Origin PC Eon15-X review: 12 cores, if you need them

Origin PC takes “desktop replacement” seriously. Like the Alienware Area-51m, and its ilk, the company’s Eon15-X and Eon17-X incorporate desktop CPU and GPUs into powerful but power-hungry laptops. Intended to move at most from outlet to outlet rather than from conference room to coffee shop, battery life takes a back seat to performance. The Eon15-X is a reasonably priced midrange model with midrange graphics and one headliner: It incorporates AMD’s latest desktop processors, including a 12-core Ryzen 9 3900.

LikeExtremely fast CPUCalibrated display

Don’t LikeFans are loud except in Quiet mode, which is too slowNo Thunderbolt 3 support and only one USB-C portSmall right Shift key near arrow keys and trackpad placement result in accidental cursor movement

There are some advantages to using the desktop parts; for example, consumer mobile parts like the new Intel i9-10980HK and AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS, the latter in the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 we tested, top out at eight cores. (A workstation CPU like the Intel Xeon W-10855M has 12 cores, but that adds a hefty price premium for features you probably don’t need.)

That’s not a big deal for most gamers, but, for instance, if you play simulations long enough to develop really complex worlds, and the game can take advantage of that many cores, it should deliver a better experience. And for video encoding, 3D rendering and other compute-intensive creative tasks — as long as you don’t need a more powerful GPU as well and are planning to hook up to an external monitor when you need a better display — it’s a great deal.

Origin PC Eon15-X (2020)

Price as reviewed

$2,390

Display size/resolution

15.6-inch, 1,920×1,080 IPS 144Hz

PC CPU

Ryzen 9 3900

PC Memory

16GB 2,666MHz DDR4

Graphics

8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070

Storage

1TB SSD, 1TB HDD, microSD card slot

Ports

1x USB-C, 3x USB-A 3.1, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x mini DisplayPort, 1x headphone, 1x mic

Networking

Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0, Realtek Ethernet

Operating system

Microsoft Windows Home (1909)

Weight

5.9 pounds (2.7 kg)

The Ryzen 9 3900 is sort of a baby desktop processor, though. It’s a low-power version of the desktop Ryzen 9 3900X that’s specifically intended for OEMs to cram into notebooks — it pulls 65 watts vs. 105 watts — so it’s slower than you’d get in an actual desktop. But it’s still a fast processor, especially in a laptop for less than $2,500.

In our test configuration, however, it felt mismatched with the rest of the components. The CPU is powerful, but for CPU-intensive activities like photo or video editing, 16GB is too little memory; I frequently use 10GB before I’ve opened anything beyond my standard workload (two browsers, Slack, Acrobat, Bridge).

I wish I could say the CPU was uniformly fast across everything I put it through. Clearly it aces the CPU benchmarks. But on my standard test of importing and generating 1:1 previews with Lightroom Classic — an operation which usually maxes out all the cores you can throw at it — the laptop didn’t do as well as I’d expected, sustaining frequency for all cores at about 4GHz but not consistently using them all to the max. And that translated into subpar performance. I tried updating the BIOS, which didn’t help, and ultimately believe this is a consequence of hitting the 16GB memory ceiling.

If you’re If you’re looking for power gaming, you can dial back on the processor to the still-pretty-powerful eight-core Ryzen 7 3700X and save a couple hundred bucks, but for GeForce RTX 2070-class performance, there are better buys out there. Especially since the faster RTX 2070 Super is now available for laptops.

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Physically, the Evo laptops (and others) are doppelgangers of the Clevo models they’re derived from. Even if you dress it up with one of Origin PC’s custom paint job it can’t overcome its stolid, functional aesthetic. But it’s got a full set of connections with the power, mini DisplayPort and HDMI coming out the back where I like them. Because the USB-C port is part of the Nvidia GPU chipset, it’s also on the back. AMD doesn’t support Thunderbolt 3, so like all systems with AMD CPUs, neither does the Eon15-X. (I’ve run into too many issues with using USB external storage via a hub, so a single USB-C port doesn’t cut it for me either, unfortunately.)

The keyboard is about average — props for the number pad — though thanks to the small right Shift key proximate to the embedded arrow keys mistakes while touch typing are a problem; Razer specifically addressed a similar problem with its 2020 Blade laptops. And the touchpad sits right under where I tend to drop my left hand, setting off similar bouts of cursor-gone-wild. It won’t bother everyone, though. Don’t look for fancy lighting schemes, since it’s static and single-zone only, and it comes with the somewhat impenetrable Flexikey for assigning macros.

The placement of the arrow keys next to a too-small right Shift key has precipitated a lot of annoying mistakes while typing.

Lori Grunin/CNET

The 144Hz 1080p matte IPS display doesn’t stand out from the crowd of similarly equipped laptops; its gamut measures at just under 95% sRGB and in part due to the matte surface it’s low contrast and not very bright (peaks at 290 nits), but Origin PC does calibrate it so that it’s pretty accurate subject to its constraints.

The fans are also particularly loud in all but Quiet mode; my roommate heard it from outside my room and thought it was ambient waterfall noise, which some may consider a plus. But that mode is noticeably slower. The built-in webcam isn’t stellar, but doesn’t suck either, and it doesn’t run as hot as some power laptops. So there’s that.

As a faster-than average laptop with decent gaming chops, the Eon15-X hits the mark.

Geekbench 5 (multicore)

Razer Blade 15 Studio Editon

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401IV)

Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance

Cinebench R20 CPU (multicore)

Razer Blade 15 Studio Editon

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401IV)

Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance

Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming test

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401IV)

Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)