Origin PC EON15-S Review: A Svelte, Sensibly-Priced Gaming Laptop

Linux fans may dispute this, but we are living in a Windows world, and that is especially true when it comes to gaming. The EON15-S ships standard with Windows 10 Home (64-bit, of course), but if your needs extend into the Pro version, you can upgrade for $37. That's not a bad up-charge to go from Home to Professional, though only recommended if you can truly take advantage of the additional features that the higher end SKU offers.


If that desktop wallpaper does not look familiar to you, then clearly you need (yes, need!) to visit HotHardware more often—it is the same wallpaper Origin PC installed on the Chronos small form factor desktop PC that we recently reviewed. Like that system, the EON15-S boots to a clean desktop. Booting up is fast, too, thanks to the combination of an NVMe M.2 SSD and Windows 10, which go together like peanut butter and jelly, cheese and wine, or sea salt and pepper on kettle cooked potato chips. It's a delicious combination, is what we are trying to say.


While the desktop is clean, the EON15-S comes with more utilities pre-installed than the Chronos. One of them is Spyder 5 Pro, a screen calibration program. It is sort of an odd inclusion on a laptop in this pricing tier, though if you own a Spyder calibration puck, you can use it to more accurately tweak the display. Alternately, Origin PC will happily calibrate the display prior to shipping, for a $29 fee.


We are a little more enthralled with the FlexiKey utility that comes bundled with this laptop. It allows you to customize the RGB backlight, though not on a per-key basis. Instead, the main section is broken up into two customizable portions, followed by the number pad for a third configurable section. In addition to changing the color, you can also apply certain effects. It's similar to Alienware's AlienFX in Dell's like of gaming machines. 

FlexiKey is also your home base for creating macros. You can bind them to either specific keys on the keyboard or to your mouse.


If you don't want to jump around Windows to access various systems, you can hop into the Control Center that loads in the status area of the EON15-S. In addition to some general tweaks, you can customize the fan speed and, by extension, the cooling scheme.


Origin PC also includes Creative's Sound Blaster Cinema 3 software to get the most out of the laptop's speakers. Like most notebooks, you're not going to rock the house with the audio system that is inside the EON15-S, and of course bass response is lacking. However, you can squeeze a little more fidelity out of the audio with this tool. Even better is if you have a set of high quality surround sound speakers or a headset to plug into the EON15-S.