Acer TravelMate Vero

3.5/ 5 Good

pros and cons

Pros

• 30% recycled plastics
• Good performance and all-day battery life
• Full-size keyboard with separate number pad

Cons

• 720p webcam
• Single USB-C port
• Limited purchase-time configurations and upgrade options

$1,130 at Acer (UK)

Tech companies have a mixed reputation when it comes to climate change and sustainability issues, but with its recently launched Vero line of 'green PCs', Acer hopes to boost its credibility in this area. There are a number of products in the Vero range, including laptops, desktop PCs and monitors, but the main offering for business users is the 15.6-inch TravelMate Vero running Windows 11 Pro.  

Acer TravelMate Vero: 15.6-inch IPS screen, Core i5 or i7 (UK only at the moment) processor, integrated Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. The chassis incorporates significant amounts of recycled plastic.

Image: Cliff Joseph / ZDNet

In many ways, this is a fairly conventional laptop, but Acer states that the Vero's chassis consists of 30% PCR (Post-Consumer Recycled) plastic, which helps to reduce CO2 emissions from the manufacturing process by around 21%. The keycaps on the keyboard also use PCR, and the packaging materials are entirely recyclable. And, just to let your clients know how on-trend your business is, the Vero's BIOS allows you to customise the logo that appears on start-up. 

The keyboard, which also uses recycled plastic, features a separate number pad. A fingerprint reader is embedded in the large touchpad.

Image: Cliff Joseph / ZDNet  

Design & features 

Recycled plastic aside, the TravelMate Vero has a fairly traditional clamshell design. Its black, speckled casing is quite smart, but the chunky border around the screen looks decidedly dated. It's well built, though, measuring just 18mm thick, and weighing 1.8kg, which isn't a bad weight for a 15.6-inch laptop. But, as we've mentioned in previous reviews, Acer's use of a spindle-like power connector that juts out from the side of the laptop looks like a potential weak point. 

The 15.6-inch screen means that the chassis has room for a full-size keyboard and separate numeric keypad, plus a large touchpad with an embedded fingerprint reader. The keyboard panel also feels firm and responsive when you're typing quickly. The FHD (1920x1080) IPS display isn't going to win any awards, but it's bright and clear, with good viewing angles if you need to give an impromptu presentation when you're out of the office. Acer studiously avoids any mention of the colour standards supported by the display, so this isn't a laptop that's designed for creative users, even though its 11th-generation Core i7 processor will be perfectly adequate for basic photo or video-editing for presentations. 

Although RJ-45 Ethernet and HDMI ports are provided, there's only one USB-C port -- the remaining three are USB-A (2x 3.2, 1x 2.0).

Image: Cliff Joseph / ZDNet   

Connectivity is another area where the Vero looks a little behind the curve. It offers just one USB-C port, and three USB-A ports -- and one of those is USB 2.0 for some inexplicable reason. There's HDMI for an external display, RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet and a 3.5mm headphone jack, but no Thunderbolt support, DisplayPort or SD card reader. 

The 720p webcam isn't great either, with a slightly grainy image that won't be ideal for remote workers' video calls. Thankfully, the Vero does include Wi-Fi 6, along with Bluetooth 5.0 to provide good wireless connectivity. 

Price & options 

You're not overburdened with options on the TravelMate Vero. Acer's website states clearly that the Vero boasts the 'potent processing power' of an i7 processor, and the review unit provided by Acer did include a quad-core Core i7-1195G7 processor running at 2.9GHz (up to 5.0GHz with TurboBoost), along with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. But, not for the first time, we found the pricing and sales information on Acer's website to be somewhat unclear. 

At the time of writing, the Core i7 configuration was only available in the UK, priced at