Origin PC EON17-X Laptop Review: Phenomenal Cosmic Powers

Origin announced its Origin PC EON17-X this past June, giving PC gamers around the world a reason to show some interest in the gaming laptop. Considering G-Sync technology was only previously available for desktop machines, delivering a gaming laptop with the feature is a pretty big deal as it can keep tearing and screen stutter to a minimum while you’re on the go.

The EON17-X has all the bells and whistles those who take their PC gaming serious would want in a gaming laptop. And while it performs to the degree I expected it to, I didn't expect it to underperform as much as it did in certain aspects.

Heavy-duty Gaming

The EON17-X is considered a desktop replacement, which means you shouldn’t expect to do any serious traveling with it. Weighing in at 8.6lbs, it’s quite a heavy gaming laptop, but considering how much is stuffed within its chassis, I’m impressed Origin was able to put so much into such a small space. Stuffing an Intel i7 6700K CPU into the EON17-X alone should is an impressive feat, considering it’s only ever been made available for desktop computers. And what makes the CPU even more enticing is the fact it’s been overclocked to 4.5GHz.

While the laptop itself is on the larger side, it uses its space well as it features a 17.3-inch 1080p IPS Matte Display, a full sized keyboard with customizable backlight, and a multi-gesture trackpad. The keyboard was comfortable to write on as it had just the right amount of sponginess and clickiness for my taste, and I really enjoyed the custom backlighting since I was able to have it display a wide variety of colors. It wasn’t to the quality I’d expect from an RGB keyboard, but I was still impressed with its ability to add just a bit of visual spice to its overall black and rigid body.

The trackpad, on the other hand, was more of a nuisance than anything else. Instead of being placed in the middle of the palm rests, it’s positioned slightly to the left. Having it in that position has caused my left palm to come into contact with the trackpad too often. Other than its frustrating positioning, the trackpad had a smooth surface, which I always prefer over one with texture to it, and it even had a fingerprint reader in the middle, which performed very well as I was able to capture all of my fingertips within its system. Now if I lose nine of my fingers, I’ll at least have one more available to unlock this laptop.

Performance at a Cost

With an Intel i7 6700K overclocked at 4.5GHz and an Nvidia GTX 980M, the EON17-X performed just as well as I expected it to in our benchmarks. In PCMark 7, it scored a 6513, which is on the higher end of the gaming laptop spectrum, while in 3DMark 11, it scored a P11423 and an X4331. It’s 3DMark 11 scores are also very good as it nearly reaches performance levels that can run the Oculus Rift, which is very impressive for a gaming laptop.

In my time with the EON17-X, I played the latest releases, including Fallout 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Across the board, the laptop performed flawlessly as I was able to push it to give me a smooth gaming experience in everything I threw at it. While getting Fallout 4 to perform well was a breeze considering its recommended specs, getting The Witcher 3 to perform at Full 1080p with all of its details maxed out is even more impressive.

When it comes to gaming on the go, battery life may be just as important as the performance you can get out of a machine. While the EON17-X exceeds in its performance, it fails in its ability to stay on for long periods of time. On a single charge, I was able to achieve a little over two hours of battery life when using it for everyday tasks, such as email, social networking, and watching videos on YouTube. When I played a game on it, the battery life dropped significantly as I was only able to get around 30 - 45 minutes of game time while running several games on their highest visual settings. So if you plan on taking your gaming on your commute, it better be a quick one or else you’ll find yourself with a nearly nine-pound paperweight.

Homebody

Even though the EON17-X is categorized as a laptop, I can’t imagine myself lugging it around on a daily basis. Instead, I could easily see myself propping this on my office desk and treating it like a desktop while also saving some space from having a full-sized desktop set up. And if I need to travel with it, it’ll be at short distances where I can throw it in my car to visit friends and family while also showing off this beast of a laptop.

One caveat that keeps me from wanting to travel with the EON17-X is its very short battery life. I feel like it wasn’t really built with traveling in mind as getting to play a game for under an hour while on the go doesn’t warrant having to lug it around for several hours.

With all that said, as long as you keep the laptop at home and close to its power adapter, you're going to get some serious performance that should be able to keep up with your gaming habits for a couple of years.

System Specs

• CPU: Intel i7 6700K overclocked to 4.5GHz
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 8GB 980M
• Display: 1920 x 1080p IPS Matte Display
• Memory: 16GB DDR4 2133MHz
• Storage: 1TB Seagate Mobile SSHD
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home
• OS Drive: 256GB Samsung SM951 PCie M.2
•  Lifetime 24/7 Based Support and Lifetime Free Labor. 1 year Part Replacement & 45 day shipping warranty
• 45 Day No Dead Pixel Guarantee Free

This review is based on a loaner unit from Origin. The Origin PC EON17-X is available in retail today.