Acer is making one of the toughest workhorses on the market. Some of them include shake protection, bump protection, and black magic protection. Others, however, impressed with their price tags. Today’s hero – the TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52) is one of these particular notebooks.
Essentially, the main story here is to see where has Acer cut corners, and how big of an impact does it make. When it comes to the hardware in use, we have Comet Lake CPUs, maxing out with the Core i7-10510U, and a dedicated GPU option, represented by the GeForce MX230 – not too shabby. And while this device is still offered with two TN options – 768p and 1080p versions, you can still choose a 1080p IPS display.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/acer-travelmate-p2-tmp215-52-tpm215-52g/
Contents
Specs Sheet
Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52 / TPM215-52G) - Specs
All Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52 / TPM215-52G) configurations
What’s in the box?
Inside the package, we found a 45W power brick, some paper manuals and the laptop itself.
Design and construction
Perhaps to no surprise, this notebook is entirely made out of plastic. Additionally, it doesn’t seem to be one of particularly high quality as well. When we try to bend it, we experience quite some flex from the chassis. In terms of measurements, the laptop weighs 1.80 kg and has a profile of 19.9mm, which is pretty thin and light for a 15-inch device.
Its lid cannot be opened with a single hand and it flexes like soft mozzarella. On the bright side, the camera has a hardware shutter, which will protect you from spying eyes, and the bezels are thin-enough for the laptop to look pretty modern.
Looking at the base, we see the backlit keyboard and a touchpad which features a fingerprint reader. The latter has shallow key travel and somewhat clicky feedback. Interestingly, the backlight on many Acer notebook turns off after around 15 seconds of idling (not being used), but this unit features an option in its BIOS that turns it on all the time when the machine is powered on. Ultimately, the keyboard, itself, is not really comfortable for typing. On the other side, the touchpad is pretty decent – both in terms of gliding and tracking.
Since the speakers on this unit are placed on the base, the bottom plate is only home to the ventilation grill. Similarly to other Acer products (mostly Aspire devices), the heat exhaust is happening from the back.
Ports
In terms of I/O there is a charger plug on the left, as well as an RJ-45 connector, a VGA port (say what?!), an HDMI connector, two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) ports, a USB Type-C 3.1 (Gen. 1) port with Power Delivery and DisplayPort capability, an SD card slot and an audio jack. Then on the right, you have a single USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) port.
Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance
Accessing this laptop’s internals is a relatively easy job. First, you need to undo 12 Phillips-head screws. Then, pry the bottom panel away with a plastic tool and you’re ready for taking off.
Inside, you’ll see a lot of free space and a pretty modest cooling solution, comprising a tiny heat pipe, a heat sink, and a fan.
On the bright side, from the upgradability standpoint, we are seeing a 2020 set up – two RAM SODIMM slots and an M.2 NVMe slot.
Battery-wise we have a 50Wh unit, which is secured in place by some scotch tape. Perhaps the regular screws are too expensive nowadays.
Display quality
Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52) has a Full HD IPS panel with a model number BOE NV156FHM-N48. Its diagonal is 15.6″ (39.62 cm), and the resolution 1920 х 1080 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 142 ppi, and a pitch of 0.18 х 0.18 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 60cm (24″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).
Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.
The measured maximum brightness of 217 nits in the middle of the screen and 213 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 11%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 6280K – a little warmer than the sRGB standard of 6500K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is good – 1310:1.
To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.
Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.
Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.
The yellow dotted line shows Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52)’s color gamut coverage.
Its display covers 50% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.
Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.
We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.
Below you can compare the scores of Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).
The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.
The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.
Response time (Gaming capabilities)
We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.
We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 27 ms
PWM (Screen flickering)
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.
Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52)’s display doesn’t use PWM only at maximum brightness. Additionally, the flickerings are with a very low frequency – 1000 Hz, which makes the display uncomfortable and possibly harmful for your eyes. Thankfully, our Health-Guard profile fixes that.
Blue light emissions
Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.
Conclusion
Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52)’s display in this configuration has an IPS panel with a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and good contrast ratio. Sadly, it has a very narrow color coverage (50% of sRGB) and uses harmful PWM for all brightness levels, part the maximum. While our Health-Guard profile can eliminate the issue, it is not good to see such an issue on a work device (or any device in general).
Buy our profiles
Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52) configurations with 15.6″ FHD IPS BOE NV156FHM-N48.
*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected]
Read more about the profiles HERE.
In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.
Health-Guard
THealth-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.
Sound
Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52)’s speakers produce a decent sound with okay sound quality. Its low, mid and high tones are clear of deviations.
Drivers
All of the drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/8190?b=1
Оverall performance
We had some performance issues from the Core i5-10210U. We are not yet sure if it was an isolated problem with our unit or a general issue with the model. We’ve tried everything we could from Windows updates to BIOS updates and tinkering, and we also checked the Internet for some answers, but we got no success, whatsoever. We’ve contacted Acer, and we’re going to update the review once we have more information. Also, we are working on getting another unit to eventually complete all of the performance tests.
Verdict
Excluding the aforementioned issues, we had untroubled time with the TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52). Its storage is fast thanks to the NVMe drive support, and you can upgrade it with two RAM sticks (up to 16GB of DDR4 memory). Sadly, because of the weird performance, we weren’t able to test the battery life of the unit, given the fact that the results would have been inaccurate.
Interestingly, you will get an especially populated I/O selection, with a total of four USB ports (one Type-C), an RJ-45 connector, and an SD card reader. And while most of 2020’s new notebooks feature an HDMI connector, you will rarely find a VGA port. Well, the TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52) has one, paying tribute to its ancestors.
Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-52)’s display in this configuration has an IPS panel with a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and good contrast ratio. Sadly, it has a very narrow color coverage (50% of sRGB) and uses harmful PWM for all brightness levels, part the maximum. While our Health-Guard profile can eliminate the issue, it is not good to see such an issue on a work device (or any device in general).
So, right now we can’t really give you any advice on whether you should buy the laptop or not. However, we will update this article as soon as we get an answer from Acer, and/or we snatch another unit of this notebook, so we can repeat the tests.
Pros
- Decent upgradability with PCIe x4 drive support
- Keyboard has backlight
- Wide viewing angles and good contrast ratio
- Optional fingerprint reader
- Very I/O options and USB Type-C port with DisplayPort and Power Delivery capabilities
Cons
- Covers only 50% of sRGB
- Uses harmful PWM for all brightness levels, except the maximum (our Health-Guard profile fixes the issue)
- Keyboard is uncomfortable for typing
- Our unit had severe performance issues, resulting in 20-30% CPU usage and 0.6-1.00 GHz clock speeds
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/acer-travelmate-p2-tmp215-52-tpm215-52g/