Review: Origin EON17-X

Introduction

Origin was one of the first companies to put a desktop processor into a gaming laptop, ringing in a whole new level of performance for gaming and production work. Now, Intel's latest line of Skylake processors should make Origin's EON17-X an even bigger powerhouse, with the ability to almost always overclock.

Aside from the desktop chip, this gaming laptop has other features that gamers will appreciate, including a big 17.3-inch screen and booming speakers to boot. The EON17-X also can be loaded up with the fastest PCIe solid-state drives (SSD) and DDR4 memory.

With all the available hardware options, this 17-inch gaming machine easily outpaces most gaming laptops – and even desktop rigs.

Design

Like the Origin EON15-X, this 17-inch gaming laptop has a surprisingly reserved styling. You won't find any superfluous track-lighting along the exterior of the notebook or so many angular body features that it looks like a Lamborghini-branded laptop. Instead, the Origin EON17-X is a stealthy gaming system with a few sophisticated touches.

Although my unit came with a bright red paint job on its screen lid, it doesn't attract too much attention otherwise. The laptop's top panel is an almost entirely flat piece of plastic without any extra lights or bits of metal.

The bottom portion of the notebook comes in a plain black finish that's nearly featureless, save for a subwoofer hidden on the laptop's underside. Meanwhile, the soft touch paint on the keyboard deck acts as a comfortable, rubbery surface for you to rest your wrists on for long stretches of gaming.

The few bits of flair on the Origin EON17-X are there for more than mere aesthetic reasons. Above the fully-backlit multi-colored keyboard is the power button flanked by two sets of indicators that signal hard drive activity or when the scroll lock has been engaged.

At the front right edge of the laptop, you'll find even more indicator lights. The only arguably superfluous bit of lighting on the notebook is found on the front lip, but it creates a cool under glow effect.

Optioned up

Near the hinge holding up the screen, there's a massive speaker bar, and it's not just for show. This laptop can output some bumping bass for gaming and full-bodied sound for movies and music.

Despite the tweeters measuring less than an inch in diameter, you can easily hear them playing tunes from across the room, which came as a surprise to my friends (and annoyance to coworkers in the office). What's more, because the EON17-X is that much larger than its 15-inch sibling, Origin was able to fit an additional subwoofer on the underside of this machine for even more bass.

The 17.3-inch screen is equally as attractive, giving you a huge helping of screen real estate, as well as bright colors, wide viewing angles and deep contrast levels out of the box. However, I recommend picking up the optional display calibration service for better color accuracy, as the screen starts off with an extremely cool tone on its default settings.

Specifications and value

Origin may have opted to dump the optical drive on the EON17-X, but it still weighs a substantial 8.6 pounds (3.9kg) and measures 1.52 inches (39mm) thick. Because of its large 17-inch screen, it will also take up a considerable amount of desk space with its other 16.46 x 11.1 inch (418 x 282mm; W x D) dimensions.

Comparatively, the Alienware 17 only weighs in at 8.33 pounds (3.78kg) and is thinner, but its bulky body ends up bumping its footprint up to 16.93 x 11.49 x 1.35 inches or 430 x 291 x 34mm (W x D x H). The Aorus X7 Pro is an even lighter, 6.6 pound (2.99kg) machine despite being the only SLI-equipped unit in this roundup. The X7 is also the thinnest device, with 16.85 x 12.01 x 0.9-inch (428 x 305 x 23mm) dimensions.

Here is the Origin EON17-X configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

Spec Sheet

• CPU: 4.0GHz Intel Core i7-6700K (quad-core, 8MB cache, up to 4.2GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Graphics: Single 8GB Nvidia GTX 980M (G-SYNC support), Intel HD Graphics 530
• RAM: 16GB Kingston HyperX Impact DDR4 (2133MHz; 2 x 8GB)
• Screen: 17-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 IPS matte display with G-SYNC
• Storage: 250GB Samsung 850 EVO m.2 SATA, 1TB Seagate solid-state hybrid drive
• Ports: 3 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, HDMI, 2 x DisplayPort, eSATA, SD card reader, headphone jack, microphone jack, S/PDIF output jack, line-in jack
• Connectivity: Killer Wireless AC 1535 dual band + Bluetooth
• Camera: Built-in 2.0MP video camera
• Weight: 8.6 pounds
• Size: 16.46 x 11.1 x 1.52 inches (W x D x H)

Fully configured as above (plus the banana crate it ships in, the Origin EON17-X rings up for $2,733 (about £1,834, AU$3,807). That might sound like a lot of simoleons to spring on a gaming laptop. Just keep in mind you're getting the most powerful desktop Skylake processor available and the highest-end mobile graphics chip. With a few smart downgrades, you could get this same machine for $2,099 (about £1,408, AU$2,927) with the best core components.

You can't get a desktop-grade processor built into the Alienware 17, but you can hook up it up to a full-fat graphics card through the Alienware Graphics Amplifier. As a 17-inch gaming notebook by itself, you can spec it to the highest configuration with a 4K screen for $2,549 (AU$5,637). The whole list of high-end components includes an Intel Skylake Core i7-6820HK processor, Nvidia GTX 980M, 16GB of DDR4 memory and 1TB of SSD storage.

The UK variant of this 17-inch Alienware only rings up for £2,391, because the best processor it can come with is an Intel Core i7-6700HQ chip.

For those who want – OK, "need" – to squeeze even more power out of the Alienware 17, throwing on the Graphics Amp along with a Nvidia GTX 980 adds an $899 or £527 (AU$369 in Australia for just the Amp itself) surcharge.

Picking the right configuration for the Aorus X7 Pro is much simpler, as it only comes in one model priced at $2,599 or £2,099 (about AU$3,320). Unlike its competitors, this 17-inch gaming laptop is the only one that comes packing dual Nvidia GTX 980M graphics processors, but it's also running an older-generation Haswell Intel Core i7-4870HQ processor and only 8GB of RAM.

If you're fine with sticking with a last-generation Broadwell processor, then the Aorus X7 Pro is one of the most powerful, self-contained 17-inch gaming laptops around. It's the dual video cards that make it an amazing system for PC gaming.

The Alienware 17 and EON17-X are pushing the performance of gaming laptops in other ways by leveraging the power of two different desktop parts. If you're looking to play some real time strategy games before getting back to editing video, the extra processing power of the desktop chip inside the Origin machine will be more useful.

Alternatively, if your gaming habits generally involve first-person shooters and the occasional RPG, then the Alienware 17 would be more than serviceable. And, if you get the Graphics Amplifier, you could boost the laptop's performance indefinitely as new desktop cards come out.

Performance and features

Whereas using the Origin EON15-X felt like using a big laptop, the EON17-X feels more a desktop I can fold and pack away. The larger 17-inch display makes split-screen multitasking a realistic pursuit.

As a result, the physical presence of this huge device makes it feel like I am resting a computing platform on my lap rather than a portable notebook. Unfortunately, the performance jump going from Haswell to Skylake processors isn't as impressive.

Benchmarks

Here's how the Origin EON17-X performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

• 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 28,335; Sky Diver: 24,992; Fire Strike: 8,811
• Cinebench CPU: 878 points; Graphics: 131 fps,
• GeekBench: 4,319 (single-core); 16,921 (multi-core)
• PCMark 8 (Home Test): 4,703 points
• PCMark 8 Battery Life: 2 hours and 17 minutes
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (1080p, Ultra): 73 fps; (1080p, Low): 163 fps
• Metro: Last Light (1080p, Ultra): 39 fps; (1080p, Low): 154 fps

That's not to say there's no improvement at all. The Origin EON17-X scored a few extra points in the PCMark 8 score, which translates to your video rendering a little bit faster in real world usage.

The laptop was also able to achieve a slightly higher frame rate while playing Shadow of Mordor on Ultra for smoother gameplay. For a better look, here's how the Haswell-powered EON15-X performed in our benchmark tests:

• 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 27,405; Sky Diver: 24,414; Fire Strike: 8,788
• Cinebench CPU: 874 points; Graphics: 158 fps,
• PCMark 8 (Home Test): 4,697 points
• PCMark 8 Battery Life: 2 hours and 4 minutes
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (1080p, Ultra): 69 fps; (1080p, Low): 161 fps
• Metro: Last Light (1080p, Ultra): 36 fps; (1080p, Low): 138 fps

While the year to year change in performance between desktop processors isn't too astonishing, the EON17-X still floors most other gaming laptops. Just looking at the PCMark scores, Origin's 17-inch monster dominates the Alienware 17's 3,225-point performance and the 4,093 score put forth by the Aorus X7 Pro.

In terms of gaming, the Origin's latest lags behind a bit. The EON17-X was able to play Shadow of Mordor at a more than decent 69 frames per second (fps) on Ultra, which is a tad better than the Alienware 17's 64 fps performance but the Aorus is on top, pushing 85 fps. With the added boost from the Graphics Amplifier, the Alienware 17 is almost as much of a gaming powerhouse as the Aorus X7. But, in a race for graphical supremacy, the EON17-X unsurprisingly comes in last.

Still, you'll have more than enough firepower to plow through most games with the EON17-X. I was able to play Fallout 4 at a steady 60 fps with a bunch of added mods and the display settings turned up to Ultra. The EON17-X even had zero problems running the recent (buggy) release of Just Cause 3 at an unfaltering 60 fps.

Power hog

Unsurprisingly, battery life is also not the EON17-X's forte. The 17-inch Origin lasted only 2 hours and 4 minutes while running the PCMark 8 battery test. Still, that's a few minutes longer than the Aorus X7 Pro's 1 hour and 53 minute runtime. Meanwhile, the Alienware 17 was finished after a comparatively lengthy 3 hours and 33 minutes.

The EON17-X managed to only hang on for five minutes longer while playing Guardians of the Galaxy in a constant loop at 50% screen brightness and volume. In real world usage (a mix of internet browsing, music streaming and word processing), the desktop CPU-powered rig ran for a maximum of 2 hours and 45 minutes.

When you're buying a gaming notebook, long battery life probably isn't high on your list of priorities. However, it's worth noting you can get nearly four hours of usage out of the Alienware 17. The Aorus X7 Pro is the biggest battery hog in this pen, lasting at most for 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Bundled software

Origin has kept the amount of preloaded applications to a bare minimum, as most gamers reserve their SSD space for games. That said, there are still a few non-essential applications, and these are the main ones you'll want to keep around.

• SteelSeries Engine – An essential application for changing everything on the keyboard from macro shortcuts to all of the backlighting options.
• Sound Blaster Xi-fi MB5 – Tune your speaker setup or pick from a set of preset modes for different types of games.
• SpyderUtility – The package app that controls the screen calibration, though there's not much control, as it's locked into one profile setup that was created in the factory.

Verdict

Origin set out on an experiment to produce a gaming laptop with a desktop processor, and now, by implementing Intel's latest Skylake processors, its EON-X platform has matured. The new CPUs make the EON17-X even better suited to production work, boosting both processing and graphical power.

The performance boost isn't enough to warrant Haswell-powered EON-X users to upgrade their machines. But, if you're looking for a mobile workstation or gaming laptop with the chops to handle almost every task, you won't go wrong with the Origin EON17-X.

We liked

The EON17-X fully embraces its nature as a big old laptop, offering a spacious and gorgeous 17-inch screen and enough room to fit an additional subwoofer for booming sound. Thanks to the excellent display and audio setup, this 17-inch rig is perfect for media – whether you're consuming or producing it.

Plus, that desktop processor allows for much more processing headroom to handle heavy tasks from video editing to 3D modeling better than any mobile CPU-equipped notebook could.

We disliked

In terms of hardware, the Origin EON17-X has almost no flaws. Sure, it's heavy, thick and an absolute drain on power efficiency, but you come to expect that out of a 17-inch gaming notebook.

The only real hold up that might prevent you from splurging on this powerhouse is its colossal price tag.

Final verdict

A grand is often too much for most people to spend on a laptop, so paying more than $2,500 for this 17-inch machine might seem ridiculous for most. But this laptop wasn't made for most people. Rather, it's a machine that caters to an audience of gamers and production artists – and even then, it's arguably better suited for the latter.

On the processor end of things, the Origin EON17-X is well ahead of its rivals. However, the ability to plug in desktop graphics or leverage the power of two mobile graphics chips make the Alienware 17 and Aorus X7 Pro stronger choices for hardcore gamers.

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