Pros & Cons
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- Costs less than much of the competition.
- Overclocked desktop-class processor.
- Very good gaming performance.
- Plenty of storage space and connectivity options, including USB-C.
- Customizable keyboard backlighting.
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- Wide and heavy.
- 3-hour battery life.
- Poorly placed fingerprint reader.
Origin EON17-X Specs
| Graphics Memory | 8192 |
| Graphics Processor | Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M |
| Native Display Resolution | 1920 by 1080 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 |
| Optical Drive | external |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-6700K |
| Processor Speed | 4.5 |
| RAM (as Tested) | 8 |
| Screen Size | 17.3 |
| Tested Battery Life (Hours:Minutes) | 2:49 |
| Weight | 8.6 |
| Wireless Networking | 802.11ac (2.4+5.0 GHz Dual-band) |
The 17-inch Origin EON17-X ($2,692 as tested) is a premium gaming laptop with the hardware to provide smooth performance at the highest settings. In addition to a powerful Core i7 desktop-class processor, it features a potent graphics card and plenty of memory, extra features such as a customizable keyboard, and a wealth of connectivity options. We were so impressed by the 15-inch Origin EON15-X, which has similar specs and performance, that it earned our Editors' Choice. For $113 more, though, the EON17-X gives you more screen space and even faster performance, as well as a USB-C port. Thanks to these extras, good build quality, fast hardware, and a price that undercuts much of the competition, the Origin EON17-X is our new top pick for high-end gaming laptops.
Design and Features
This 17.3-inch laptop is large and hefty, but it isn't an unsightly slab. We like the sleek pair of vents on the back end that accommodate the desktop CPU, for instance. The lid on our test unit was white, which looks pretty striking with the simple black Origin logo and black plastic body. The EON17-X measures 1.53 by 16.46 by 11.1 inches (HWD) and weighs 8.6 pounds, making it a bit slimmer than the Asus ROG G751JY-DH72X (1.7 by 16.5 by 12.5 inches, 9.06 pounds), a gaming system that also has a 17.3-inch display. Another competitor, the MSI GT80 Titan SLI, is monstrous by comparison at 1.93 by 17.95 by 13.02 inches and 9.9 pounds with an 18.4-inch display.
View All The display features Full HD 1,920-by-1,080 resolution and Nvidia's G-Sync technology, which provides a visually smoother performance when activated. The EON15-X, the ROG G7, the Aorus X7 Pro, and the MSI GT80 all share the same screen resolution. Though some notebooks offer 3K or 4K displays, laptop hardware is generally not strong enough to compensate for those demanding resolutions when gaming, which significantly slows performance. That means 1080p is still the sweet spot for gaming laptops, at least until hardware improves to the point where 3K or 4K resolution won't require you to turn down your graphics settings and visual effects. The EON17-X's screen has an anti-matte coating. This dulls the picture somewhat, but cuts out distracting reflections.
The laptop's width provides plenty of room for a spacious keyboard with a number pad. The curved keys don't have spacing between them, which may take some getting used to. But they're responsive and make satisfying clicks when pressed. The keyboard is backlit with customizable lighting, and software is included that lets you change the colors across three sections—the left, middle, and center zones. This is a nice bonus feature, and while it's not the unique per-key backlighting found on the Razer Blade Stealth, it's fun. The EON15-X has the same lighting scheme as its newer sibling, but the ROG G7 offers only red backlighting.
The touchpad is responsive, and finger scrolling is smooth. A fingerprint scanner is located between the left- and right-click buttons, below the touch surface. I occasionally pressed on the sensor instead of clicking the button I was aiming for, but became accustomed to it over the testing period. The system's speakers, located in a long raised bar just under the bottom of the display bezel, get very loud, and quality doesn't suffer at maximum volume.
