Origin EON15-X

Desktop replacement laptops, which combine the level of performance you’d normally expect from a desktop PC, with the portability of a laptop are stuck between a rock and a hard place these days. With 15-inch laptops getting more powerful while shrinking in size (horizontally) every day, the value in a desktop replacement is rapidly diminishing. This is especially true for the Origin EON15-X desktop replacement gaming laptop.

While the care and attention to detail of the system builders at Origin can’t be understated, it’s difficult to see such a specific device being worth the considerable price tag it comes with when it’s placed alongside gaming laptops that feature the same screen size, yet are way thinner and lighter – and not that far off when it comes to power, either.

Getting a desktop-grade processor inside of a laptop is an impressive feat, but its luster wanes when you consider how little advantage video games continue to take of multi-core processing. What you’re left with is an incredible laptop that, frankly, is beset on both sides by more sensible options: the thinner, lighter and just-as-powerful 15-incher and the larger, even more powerful desktop replacement.

Price and availability

As listed with everything you see to the right, the Origin EON15-X will cost you $3,539 (about £2,700, AU$4,800) That’s an egregious amount of money to spend on a 15.6-inch laptop, gaming or otherwise, especially considering how gaming laptops have a shelf life that gaming PCs don’t, due to the fact that you cannot upgrade the graphics.

Also, keep in mind that this price includes services that would be otherwise invisible on a spec sheet, like professional screen calibration, factory overclocking of the processor and graphics chip as well as an upgraded, stylized screen lid. That said, these little niceties only amount to a few hundred dollars in the US – this is still a very expensive configuration.

The entry-level version of the EON15-X will cost you a still-whopping $1,922 (about £1,500, AU$2,600). That gets you the basic black shell and chassis housing the same backlit keyboard and Nvidia G-Sync display, but a comparatively pedestrian 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor, Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics, 8GB of slower 2,400MHz memory and either a 120GB SSD or 500GB hard drive.

Frankly, it’s easy to do better than this entry-level configuration. For instance, Dell offers a 15.6-inch gaming laptop with the same graphics, an 8th-gen Intel Core i5 mobile processor, double the memory and more than double the storage for 800 bucks (or quids) less with its new G3 line.

However, if you want to match the power of this laptop for less … that apparently isn’t too difficult, either. The Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501 pumps out nearly the same amount of power with its 8th-gen Intel Core i7 mobile processor and GTX 1080 graphics for (comparatively) just $2,899 (about £2,200, AU$4,000), though it admittedly can’t match the storage that Origin’s configuration offers.

You could also grab an Alienware 17 R5, replete with its Intel Core i9 mobile processor and larger 17.3-inch display (albeit just 60Hz) for a mere $2,699 (about £2,0000, AU$3,700). That price also gets you just as much (though slower) memory, with a bit more SSD space and half as much hard drive space.

These are large sums of money to spend on a laptop, so it’s worth shopping around before buying. For our readers in the UK and Australia, take extra care: shipping to your regions will be an added cost for Origin.

Design

The term ‘desktop replacement’ is a bit too fitting for the EON15-X’s design, with its massive weight and dimensions leaving room for that desktop-grade processor. In a way, it seems as if the laptop’s entire design centers around that piece of silicon.

What results is a laptop that’s just barely portable, if only by right of it being a laptop, but packs an immense amount of power, ports and expansion options. Origin has designed the EON15-X so that it can grow with you a few optional upgrades, like memory, storage and the processor. However, even that has its limits since you can’t upgrade laptop graphics in any device short of an external graphics card – which somewhat defeats the point.

The laptop is entirely clad in a matte plastic frame, and can come with optional HD UV printing (which is present on our review unit). To be honest, it’s a cool look, but the material doesn’t feel any more premium for the extra $149 (about £120, AU$200). In fact, the printing feels uneven in places, with little bits of plastic scratching our fingers as they glide across the surface.

We’d imagine that the more expensive screen lid options – like a metallic finish or one of Origins’ original themes – would feel much better and, given that you’re spending a small fortune on this thing, we’re disappointed that Origin has gone for a material that ends up making the laptop feel cheaper than it actually is.

Open the laptop up, and you’re greeted by a gorgeous 1080p Nvidia G-Sync display. Just below the screen sits an excellent keyboard which features deep travel and strong feedback that’s beautifully backlit and fully customizable, and which is surrounded by a comfortable soft-touch palm rest.

The touchpad is also pleasing to use, and we’re fine with Origin using a button-based touchpad rather than a clickpad for a device of this size. The tracking surface is a nice size, and plenty accurate and speedy. However, including the fingerprint sensor in the upper-left corner of the touchpad is a misstep. With all of the room this massive laptop affords, surely there’s a better place for that feature.

That said, using Windows Hello – Microsoft’s biometric login feature on Windows 10 – through the fingerprint scanner works like a charm. And, we have to commend Origin for including this feature, as far too many hugely expensive gaming laptops simply ignore it.

Remember, this laptop is technically a desktop replacement, and as such is absolutely stuffed with ports, including two mini DisplayPort slots, Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C 3.1 – though we wouldn’t accept much less given this thing’s huge size.

Display and audio

Two things that we must applaud Origin (and it’s supplier, Clevo) for are this laptop’s screen and its speakers. While the display is only 1080p, that’s really all you need at this display size, and all that’s feasible with this generation’s graphics processors.

Having your EON15-X display expertly calibrated by Origin may be worth your while, as the color reproduction on the display is spot on. Whether you’re watching movies or playing games, content looks sharp and bright on this screen. Plus, with G-Sync technology built in, frame stuttering and screen tearing simply aren’t issues here.

The speakers, similarly, are simply amazing. They’re perhaps the best we’ve heard on a 15-inch laptop. They protrude from the hinge area and point directly towards the user, and this offers plenty of room for such relatively massive drivers, making the audio that comes out of this laptop sound as if it’s emanating from a TV sound bar: it’s that good.

Of course, the EON15-X is a monster when it comes to processing power. If it were anything less for this price, you’d be right to be straight-up angry. With a desktop Core i7 processor and the latest and most powerful mobile Nvidia graphics, this laptop will chew through anything you throw at it.

As you may be able to tell from its benchmark results, this laptop would make about as good of a workstation as it does a gaming machine, though you may want Quadro graphics for certain applications. At any rate, know that this laptop will deliver beyond 60 frames per second (fps) frame rates at Ultra settings in most – if not all – of the latest PC games at 1080p.

However, for what it’s worth, the EON15-X didn’t perform that much better than rival gaming laptops which feature the same graphics hardware, yet cost a lot less. For instance, this laptop’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of War numbers at Ultra settings are nearly identical to those of the Alienware 17 R5.

Likewise, the single-core performance of the Intel processor in this laptop is only marginally better than that of the Alienware in the Geekbench 4 test. Given how long it’s still taking for more apps and games to take full advantage of multi-core processors, this is worth mulling over.

Keep in mind that these results were achieved with the EON15-X’s graphics chip being overclocked before shipping, just like the Alienware.

One advantage this laptop has over many others is that, due to its sheer size, it manages heat incredibly well, with it barely getting hot to the touch while under load. Naturally, that level of superior heat management is mostly thanks to two awfully strong – and awfully loud – cooling fans. At least the amazing speakers can drown out the din of fan blades spinning.

At any rate, one thing you won’t have to worry about with this laptop for at least a few years is its performance. Just know that there are more affordable options out there that come dangerously close to this level of power while arriving in far more attractive and portable packages.

Battery life

If you’ve come to this gaming laptop review expecting good news on the battery life front, what were you thinking? Just look at this thing – keeping those overclocked components cool and running at peak capacity obviously requires a lot of power.

Honestly, we’re mildly impressed the EON15-X even lasted as long as it did in our tests. Gaming, or other more intense tasks, would surely drive those numbers down. Again, do not buy this laptop expecting longevity or portability.

However, it’s growing increasingly common to see laptops with similar power levels pushing six hours or more of battery life. It won’t be long before the “hey, it’s a gaming laptop” defense no longer holds up.

Software and features

Origin is fantastic about resisting the temptation to overload its systems with bloatware. So, you just get very basic overclocking software to manage the optional factory overclocks done before shipping, and an app to manage the keyboard and other RGB backlighting elements.

Beyond that, Origin includes DataColor software for managing your display settings, which it likely used to calibrate your screen in the first place. Plus, for extra peace of mind, each Origin laptop comes with a fresh image of the operating system as it was before it even went into a box, just in case you royally screw things up and need to start from scratch.

You don’t see many computing corporations paying that much attention to detail.

Final verdict

It’s rather difficult to peg the Origin EON15-X, considering both its position among other desktop replacement gaming laptops and comparably powerful gaming laptops that are much thinner and lighter (and longer lasting). Frankly, if you’re looking to this device to be your desktop replacement, you may as well spring for a 17.3-inch model – either Origin’s own offering or something like the Alienware 17 R5.

Conversely, there’s now a glut of 15.6-inch gaming laptops that are thinner, lighter and just about as powerful, and which come with far more premium shells, for hundreds less.

So, sadly, we find it difficult to heartily recommend the EON15-X. Not on account of any failing on its part – it’s actually a fine laptop in almost every regard. It’s just unfortunate for it that the 15-inch gaming laptop scene has massively leveled up since we reviewed the previous model, to the point where even a fantastic 15-inch desktop replacement is a questionable purchase.

from TechRadar: Technology reviews https://ift.tt/1bCyx1n