Geometer’s Computer, or Just the Acute Angle AA-B4

It’s already May, and I haven’t reviewed a single computer yet, so let’s fix that. Today we’ll look at a model that stands out from the crowd in its own way. Design is a matter of taste, of course—some people like one thing, others something else—but you have to admit this one is definitely original.
As always, the review covers the exterior, teardown, tests, conclusions, and a final summary table.




Let’s start with the specifications:
Operating system: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Celeron N3450 1.1 GHz (2.2 GHz in turbo mode)
Graphics: Intel® Intel® HD Graphics 500
Memory: 8GB RAM + 64GB ROM + 128GB M.2 SSD
LAN — Gigabit LAN
WiFi — 2.4/5 GHz
Bluetooth 4.0
Display: HDMI
External interfaces: 3x USB 3.0
Audio output — 3.5 mm jack
Dimensions: 255 x 255 x 40
Weight: 660 g (640 g in reality)


As you can see, this computer isn’t exactly new in terms of hardware. It uses the well-known N3450 processor (SoC) based on the Apollo Lake core. These processors were announced toward the end of 2016 and became widely available around mid-2017. That’s when I reviewed a computer with the N3450, the Beelink M1, followed by several other models.
In fact, all these models are very similar, and performance is determined mainly by the processor, which is the same in all of them. In this case, though, the manufacturer decided to increase the RAM to 8 GB and add a 128 GB SSD alongside the eMMC storage. For some reason, they removed the card reader, and there aren’t many USB ports—but more on that later.

As soon as you pick up the box, it feels like a premium device. This isn’t an ad—it really is that way. The box is large and made of thick cardboard.
Everything inside is packed snugly into trays in a plastic insert. The manual sits on top, and the back of the box lists the specifications.


The package contents, however, are very modest. There’s no second, short HDMI cable or VESA mount like with the Beelink, although the case design means neither is really needed anyway.
The package includes:
1. Acute Angle AA-B4 computer
2. HDMI cable
3. Power supply
4. Manual
5. Case



The manual is illustrated. It also mentions the warranty, even in Russian, though something tells me that warranty probably won’t be valid here.



The HDMI cable is a standard 1.5 m cable. It also came with a neat fabric case that looks a bit like a little hat.
A 12 V, 2 A power supply with a European plug.

The only thing that seems a little puzzling is the case. It looks smart and neat, but its practical value is close to zero. For example, I can hardly imagine anyone actually using it in real life. Still, if it adds a touch of class, why not?


The design is very original. For instance, this is the first device I've come across where appearance takes center stage—in both the literal and figurative sense.


But it was probably designed to be placed vertically.
The power button is on the front, with a reset button hole just below it and a pair of USB 3.0 ports at the very bottom.


I can't manage to take a photo of it in a room, but I can easily picture how it would look in real life next to a wooden desk


It would probably look good paired with a matching monitor and keyboard :)


But I digress.
All the other ports are on the back: power, Ethernet, HDMI, another USB port, and an analog audio output.


There are ventilation holes on the sides and top. They seem a little small to me, but we'll see how it performs in the tests.


Speaking of ventilation.
The product page shows air coming out of the side, where there are lots of holes.


What's more, there's a picture showing the computer lying on a desk. You absolutely must not place it that way, because that blocks the side vents, which draw in cool air. Hot air is expelled from the top.
The best position is the one shown in the main picture: vertical, with the power button at the top. Alternatively, you can lay it on its side, with the power button on the left!
There's a fan inside, but it's extremely quiet. Most of the time it's either off or running at a very low speed. I've heard it at full speed a few times, for 1–2 seconds, when starting demanding tests. The fan would spin up to full speed and then immediately settle into some medium mode, but it wasn't noisy even under maximum load.


There's a backlit trim around the ports. I couldn't figure out what the lighting was for, and was even more puzzled to find it on the bottom too (when the computer is standing vertically). It glows very dimly.


The second bit of decoration is a laser-engraved manufacturer logo. It's also barely noticeable, and certainly better than those shiny badges.


Near the beginning, I mentioned the USB ports. Well, there's a bit of an inconvenience.
1. The front ports are upside down compared to the usual orientation. For example, I have a hub next to it with the ports the right way up (contacts facing down), and switching a flash drive between the hub and the computer was annoying because I had to turn it over every time.
2. Having two ports on the front is great. For example, I have a flash drive and the keyboard's wireless receiver plugged in here. But if you use a wired keyboard and mouse, it makes sense to plug them in at the back so you don't spoil the appearance with extra cables—and there's only one port back there. I don't know why they didn't add two; there's room.


As always, a teardown is in order. I should mention that I took the computer apart after completing the main tests.
First, remove the back panel, which is held in place by four screws. The manufacturer surprised me once again: not only is the back panel metal, but the screws have threadlocker on them. And then I noticed a wire connecting the back panel to the heatsink, which is in turn connected to the board's ground conductor.


The teardown stalled a little at this point. It turned out that to take it apart properly, you need to release or remove the two plastic clips on either side of the plastic window. You can leave them in place, but the light guides for the back panel's illumination could get damaged.


The case. At first I thought it was MDF—the stuff used to make laminate flooring, basically just compressed cardboard. But now I'm leaning toward the idea that it's wood. First of all, MDF is usually not coated with varnish, but this one has it—not just in appearance, but in smell too. Second, the texture looks more like wood, and third, it feels more like wood to the touch as well.
After I’d put everything back together, I regretted not trying to scratch it with something sharp, but taking it apart is rather awkward, and I don’t want to do it again.


Inside is a so-called “chassis” made of plastic, with all the components installed inside it.


As usual, the rest of the teardown is under the spoiler.


As usual, I'll start the software overview with the BIOS. I can tell you right away: there's almost nothing there—just the bare minimum in terms of settings. You can also see here that the clock isn't synchronized at startup. Once Windows starts, it sets the time to when the computer was shut down, then automatically synchronizes it.


The manufacturer's logo appears during boot. I didn't time the boot, but it was pretty quick.


Next came the familiar initial setup process. It asked me to choose the system language (Russian wasn't available), the country, the input language, and so on.
After I entered all the required information, the computer booted to the familiar Windows 10 desktop.


The system was entirely in English, so this screenshot of Disk Management is also in English, before I switched it to Russian.
In this case, there aren't two partitions on a single drive; there are two separate drives. The system is installed on the eMMC (to avoid any licensing issues), and there's also a completely empty 128 GB SSD.




After switching Windows to Russian using the standard OS tools, I had a fully Russian-language version of Windows. A brief description of the process is under the spoiler.


The system activates automatically.


System information from CPU-Z. The processor has been around for a long time, so there’s nothing new here—except that, for some reason, CPU-Z didn’t identify the version of the integrated graphics core.
I also ran the first tests here; I’ll add them to the comparison table later.


Information about the installed SSD. It’s a no-name drive, so nothing interesting here.


A few tests of the eMMC memory, SSD, and USB 3.0 speeds when using an external SSD installed in an enclosure.
The built-in eMMC memory performs very well. Few units manage read/write speeds of around 200/100 MB/s.


Even an inexpensive SSD doesn’t actually fall that far behind: it reads at around 500 MB/s and writes at 150 MB/s.


And here are the performance tests. Again, nothing new: based on the results, the difference from other models is somewhere within the test’s margin of error.


PassMark gives an overall score based on the performance of everything, including the storage drives, so a computer with a primary SSD rather than eMMC will score higher.


But if you like, you can compare the individual test results too. It was clear from the start that this is more of a “typewriter”—or a mini PC for internet and multimedia use.


PassMark 9


3DMark2006. This test is very old; I usually run it mostly out of curiosity, and also to check for overheating. No complaints here.


The newer version of 3DMark. For some reason, the computer wouldn’t complete the TimeSpy test, returning a score of 0 at the end, so the results are somewhat incomplete.


Geekbench


The built-in WinRAR test shows no performance drop.


The remaining tests focus more on checking the main scourge of Chinese computers (and not only Chinese ones): overheating. The rest could more or less be predicted without testing.

LinX, 25 passes. The maximum temperature was 83 °C, recorded very briefly (about 1 second) right at the start of the test. During the test, it stayed at 70–75 °C, with an average of 72 °C.
I tried running the computer for 50 passes twice; nothing changes.


OCCT, one-hour test—more precisely, the test itself takes 54 minutes, with the computer idle for 1 minute at the start and 5 minutes at the end.
Another excellent result. I ran two tests back to back; below is a screenshot from the end of the second test. Maximum temperature: 75 °C; average: 73 °C.


After OCCT finishes, it saves a graph of the test. I used the result for the CPU core that reached the highest temperature.


CPU test. For some reason, this test heats up the computer more, whereas on previous-generation systems the power supply test caused more heating (shown above). But even here, the maximum temperature is 85 degrees, with an average of 73 degrees.
As for the maximum temperature, processors like the N3450 and others based on Apollo Lake and Kaby Lake cores have a "glitch": right at startup, turbo mode kicks in and the temperature literally spikes to 85–89 degrees for a second, then drops just as sharply to 65–70. But since the software records these spikes too, the maximum ends up showing as 85 degrees, even though that reading is actually erroneous.




Networking is handled by the same familiar Realtek gigabit chip and the same dual-band Intel WiFi—classic through and through.


WiFi sensitivity is also not particularly high, a characteristic trait of Intel modules.


The speed is relatively decent, though: around 50 Mbps on 2.4 GHz within a large room, with almost no dependence on distance or obstacles; around 150 Mbps on 5 GHz under comparable conditions. It briefly hit 225 Mbps, but I think that was a fluke.


And, as usual, I recommend using a wired connection, especially since there's a gigabit port onboard. In this mode, data transfer speeds easily reach 700 Mbps. The test depends on the load on the second computer, so the result dipped a little; in reality, speeds are closer to 750–800. Below is a comparison with WiFi speeds on the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.


Testing video playback is almost pointless, since modern computers decode even "heavy" files with practically no trouble. For example, in the well-known "ducks" 4K test, with a bitrate of around 240 Mbps, CPU usage was about 6–10%. There's no need to even mention simpler videos.


The comparison table shows that this computer's performance is neither better nor worse than that of other models based on the same processor, which is hardly surprising.


A short video demonstration.
Chrome browser. Of all the tabs tested, before recording the video I had only visited the AliExpress homepage and my blog, so everything shown is loaded from scratch, not from cache.


After spending some time with this computer and running the tests, here's what I can say:
1. No complaints about the design. It may take some getting used to, but it's actually quite convenient.
2. No issues with overheating, noise, or performance either. It runs quietly and doesn't overheat.
3. It's definitely nice that it has 8 GB of RAM, not 4 as is often the case. It's also nice that they included an additional SSD.
4. I do have some reservations about the number and placement of the USB ports. Three is a bit too few, after all—this isn't a TV box.
5. There's no battery. I honestly don't even know what to say about that; it's very strange.

Otherwise, it's a decent little machine. At least during the time I used it, I got the impression that some thought had gone into it—not just the design, but the appearance too. Its looks are what set it apart from the others, since there's nothing else particularly special about it, so in this case it's a matter of taste.
The cooling impressed me: it runs quietly, with no odd noises—no "whistling" or "growling" like you sometimes get, just a soft rush of air, and even that mostly under a fairly heavy load.

If the price works for you and you want something unusual, it's a perfectly reasonable buy. Otherwise, you can look for something cheaper in a more conventional design.

Price with coupon GBCNLJ01: $179.99, with 20 units available until 31.05. There's also an exact copy, Martrea Acute Angle; the only difference is the side badge. With coupon QTFAHMOCH4, it's the same $179.99.

That's all from me. I hope the review was useful, and as always, I'll be glad to answer questions or read your comments.