
Maintenance
As usual, the battery is integrated into the case of the Ultrabook and it is not easy to replace it, especially compared to the majority of 15-inch devices. A small cover grants access to the memory as well as the 500 GB hard drive and is secured by four screws, which can easily be removed with a precision screwdriver. However, professional users usually do not maintain the devices by themselves, but use professional help, so the maintainability is not as important compared to gaming or multimedia notebooks.
Warranty
Acer grants the standard notebook warranty for the TravelMate P645, a 2-year Carry-In service, which means you have to send the device to the manufacturer in the case of a repair. A warranty extension to three years, for instance, is available for 75 Euros (~$102).
Input Devices
Keyboard
Acer integrated a chiclet keyboard, which means: Flat keys with rounded edges. Only a few notebooks use another keyboard layout right now. The TravelMate is also equipped with an illumination of the gaps between the keys in a subtle white. This means working in a dark environment is no problem. Furthermore, the keyboard has a good build quality: The keys have a short and firm travel that enables a comfortable and fast typing experience with ten fingers.
The function keys include multimedia controls, which is not really usual or necessary for a business notebook. Some additional keys outside of the keyboard area are very convenient: Next to the power button are two blue illuminated buttons – one to control the integrated microphone and one for the communication modules. Another button, which is not illuminated, can be assigned to an application of your choice.
Touchpad
The touchpad is slightly embedded in the palm rest and provides convenient haptics. The matte surface ensures a precise control of the cursor as well as several multi-touch gestures. You also get two dedicated mouse buttons, which are part of the touchpad in many devices. Contrary to the rivals HP EliteBook 850 G1 and the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s, the TravelMate P645 does not have a TrackPoint.
Display
The TravelMate P645 uses a matte IPS display from the manufacturer AU Optronics with the Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. We did not expect anything less in this price range. The display size of 14 inches (35.5 cm) is a compromise for the compact chassis, which combines the advantages of a subnotebook with the comfort of a 15-inch device. In practice, it is no problem to work comfortably with the panel.
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Brightness Distribution: 93 %
Center on Battery: 242 cd/m²
Contrast: 679:1 (Black: 0.38 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 3.8 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.87
ΔE Greyscale 4.13 | 0.5-98 Ø5.1
61% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
67.9% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
94.5% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
65.8% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.68
We checked the quality of the display and measured a good contrast ratio of 679:1. It enables very clear color differences and a rich black at just 0.38 cd/m² with the maximum luminance. However, the average maximum brightness of almost 250 cd/m² is just average at best. It is not a bad result by any means, but you can expect a brighter panel in this price range.
We measured the color accuracy with the software CalMAN. The display shows small deficits for multiple colors with slightly increased DeltaE values. Still, the results are never higher than 5 – uncalibrated displays usually show worse results. The deviations are therefore not a real drawback.
Our pictures show that the panel can actually be used outdoors to a limited extent because it is an anti-reflective display with a sufficient maximum brightness. A good luminance starts at around 300 cd/m². Still, the picture content is easy to see as long as you avoid direct sunlight.
IPS displays have advantages in terms of viewing angle stability: Our picture shows that there are no color distortions, and the picture is still easy to see, even with very flat viewing angles. The rival HP EliteBook 850 G1 only uses a TN panel with limited viewing angles.
Performance
The internal hardware components are worthy of an expensive business Ultrabook: Intel's Core i7-4500U is a frugal yet powerful ULV processor, and the same can be said about the dedicated AMD Radeon HD 8750M graphics card: It has energy-saving features but still offers sufficient GPU performance. Eight GB DDR3 RAM also corresponds with the price tag and is sufficient for system memory.
As expected in this price range, the Windows partition is stored on an SSD. The flash storage has a capacity of 256 GB and provides smooth handling on the Desktop because of the significantly higher transfer rates (read and write) compared to rotating hard drives. Such a drive is also used in the TravelMate in addition to the flash storage and offers another 500 GB of storage.
Processor
The previously introduced ULV CPU Intel Core i7-4500U is a processor from the current Haswell generation and is therefore produced in 22 nm, which is currently the most efficient process. It has two cores and can execute up to four threads simultaneously thanks to Hyperthreading. It runs with a nominal clock of 1,800 MHz and can reach up to 3,000 MHz via Turbo Boost according to the specifications. The processor is also equipped with the integrated HD Graphics 4400 GPU, which is more than sufficient for simple office tasks on the Desktop.
The previously mentioned rivals from Lenovo and Hewlett Packard use the minimally higher clocked Intel Core i7-4600U and therefore manage slightly higher results in the Cinebench CPU benchmarks.
System Performance
Even though this is a very frugal processor with a TDP of just 15 Watts, the Ultrabook is still reasonably powerful thanks to the dedicated GPU and the fast SSD. We evaluate the system performance with multiple versions of PCMark. The comparison of the PCMark 7 score shows that the TravelMate is almost on the same level with the competition – and that despite the different components. The difference of 3 percent is almost negligible. As mentioned before, the two rivals use a slightly faster processor, but, contrary to our TravelMate, integrated instead of dedicated GPUs. These details are therefore not important for the overall performance.
| PCMark 7 Score | 5159 points | |
| PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated | 3512 points | |
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Storage Devices
The TravelMate is equipped with a conventional hard drive besides the SSD, despite the limited space of the Ultrabook. The SSD is a Toshiba THNSNJ256GMCT – an mSATA flash drive with a capacity of 256 GB. The 2.5-inch hard drive is provided by Seagate and has the designation ST500LT012-9WS142.
The Toshiba SSD manages good transfer rates (read and write) in the AS SSD benchmark. It is faster than the drive inside the HP EliteBook 850 G1 with up to 479.71 MB/s reading and 442.32 MB/s writing.
The hard drive with 500 GB does not have a system partition – it is only used for files that do not require such high performance. However, the Seagate drive manages decent results: HD Tune determines an average transfer rate of 87.9 MB/s, which is not a matter of course for a hard drive with 5,400 revolutions per minute.
Graphics
AMD's Radeon HD 8750M is an upper mainstream notebook graphics card that extends the range of applications of the TravelMate. Some gaming is also possible, but we will have a closer look at this topic in the next section. It supports DirectX 11.1 and the automatic switching to the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400.
We already mentioned that it is anything but usual for a business Ultrabook to use a dedicated graphics card. Standard office tasks usually do not include many GPU demanding applications – other qualities are more important. The rival from Lenovo only uses the integrated GPU of the processor.
It is therefore not very surprising that the TravelMate manages much higher results in the 3DMark GPU benchmarks compared to the Lenovo ThinkPad. The latter falls behind by around 50 percent. The HP EliteBook 840 G1 is available with the same GPU as well, but the much more expensive HP notebook cannot manage a higher 3DMark result.
| 3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance (sort by value) | |
| Acer TravelMate P645-MG-74508G75tkk | |
| HP EliteBook 840 G1 | |
| HP EliteBook 850 G1-H5G44ET | |
| Lenovo Thinkpad T440s 20AQ0069GE | |
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 1854 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 39068 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 5610 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 1169 points | |
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Gaming Performance
Dedicated graphics card? This means gaming should be possible, and it is to a limited extent, according to the frame rates of current games. Metro Last Light is a current story-shooter and the benchmark only resulted in a hardly playable 17 frames per second. However, the benchmark uses a very demanding scenario and they are pretty rare during the game, so the actual frame rates during the game should be higher and the title is therefore actually playable.
The situation is different with less demanding 3D games: Total War: Rome II – a current strategy title – runs very smoothly on the Ultrabook with medium graphics settings. You should reduce the native resolution a bit, as that does not affect the gaming experience.
If you only play games that have been available for at least one year, then this business device is almost like a gaming Ultrabook. The numerous measurements in the review of the HP EliteBook 850 G1 show that many titles run smoothly with this GPU – although not with the highest settings. More information about the gaming capabilities are available on the site of the AMD Radeon HD 8750M.
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro: Last Light (2013) | 17 | 12 | 7 | |
| Total War: Rome II (2013) | 41 | 32 | 23 | 7 |
Emissions
System Noise
Although we are dealing with a somewhat powerful CPU/GPU combination with active cooling via a fan, it is actually pleasantly restrained so the TravelMate is almost silent most of the time. The fan is only audible if you use GPU demanding applications or games, but it does not produce annoying whistling noises. Continuous maximum load, which is not realistic in practice, results in the audible maximum rpm level for the fan with more than 40 dB(A).
Noise Level
| Idle |
| 31.2 / 31.3 / 32.1 dB(A) |
| HDD |
| 31.4 dB(A) |
| Load |
| 35.1 / 41.2 dB(A) |
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30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
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min:  , med:  , max:  Voltcraft sl-320 (15 cm distance) | ||
Temperature
The good cooling concept in combination with the efficient hardware results in no noticeable warming of the device. The temperatures stay clearly below 30 °C (86 °F) in practice with office tasks. Even longer gaming sessions subjectively do not result in high temperatures. Only a stress test with maximum load for the components can lead to more than 50 °C (122 °F) in some spots. However, business applications hardly result in maximum load, so this critical scenario will not occur in practice.
As always, our stress test uses FurMark and Prime95 simultaneously. These tools stress performance-relevant components, but the CPU and GPU sensors only show temperatures around 85 °C (185 °F) even after one hour, which is uncritical. We also check for CPU throttling in this test, a clock limitation below the nominal clock. While the Turbo can be utilized at the start with 3 GHz, the CPU only runs with the nominal clock of 1.8 GHz when it reaches a certain temperature. This means the TravelMate P645 has no problems with throttling.
(-) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 50.1 °C / 122 F, compared to the average of 34.3 °C / 94 F, ranging from 21.2 to 62.5 °C for the class Office.
(-) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 52.7 °C / 127 F, compared to the average of 36.8 °C / 98 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 28.3 °C / 83 F, compared to the device average of 29.5 °C / 85 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 30 °C / 86 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(-) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 27.6 °C / 81.7 F (-2.4 °C / -4.3 F).
Speakers
While many multimedia notebooks nowadays use a 2.1 sound system, thin Ultrabooks usually do not have the space for a subwoofer. There are only two speakers with openings at the bottom. If you expect good sound quality, you should get a multimedia notebook anyway. Other areas are just more important for office notebooks. However, the speakers actually produce a decent sound, but obviously lack bass because of the missing subwoofer. They are sufficient for occasional video playback. External speakers can provide a better sound experience.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
Similar to other devices with dedicated GPUs and switchable graphics, the power consumption of the TravelMate varies quite a bit. Both the minimum of around 6 Watts as well as the maximum of 56 Watts are beaten by the HP EliteBook 840 G1, an indicator for the better efficiency of the latter. The competitors with integrated GPUs do not have a lower minimum consumption than the EliteBook. Notebooks with dedicated GPUs are therefore not less efficient with light workloads.
| Off / Standby | 0 / 0.2 Watt |
| Idle | 5.9 / 9.2 / 10.4 Watt |
| Load |
41.1 / 56.6 Watt |
   
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Key:
min: ,
med: ,
max: Voltcraft VC 940 | |
Battery Runtime
Low power consumption and efficient hardware should result in good battery runtimes. The TravelMate does not disappoint, even though it cannot beat the rivals. We determine the battery runtimes with the tool Battery Eater and three standardized scenarios.
We deactivated all communication modules and used the minimum display brightness in the Reader's Test. The tool simulates the reading of a text document and determines a value for the maximum runtime with a good result of 10 hours and 15 minutes. The WLAN Test is probably the most important scenario being close to actual use: WLAN activated, medium brightness and the browser runs a script that refreshes different websites. The TravelMate managed a runtime of almost 6 hours and 46 minutes without a socket. The Classic Test stresses the device and determines the minimum runtime. The battery was empty after just 2 hours.
Compared to the rivals, all of which are Ultrabooks and have to run at least for 9 hours, the TravelMate is hardly different. The Lenovo ThinkPad T440s runs around 1 hour longer under load, but 45 minutes less in the important WLAN Test. The differences to the HP EliteBook 850 G1 are even smaller, so the overall result is basically identical. Other rivals are on a similar level as well. As a result, the battery runtimes of the TravelMate are average within the premium office notebook range.
Verdict
Acer offers a pretty good business notebook with the TravelMate P645, which can compete with the expensive devices from the rivals for the first time. Acer was successful because our review did not reveal any serious issues – quite the contrary: It meets all the expectations that you have for a powerful yet mobile business notebook in this price range.
The TravelMate uses a powerful ULV processor with the Intel Core i7-4500U. A dedicated AMD Radeon HD 8750M graphics card is also not always important for business notebooks, either. However, it is still a useful performance addition. Eight GB system memory is more than sufficient for current applications and we liked the good transfer rates of the SSD and the hard drive.
Still, performance is not everything when you pay around 1,500 Euros (~$2032) for a notebook. Definitely, a plus point is the solid and well-built case, which is made of light yet sturdy carbon plastic and aluminum. A 3G/UMTS module is unfortunately still not a matter of course, but it is a useful feature in this case. Other features like NFC and TPM 1.2 suit the concept of a mobile companion for your business life as well.
With so much praise, the search for drawbacks almost looks like complaining on a very high level, but we are on such a high level for this price. We definitely like the IPS display with Full HD resolution, but the luminance is average at best. It could be higher, especially since all other components are well suited for use outdoors.
The Acer TravelMate will definitely get a top spot in the next update of our Top 10 list of Premium Office/Business Notebooks. However, the competition does not sleep and we are already eager to see the upcoming business devices.
