Origin EON 17-S Laptop

Origin EON 17-S is unabashedly a desktop replacement laptop. On the surface, it’s a generic 17-inch laptop with some additional amenities, such as a discrete Nvidia GTX 460M GPU, a high-performance solid-state drive, and the top-of-the-line Core i7-2920XM quad-core processor from Intel’s 32nm Sandy Bridge CPU series.

For one thing, Origin chose not to implement Nvidia’s Optimus technology, which can automatically switch between the lower-power Intel HD Graphics built into the Sandy Bridge CPU core and the higher-performing discrete GPU. The 2.5GHz Core i7-2920XM can run as high as 4.5GHz in Turbo Boost mode, thanks to some overclocking modifications by Origin PC. The downside to the discrete GPU and high-performance CPU is noise. The fan noise emanating from the EON 17-S is pretty loud--not the loudest I’ve heard, but loud enough to be distracting, even when the laptop is idle.

Origin includes plenty of ports, including five USB ports. One combo eSATA/USB 2.0 connector is on the rear, and one USB 2.0 port sits on the right side. The right side houses the Blu-ray drive plus three audio jacks, which can be configured as combo jacks. One of the more interesting amenities is Bigfoot Networks' Killer wireless 802.11n network card. The Killer’s claim to fame is that it offers lower latencies and higher throughput than standard network controllers do. Video playback--both high-definition Blu-ray material and DVD upscaling--looks a little on the noisy side. A fast, 256GB Crucial SSD is the primary boot drive; a 750GB, 7200-rpm Seagate drive is included for secondary storage. The EON 17-S ships with PowerDVD 11 for full Blu-ray 3D support. Overall, the Origin EON 17-S offers superb performance in general-purpose and media-authoring environments, and better-than-average performance in most games.


Origin EON 17-S Laptop

Display
Display size 17.3 inches
Maximum resolution 1920 x 1080
Display type Glossy LCD with LED Backlight

Processor
Processor class Intel Core i7
Processor model 2920XM
Processor speed 2500 MHz
Number of Cores 4
Cache size 8 MB

Graphics
Graphics Type Discrete
Discreet Graphics Chipset Nvidia GeForce
Discreet Graphics Chipset Model Number GTX 460M
Graphics Memory 1536 MB

Memory
Installed memory 16 GB
Maximum memory 32 GB
Memory technology DDR3
Memory Speed 1600 MHz

Storage
Hard Drive Type Hard Disk Drive
Solid-State Drive
Total HD Size 1006 GB
Hard Drive Speed 7200 RPM
Number of hard drives included 2

Other Storage
Memory Stick
SD/MMC Card
SDHC Card

Optical Drives
Optical Drive Type BD-RE/BD-R DL
Optical Drive Speed 8 x
Optical Drive Loading Type Tray

Networking
Ethernet Type 10/100/1000 Mbps
Wifi Type 802.11 n

Interface Connections
Number of USB 3 Ports 2
Number of USB 2 Ports 3
Number of Firewire Ports 1
Video Interfaces
DVI (dual link)
HDMI
Audio Interfaces Digital Optical
Additional Interfaces eSATA

Dimensions
Weight (min) 8.6 pounds
Weight (with accessories) 11.1 lbs
Width 16.1 inches
Depth 10.8 inches
Height 2.1 inches

Origin EON 17-S