Home Reviews ,,,,, After the advent of Chinese smartphones, which have long been establishing themselves as cheaper solutions to the top of the 1000 euro range, Chinese notebooks also arrive, which thanks to a particularly refined design and hyper competitive price, are able to capture the attention of many users. We have already reviewed the EZ Jumper 3 Pro, which has become a benchmark in this sector. Today we test, instead, Onda Xiaoma 41, which shares a lot with the Jumper, flaws in some things, but improves in others.
Aesthetics
Onda Xiaoma 41 shares the appearance with the Jumper, albeit slightly larger in size. In fact, we are faced with a 14-inch laptop, this time in gold color. It is not a Gold similar to the Apple one, but stronger, and slightly darker and heavier.
The golden color is broken by the frame that surrounds the screen, completely black. The frames are well optimized, but if they had been in gold, like the rest of the chassis, the glance would certainly have been better.
The data sheet describes a laptop with discrete potential. Comes home with Windows 10 Home, inside it mounts a 1.10 GHz Intel Apollo Lake Celeron N3450 CPU, up to 2.20 GHz, 4GB of RAM, Intel HD Graphics 500 GPU and an intact 64GB eMMC memory.
The display has a 14-inch diagonal, with Full HD resolution, IPS technology. We will return to the quality of the latter later, because it probably represents the least attractive aspect of the terminal. To conclude on the data sheet, the laptop is equipped with a 2.0 MP front camera, two full size USB ports, mini HDMI connector for connecting to external monitors or TVs, and a Micro SD card reader.
We come to the aspects that are better than the Jumper EZBook 3 Pro: the keyboard. Although that of the Jumper is better cropped, with the keys perfectly embedded in the cutouts (while here it seems that there is a border too much), it is softer, and typing is certainly more comfortable than the direct rival. After taking the measurements, the keyboard is perfectly functional, pleasant typing.
The absence of accented symbols is a bit uncomfortable, while some keys are positioned differently from Italian keyboards: it is a “QWERTY”, but just to name one, the “ù” is next to the directional arrows. The long “Enter” key on Macbooks is split in half here, with the “DEL” key positioned just above the enter.
However, these are really negligible problems, and nothing that a pack of stickers for a few euros, and an app to remap the keys, cannot solve. In any case, those used to writing will not need to make changes, knowing by heart the position of symbols and accented letters on the keyboard.
The trackpad, although the surface is very large, is not among the most comfortable. It feels particularly rough to the touch, and it's not too precise, especially in page scrolling.
It is absolutely usable, and even without an external mouse you can work on it safely, however it is advisable to use an external device to improve the accuracy of the cursor.
Technical features
In terms of features, the data sheet is really similar to that of the aforementioned EZBook. If we exclude the presence of 4 GB of RAM, against the 6 of the rival, the specifications are practically identical. It benefits from the Intel Celeron N3450 processor, belonging to the new Apollo Lake family, with a base frequency of 1.1GHz.
If you look at RAM, however, there are 4 GB available, which still do an excellent job, especially in web browsing with many cards, and in opening multiple applications at the same time.
It goes back to flying low when it comes to integrated memory, not for the 64 GB which are absolutely sufficient, but for the speed of the integrated eMMC.
From a multimedia point of view, the front camera, beautiful to look at, is 2 MP, useful for some Skype conversation, but from which it is not really possible to ask for more. If you avoid looking at the technical data sheet, however, Onda Xiaoma 41 is a laptop that in everyday use allows that standard use that many are looking for.
It is a laptop that gets along really well for surfing the net, for accessing social networks, video streaming platforms, for the use of word processing applications, for managing emails and anything else that does not put a strain on the processor. and GPU.
We also tried to make the laptop a videogame use, by installing the recent Asphalt 9. The game runs discreetly, with minimum details and certainly not disarming speed.
We have had more luck with typical smartphone gaming products, such as Alto's Adventures; in the latter case you can easily play, but overall this Onda is obviously not a gaming machine.
The same goes for applications that require greater computing power. If on the one hand, as already mentioned, you can manage basic programs without the slightest problem, as soon as you try to start a heavier software you find yourself having to deal with the limits of the CPU: it is difficult to think of being able to mount an entire 4K movie or handle heavy images in PSD with transparencies in tow. Also in this case, as already happened for the Jumper 3 Pro, Onda Xiaoma 41 is not recommended for graphic use.
The use of the laptop, therefore, remains linked, as already mentioned, to all those operations that in everyday life usually dominate long sessions on the PC: surfing the net, managing mail, watching movies, and more. In short, don't ask them to flex their muscles on games or graphics-heavy programs. After all, the really aggressive price of around 200 euros left no room for more complex uses.
Onda Xiaoma 41 is an extremely quiet laptop. When you work on it, even for several hours straight, you won't be bothered by annoying fans. It also deserves praise for its ability to keep temperatures really low: during our tests it never warmed up, even during longer sessions.
Good autonomy, up to 5 hours of use declared by the manufacturer: we reached them without any problem, at least by dedicating ourselves to browsing, opening streaming videos and a lot of word processing, including this review.
The audio side did not take the side of particular problems. The volume is not super high, but in line with any other notebook. You can easily listen to music or watch movies on streaming platforms, perceiving the sounds in a clear and clean way. It certainly does not excel in this area, but it is on the average of other similar peripherals, even belonging to higher price ranges.
Display
Cross and delight of this terminal. Delightful because, as already mentioned, it has frames that are well optimized after all, and a very large 14.1-inch panel, bright and that can be used particularly well outdoors.
Unfortunately, the panel has colors that tend to vary heavily with the viewing angle. It is sufficient to tilt the screen to immediately realize how much it is necessary to calibrate the viewing angle in order to work correctly.
Xiaoma Onda 41 can only be seen well if the user properly calibrates the inclination of the screen, otherwise you will have a completely washed out vision. It is enough to angle the display wrongly for the white to take over and make a feeling of total blur.
However, correct positioning will allow the user to benefit from correct colors, and a panel that can be read perfectly even in direct sunlight.
Conclusions
Onda Xiaoma 41 costs very little, and this is undoubtedly its strong point. It has a soft and comfortable keyboard for typing, even long texts, really appreciated for those who write a lot.
Aesthetically it is valid, very valid, while on performance it can give full satisfaction when it is used in a basic way, therefore web browsing, social networks, word processing. The value for money is good. Too bad only for the display, which will have to be angled perfectly to offer an optimal view.
Onda Xiaoma 41 can be purchased on Gearbest usually at a price of about 240 euros. At the moment it is on offer at 200 euros for the period of Black Friday. By choosing Italy Express shipping, the chances of receiving customs duties will be reduced to 99%.
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For more information on shipping costs and times, any charges and order management, you can consult the seller's website.
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