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Hands On: Origin stuffs powerful desktop processors into new EON laptops

Laptop processors are quick these days, but some users always need new power. If you’re among their number you’ll appreciate Origin’s new EON 15-X and 17-X, a pair of laptops with desktop hardware.

Yes, desktop hardware, as in processors up to the Intel Core i7-4790K, a quad-core with a maximum Turbo Boost clock of 4.4GHz. The notebooks also feature up to 32GB of RAM, lightening-quick m.2 solid-state hard drives and 1080p displays. Buyers can select up to four different storage drives, too, for insane capacities. Mobile graphics options include Nvidia hardware up to the GTX 980M.

You’d expect these EONs to be absurdly bulky, but in fact they’re surprisingly slim. The 15-incher is only one and fourth-tenths of an inch thick and the 17-incher is one and a half inches thick. They also weigh about 7.5 and 8.5 pounds, respectively.

Something the two have in common is a full color backlit keyboard with numpad and anti-ghosting keys. This means gamers can hammer it rapidly without worrying that inputs will overlap.

These desktops disguised as laptops aren’t the only systems Origin has announced. Also revealed at CES is the EON 15-S, a super-slim conventional notebook with Intel 4th-gen quad-core processors. It too can have up to 32GB of RAM, GTX 980M graphics and four hard drives, but it’s only one and a tenth inches thick and weighs a surprisingly light five and a half pounds. To achieve this it sacrifices the elaborate color keyboard, which is instead a white-backlit model on the EON15-S.

We hope to have hands-on time with these notebooks soon. Origin has not yet announced pricing or availability.

Matthew S. Smith
Matthew S. Smith is the former Lead Editor, Reviews at Digital Trends. He previously guided the Products Team, which dives…
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