Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 transformer laptop review: dismantled from A to Z

First impressions, equipment and price

Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is the company’s first convertible laptop with a stylus, IP54 water and dust protection.

Software inside the version of Windows 10 for educational institutions, hardware – Intel Celeron, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of built-in SSD drive.

The device will be tested for a month, and every weekday we will stop and analyze in detail its individual elements and capabilities: case, display, hardware stuffing, performance, work with a stylus, etc.

I’ll start with the first impression, which I specially folded before I found out the current price for this laptop.

I will highlight 5 main points:

1. Solidly assembled body, albeit plastic
2. There is a stylus and a separate place is allocated for it in the case
3. FullHD screen resolution with a small diagonal. I consider this a plus, but I will tell you all the details regarding the display separately.
4. Large touchpad
5. Transform into a tablet that will also have a camera because it flips. I will definitely show you how it shoots.

At the beginning of the review, the target audience for buying this laptop is parents who buy the first device for a child in elementary school or preschool, adults whose work is related to texts, spreadsheets, presentations and constant traveling. Perhaps I’ll add someone else in the conclusions, because with a price tag below $ 500, there will be more people who want to acquire such a compact and multifunctional device.

 

Components

The Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is a small dark gray device packaged in a modest but eco-friendly package.

The package includes a small instruction-warranty card, charger for 24 W and a stylus.

The power supply is not disconnected from the cable – it is a single unit.

The stylus comes with a spare pen and a battery.

12 month laptop warranty.

 

Design, Body, Build

Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is a device with a price tag of up to $500 and a case that can be transformed into a tablet. A useful option that allows you to use your laptop as an additional screen, during presentations or as a sketching sheet, while not taking up much space in your hands and on your desktop.

The design is concise and modest. The dark gray plastic case has rounded edges and four rubberized legs at the bottom. The latter guarantee stability even on slippery surfaces.

Notebook dimensions 306 x 214 x 27 mm, weight 1450 g.

We noticed that the thickness is not small, but there is an explanation for this. The case is IP54 certified. These numbers mean:

• 5 – dustproof (dust, even if it gets into the case, will not affect its performance in any way)
• 4 – protection against splashes, for example, in case of rain or a small amount of drink spilled on the keyboard.

Protection from moisture is clearly demonstrated by the plugs on the ports on the right and left sides of the case.

As already mentioned, the top and bottom covers are made of plastic. The bottom one is fixed with 14 screws.

The contact between the top and bottom halves of the notebook is softened by rubber buffers. They are both above and below.

The mechanism that connects the bottom and top securely fixes both intermediate and standard positions for a laptop. After a week of using the devices, I can say that the design looks reliable. On top of the connection block in plastic, but inside it has metal, which guarantees durability.

It is possible that with intensive use of the laptop, scratches may appear on the plastic. But the case has such a color that it hides most of them.

You can get used to opening the laptop with one hand.

Summing up the case, I conclude that the design of the Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3, although simple, is practical and looks relevant.

 

Opening the case and looking at the hardware

The main hardware of the laptop was the Intel Celeron N4100 processor. Its features:

• Number of cores – 4
• Number of threads – 4
• CPU base clock speed 1.1 GHz (up to 2.4 GHz)
• Cache – 4 MB
• Design power 6 W

The chipset is based on the Gemini Lake platform and is manufactured using the 14nm process technology. This processor already has a built-in graphics card with support for DirectX 12 and a DDR4 / LPDDR4 memory controller.

Video chip – Intel UHD Graphics 600 with a frequency of up to 700 MHz.

I’ll say in advance that the performance margin is definitely enough for fast office applications, surfing the net, combined with moderate multitasking. You don’t need to expect a huge performance margin either, since the reviewed laptop is more for study and office work.

The power of 6 W allowed the manufacturer to use a passive cooling system. You can see it below.

All of the above is complemented by 4 GB of DDR4 RAM.

The case is easy to disassemble:

• Remove 14 screws
• We pry off the cover with a tool and snap off the latches around the perimeter of the case.

Order inside.

There is nothing more to say about the hardware of the Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3. Let’s talk about storage separately.

 

Display

Based on the size of the case, you might think that the display is 13 inches, but because of the desire to integrate a touch matrix here, the manufacturer limited itself to a panel of 11.6 inches.
The screen is touch sensitive and can be controlled with both fingers and the included stylus. We will talk about what a stylus is and why it needs buttons in a separate article.

11.6-inch diagonal at FullHD (1920×1080) resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. IPS matrix. By means of Windows, the image can be scaled from 100% to 175%.

There is a small air gap between the screen and the glass. Because of this, the contrast is not ideal. The margin of brightness is sufficient for indoor use. You can work outside with a laptop, but only if it is not exposed to direct sunlight.

The minimum backlight level is comfortable for reading from the screen and watching movies in complete darkness. For those who are used to using the night mode, changing the color temperature to a warm area will also be a useful option.

In the evening or in cloudy weather, the maximum brightness of the display is sufficient for the reproduction of colors without noticeable distortion. The display can definitely be used for drawing, albeit not a professional one. Please note that a picture from a laptop can always be displayed on an external monitor via HDMI.

The screen does not have an anti-reflective coating, so it cannot exclude glare in direct sunlight. Let’s clarify – the coating is glossy.

Viewing angles are good. So Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is convenient to use both as a laptop and as a tablet.

 

Ports and connectors

First, let’s look under the rubber plug on the right side. Here:

• MircoSD card slot. We tried a 128 GB drive – it works.
• USB 3.0 port
• RJ-45 Ethernet cable connector
• 3.5 mm audio jack

Additionally, the right end is interesting for the presence of a Kensington lock, I have not seen it in Prestigio laptops before.

Let’s look at the left side:

• USB Type-C port (no charging support)
• HDMI
• USB 3.0 port

An important clarification. A regular 2.5-inch HDD that is installed in a pocket can be connected in the same way as a regular portable drive. And it doesn’t matter if external power is connected or not, the disk spins, writes and copies files. So it is not necessary to connect the power supply in this case. The charger is stuck in the same place under the left plug.

Laptop power indicator on the left side.

HDMI port is not Micro format, but full. This means that you do not need to carry extra adapters with you. Just insert the cable and get an additional monitor or picture output through the projector.

To access the ports, you need to open the plugs. Do not consider this a moment that brings discomfort. This design element made it possible to guarantee the laptop splash protection according to the IP54 standard.

If the flaps are open and the ports are occupied by peripherals, they still do not interfere with comfortable typing, because they are shifted closer to the hinges.

Will you blame the fact that there are only 2 USB 3.0 ports? Not worth it, just remember that some TOP devices get even less.

I think that the set of ports offered by the manufacturer can cover 95% of the owner’s requests, and I give the laptop the highest rating in terms of the variety of connectors. Personally, I would like to get a more versatile SD instead of a microSD port.

 

Memory Test and Expandability

Notebook transformer Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is equipped with 4 GB of RAM and SSD drive SCY N10D 128 GB M.2 SATA (Type 2280).

Let’s start right away by measuring the speed on it, since the expansion option is not provided on the board. You can only take an existing solid state drive and install a new one in its place.

 

Measuring the speed of drives

128 GB built-in SSD

• record – up to 512.32 Mbps
• reading – up to 559.78 Mbps

128 GB is enough for the OS and should be enough to store text files, spreadsheets, a small amount of graphics and video. It is better to move the archives to an external drive.

128GB Transcend microSDXC 300S microSD card

• record – up to 19.29 Mbps
• reading – up to 27.89 Mbps

Transcend Hard Drive (USB 3.0 connection)

• recording – up to 88.08 Mbps
• read – up to 96.06 Mbps

Transcend Hard Drive (Type-C connection)

• record – up to 41.08 Mbps
• reading – up to 140.12 Mbps

As you can see, the abundance of external interfaces allows you not to limit yourself in the type of external drive that can be connected to the Ecliptica 116 C3 laptop. Personally, I lack only a full-fledged SD port, instead of microSD.

In terms of speed, the performance is good, including that of a complete SSD drive. So in terms of memory and its speed, Prestigio should cover all the owner’s requests.

 

Keyboard and touchpad

Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is not an ordinary laptop, because it can be controlled from the touchpad, mouse and directly from the screen, because it is touch. Comfortable? Yes! And also very practical, because the transforming body allows you to set the desired angle and adjust the laptop to the situation.

 

Touchpad

Size 11 x 6.5 cm. 40% of the bottom panel is occupied in half by the right and left buttons, similar to those in mice. The buttons are not visually highlighted. The platform is pressed with very little force and thereby causes a click.

The touchpad can be called large if you compare it to the overall dimensions of the laptop. The coating material and its color almost do not differ from those in the case. It is matte and tactile.

In addition to the usual one-touch cursor, the touchpad responds to double and triple gestures – you can use it to scroll text or zoom in on pictures.
All major gestures that Windows 10 understands are supported.

 

Keyboard

There are only 79 keys on the keyboard of the Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 laptop. It’s smaller than usual, but includes:

• full set of Latin and Cyrillic letters
• horizontal numbers
• additionally, numbers are available via the Fn key in blocks of 3 under the right hand
• function buttons and keys for lighting, sound, rewind, etc.

Of the nuances that you need to get used to:

• no “Del” button, only “Backspace”
• The bottom line with letters is slightly shifted to the left due to a short left Shift. When blindly typing out of habit, at first you will type “B” instead of “b”, but your hands quickly get used to a slightly changed layout and after a week there will be no such errors.

There are no more comments on the keyboard. In games, it is convenient to use the arrows and letter buttons responsible for movement.

The buttons are not backlit, they have a nice quiet move, they are made of black matte plastic.

The result on the controls of the Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 laptop is as follows: the touchpad – no remarks, the keyboard – requires a little getting used to. Both elements have no significant shortcomings, except for the lack of backlighting under the keys.

 

Camera – photo and video

Notebook Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is equipped with a camera, which, like the case, can be transformed. Rotate 180 degrees, record video in resolutions up to HD format, inclusive, at 30 fps.

The camera is centered above the screen under transparent plastic. The rotating panel is slightly recessed relative to the panels on the sides, which excludes its contact with the bottom of the case.

There are two microphones, the quality of the recorded sound is good.

The Camera application is basic for Windows 11. The screenshots below show the available settings:

As you can see, the quality of the photo and video recording can be reduced if necessary for recording very light files that need to be sent by email.

Sample photos:

As you can see, the camera of the Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 records in sufficient quality for video calls and can even convey the details of small objects.

 

Stylus

The Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is not a unique laptop in terms of having a touch screen. But it is unique in that this display comes with a stylus, and the total price tag for the entire kit does not exceed $500.

Body

First, let’s study the design of the stylus. The accessory looks expensive and reliable. The case is metal, small in size, only 12.5 cm long and 9 mm in diameter.
Under the thumb there are 2 buttons.

The top part unscrews to fit an AAAA battery inside. The battery inside does not hang out, it is tightly pressed by a spring.

There are no assembly notes for the stylus.

The package includes a spare pen and tweezers to remove the old one.

Opportunities

First, it must be said that the stylus does not have to be driven across the screen itself. The screen “sees” it from a distance of 5 mm.

The stylus can replace the mouse:

• Touched on the label – single click of the left mouse button
• Double-tap a shortcut with a stylus to open a file
• Hold the stylus on the screen for a couple of seconds – a context menu opens, analogous to a right-click. The same function is implemented by pressing the bottom button on the stylus.
• Squeeze and stretch – the area you need stands out

You can draw with a stylus. Take for example the Paint 3D program that was already installed on the laptop:

• Depending on the selected brush and its capabilities, you can adjust the saturation of the line by pressing on the screen
• Pressing the top button automatically puts the stylus in erase mode

As you understand, different pressing force on the screen draws a line of different thickness, but the angle of inclination does not affect the result.

Above we have listed only a part of the possibilities of the stylus and formats of its use. It will come in handy in the Notes application, and even for writing formulas – the manufacturer has already preinstalled the corresponding software on the Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 laptop.

 

Wireless modules, Wi-Fi and Ethernet speed

Notebook Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 – compact device that is easy to carry. The touch display, small dimensions and the possibility of transformation replace the user with a laptop and tablet. For all this, you only need high-speed Internet access.

Inside the Ecliptica 116 C3, a Wi-Fi module (Intel Wireless-AC 9461 with a maximum speed of 433 Mbps) is installed, which supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks.

We immediately measure its speed characteristics when connected to a TP-Link Archer C3150 ver2 router (2.4 GHz with speeds up to 1 Gb / s and 5 GHz with speeds up to 2167 Mb / s). Provider – Lanet, channel – 1 Gb / s.

First test – 2.4GHz network 3m away from the router

• Download speed up to 48.31 Mbps
• Upload speed up to 23.10 Mbps

The second test is a 5 GHz network at a distance of 3 m from the router

• Download speed up to 323.73 Mbps
• Upload speed up to 319.35 Mbps

Chipset Realtek RTL8723B. The results are good and a definite plus – support for wireless networks at a frequency of 5 GHz. There were no problems with the connection, the connection is kept without breaks.

For reference – Bluetooth 5.0.

The laptop also supports a wired connection, and it has a gigabit Ethernet port. In terms of hardware, this is Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet.

Measurement result with the same service provider:

• Download speed up to 524.67 Mbps
• Upload speed up to 713.85 Mbps

And again a great result. If you need to download a large file, and there is no Wi-Fi at 5 GHz, then the wire can always help you out.

 

OS, games and videos

The reviewed laptop Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is running Windows 10 Education. This is the Education edition of Windows 10, which is very similar to Windows 10 Enterprise.

In addition to studying, the owner of this laptop will play games and watch videos. Let’s start with toys.

Games

Ecliptica 116 C3 is definitely not a device for modern games, in which developers rely on detail and a heavy engine. At the same time, a minute or an hour for entertainment is guaranteed to its owner.

What did I install? WoT Blitz work and give up to 35 frames per second. You can install simple arcade games even from the built-in application store, there are a lot of free ones on Steam. But the relatively voracious motorcycle racing Engine Evolution 2021 will give a maximum of 8 FPS.

Most toys from the end of the last century and the beginning of the 2000s can be tried to be installed.

Video

I suppose that our laptop will be used for video more often than for games, so it’s necessary to figure out if it slows down from FullHD content.

The test confirmed that the device copes even if the video is not stored in the built-in memory, but is broadcast online, for example, on YouTube. Just remember to connect to fast Wi-Fi.

On this entertainment function, you can sum up. Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is suitable for online learning, and for watching informative videos, and for games. So, in which case, as an option for remote learning for a child, it can be recommended.

 

Standalone

In the Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 laptop, the manufacturer tried to assemble the components in one place so that the device turned out to be accessible, but at the same time guaranteed the ability to run basic programs even far from the outlet.

Built-in battery capacity – 6000 mAh, 7.6V. For a month of the test, it turned out to study well its autonomy in different modes.

The game WoT Blitz “eats” 24% of the charge per hour with a display brightness of 100%. If you reduce the backlight to 10%, the consumption is reduced to 16% per hour. In this mode, you can play without stopping for 5-5.5 hours.

Watching Youtube videos in FullHD resolution and sound through the speaker takes 16% of the battery every hour at maximum display brightness. Reduce the backlight to a minimum and the consumption drops to 10% per hour. In the ideal case, we get 10 hours of watching movies, TV shows or training programs.

If you just work in a text editor and slowly type the text, then the consumption decreases even more. The manufacturer claims that it is possible to achieve autonomy of 14 hours.

I am sure that if necessary, by adjusting the backlight level and the priority of the tasks you work with, it is realistic to stretch one full battery charge for a working day. There should also be some charge left for entertainment.

Fully charging the battery takes at least 3 hours. In 10 minutes, the laptop is charged by 5%. In an hour, the device was charged from 1% to 30%.

 

Conclusions

It’s time to sum it up. After taking a detailed look at each element, function or task that this laptop can accomplish, I made a small conclusion and shared my opinion. I will try to briefly combine all this and in simple words once again comprehend who is best suited for the Ecliptica 116 C3.

Firstly, the laptop will be of interest to anyone who would like to get a 3-in-1 device for a price tag of up to $500, because there are no competitors in this segment. The nearest 14-inch Asus ZenBook Flip is much more expensive than $700. Lenovo has an IdeaPad Duet 3 tablet laptop, but it has a smaller screen and a 360-degree case that does not fold out, and the price is still higher.

Secondly, Prestigio Ecliptica 116 C3 is suitable for study in all respects:

• Information input via keyboard, touchpad, stylus
• Integrated 360-degree camera
• Sufficient set of ports for connecting peripherals and external drives
• Good autonomy
• Ability to connect to fast internet

Separately, I will mention the moisture protection of the case, because it is an opportunity to take a laptop with you to nature and travel.