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Origin's Eon15 gaming laptop offers less bang, saves more buck
While some high-profile custom PC vendors are on their way out, Origin PC is just getting started. The company recently launched the Genesis, a desktop that melts gamers' faces at the same time it incinerates their wallets, and the Eon18, a laptop that... honestly does just the same. Come to think of it, flame seems to be a recurring theme for the company, but before you work yourself into a burning hot rage because of your inability to afford Origin product, consider the new Eon15. With only room for a single powerful mobile graphics chip and a single storage drive, it won't be setting new 3DMark or I/O benchmarks like its cousins, but it will let you get away with a 1080p screen, Core i7-820QM processor, up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, a GeForce GTX 285M and even a snazzy paint job for a merely painful, rather than excruciating, price. Configurations start at $1,900 -- hey, it's not like you were gonna be using those paychecks for anything else, right?
Origin's Eon18 gaming laptop reviewed, found to be a great performer, not a great value
Now that's a shocker, isn't it? A gaming laptop that isn't particularly friendly on your wallet? It's true, Origin's Eon18 is not the machine to consider if you're ready to make the step up from a netbook but aren't yet willing to step into quadruple-digit price tags. As tested by Laptop, the Eon18 was half-way to five-digits thanks to its $5,952 cost, but that money gets you a an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 chip running at 2.53GHz, dual 160GB SSDs, a pair of GeForce GTX 280M graphics cards, a lovely airbrush job on the lid, and a power brick that on its own, at three pounds, weights more than some of the competition's machines (no concerns about inadequate juice here). That configuration delivers unbeatable I/O performance but, when it came to the all-important gaming benchmarks, was found to be comparable to Alienware's M17x, and thus not exactly worth the $1,000 premium -- unless you really dig flame jobs. [Thanks, Mark]
Origin launches custom gaming rig shop, starts with Genesis and EON18
Does the world really need another high-end gaming PC shop? Looks as if we'll soon find out, as Origin has just launched itself into the mix with a pair of new rigs catering to those with specific (and pricey) demands. Poised to take on the likes of Falcon Northwest, this boutique outfit has ushered itself into the sector with the new Genesis desktop and EON18 laptop. The former gets going at $1,699, and if we're reading this right, Origin allows buyers to select "any chassis on the market, any color and design" and pretty much any other hardware they can dream of. The lappie is an 18.4-inch beast with a 1080p panel, limitless color and design options, twin GeForce GTX 280M GPUs, 8GB of RAM, a trio of HDDs, dual-layer Blu-ray burner and a starting tag of $2,599. So, who's up for celebrating the real end of the recession?
