Acer's Enduro Urban N3 rugged laptop offers style and performance

Acer Enduro Urban N3 rugged laptop
(Image credit: Acer)

Acer just announced a trio of new additions to its antimicrobial product lineup, including the Acer Enduro Urban N3, a rugged 14-inch laptop with up to an Intel 11th Gen Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce MX330 GPU, and 32GB of RAM.

The other products include the TravelMate Spin P4 convertible laptop aimed at business customers and the Enduro Urban T3 rugged tablet. All three products rely on Acer's Antimicrobial 360 Design that applies an antimicrobial solution to almost all touchable surfaces to reduce the growth of any microbes that come in contact with the laptops or tablets.

Acer Enduro Urban N3 laptop

The Acer Enduro Urban N3 has considerably more than just an antimicrobial solution protecting it; the 14-inch laptop also meets MIL-STD-810H durability standards and features IP53 dust and water resistance. This laptop should hold up to almost anything you can throw at it (or if you need to throw the laptop, it can survive up to 4-foot drops without a problem). The waterproof design covers its ports, speakers, buttons, and Acer's waterproof Aquafan drainage system means the laptop can get drenched in your backpack without any problems.

Acer Enduro Urban N3 rugged laptop

(Image credit: Acer)

Unlike many rugged laptops, the Enduro Urban N3 doesn't force you to give up on performance either with up to an Intel 11th Gen Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce MX330 GPU, and 32GB of DDR4 RAM. Acer claims you'll get up to 13 hours of battery life, handy if you use this laptop in the backwoods or even just around campus. The 14-inch FHD display should also handle outdoor usage with a claimed 450 nits of brightness. The durability and performance do come at one cost, and that's the weight; at 4.08 pounds, you are going to feel the Enduro Urban N3 in your backpack.

The Acer Enduro Urban N3 is shipping later this year, starting at $849. 

Acer Enduro Urban N3 rugged laptop

(Image credit: Acer)

Acer TravelMate Spin P4 convertible laptop

The Acer TravelMate Spin P4 convertible gives that same antimicrobial protection combined with both physical and digital security for business users. It still boasts MIL-STD 810H certification and a spill-resistant keyboard, but it also adds a smart card reader, fingerprint login, and Windows Hello support.

The 14-inch FHD touch display rotates 360 degrees for usage in laptop, stand, tent, or tablet modes. At 3.4 pounds, it isn't a featherweight, but the 0.7-inch thick chassis should fit easily in any laptop bag. Frequent travelers may appreciate the optional LTE support for on-to-go connectivity. Ports are plentiful as well, with USB-C, Thunderbolt 4, and RJ-45 Ethernet.

The TravelMate Spin P4 features up to an Intel 11th Gen Core i7 vPro processor and up to a 1TB M.2 SSD for demanding business users. Acer claims up to 13.5 hours of battery life on a charge, and you can get back to an 80% charge in just an hour with supported fast charging. 

The Acer TravelMate Spin P4 will be available starting in January 2022, starting at $1,099.

Acer Enduro Urban N3 rugged laptop

(Image credit: Acer)

Acer Enduro Urban T3 tablet

If bringing a fragile iPad on a camping trip sounds like a potential disaster, the Acer Enduro Urban T3 tablet may be the solution. The 10-inch tablet matches the protection of its Urban N3 laptop counterpart with MIL-STD-810H certification, 4-foot drop protection, and waterproof ports, speakers, and buttons.

The FHD (1920x1200) display delivers up to 600 nits of brightness for visibility even in bright sunlight, and a 5MP front-facing camera with a microphone allows for selfies or video chatting. At 1.3 pounds, the tablet remains portable despite its rugged build. While it won't be replacing a laptop, the MediaTek Octa-core processor and 4GB of RAM should make it a solid tablet for content consumption and basic app usage.

The Acer Enduro Urban T3 is shipping early next year, starting at $299.

Sean Riley

Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more.  Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Mag has also proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more.