Cooling, Portability, Software
Cooling
The Clevo chassis used as the base for this laptop goes all-out with the GPU. The GT 650M is otherwise found only in 15.6” and 17.3” laptops. The same can be said of the quad-core processor. You’d expect this to increase temperatures – and it does. The underside of the EON11-S can reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit even at idle. At last the fan remains quiet.
Placing the laptop under load immediately forces the fan to ramp up in an effort to combat increasing temperatures. The fan is largely successful as external temperatures increase to 107 degrees Fahrenheit near the fan exhaust but don’t rise at all in other areas.
The heat does unfortunately make its way to the keyboard, causing the left side to reach temperatures as high as 96 degrees Fahrenheit, which results in an uncomfortable experience.
Portability
The Origin EON11-S may be too chunky to be hip but it is an 11.6” laptop and therefore easy to carry around. Any bag or backpack designed for a 13” ultraportable will easily swallow this pint-size gamer, and carrying the laptop around by hand isn’t a chore. Though its weight of nearly four pounds is above average for a laptop of this size, it shouldn’t be a burden.
What may be a burden is the power adapter. It’s massive by the standards of ultrabooks, ultraportables and netbooks – and capable of putting out 130 watts. Being forced to pack the power adapter on long trips makes the EON11-S just slightly more portable than a 13.3” laptop.
But will you need the power adapter? Let’s take a look.
These results are poor when compared to any laptop of similar size. When compared to laptops with similar performance they’re in line with expectations. The 62 Wh battery is of decent size but not gigantic and eventually the quad-core processor eats through it in about four hours of light use.
Software
Origin is not a company known for its bloatware – quite the opposite, in fact. So it’s no surprise that the EON11-S comes with little more than a basic Windows installation. There’s no terrible webcam app, no security suite, not even a trial version of Microsoft Office.
The only annoying piece of software that does nudge into the EON11-S is the THX speaker control panel. I complained about this in my review of the EON17-S, as well, and the story is the same here. It’s still confusing and it’s still not always clear what, if any, impact the different settings have on sound quality.
You don’t have to use this control panel, however. It’s just there. Most users will ignore it and use the laptop’s built in sound controls.
Nice last gen screen.
Nice last gen screen.
Er…there is no such a thing
Er…there is no such a thing as a "last gen" screen.
Okay, how about a screen that
Okay, how about a screen that was out 2 or more years ago? That panel should be at least 900p or 1080p. If Asus can put one a 13″ Ultrabook, then I see no reason these guys couldn’t do the same.
Spot on with this write-up, I
Spot on with this write-up, I honestly believe that
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i don’t suppose some
i don’t suppose some enterpising ODM will bring out a version of this chassis sporting an AMD A10-4655M APU?
No, probably not. I’m curious
No, probably not. I'm curious why you'd want that? It would be awful thick for a laptop with a 17w part.
Good timing on the article.
Good timing on the article. Thank you for that.
I’m guessing this has Optimus switchable graphics.
I was looking for a tiny gaming laptop, but this still doesn’t quite meet what I have in mind.
BTW, I’m 6’2″ but my hands aren’t chunky, so the keyboard would be more than fine for me.
“is this a good laptop? No” =
“is this a good laptop? No” = GOLD AWARD!…. huh? this makes no sence to me
“My personal solution to
“My personal solution to gaming on the go was to buy a Nintendo DS”
WHAT?!?!
“I review super cars for a living but I prefer a Prius”
I just got a version of this
I just got a version of this laptop from XoticPC and I’ll add some information to the mix.
First, there aren’t a lot of options out there if you want something truly messenger-bag-portable and need to do pretty heavy 3D modeling and gaming while out and about. I had an M11x R2 and this is a pound lighter with triple the performance. The keyboard is small but I’m 6’5″ and have adjusted to the size. It’s not ideal, but a necessary evil for extreme portability.
The screen is not great, but if you get the matte option that most resellers are offering it’s not bad and a HUGE improvement from the M11x. The panels have similar properties, but the M11x was super glossy with an extra glossy panel of plastic a few millimeters above the actual LCD. So even if you put a matte protector on the top plastic, you’d see double reflections in bright light. Terrible. The w110er with a matte option is pretty usable.
The power supply is huge, but you can find 120w ultraportable power supplies. I bought a Kensington for $40 on Amazon but everyone seems to be sold out of that one now.
Finally, the bios used in these laptops is pretty throttle-happy with the nvidia gpu active. If you download Throttlestop you can seriously increase your performance in a lot of games and 3D intensive apps though: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html
It’s a fantastic machine with caveats. All in all, I’m quite happy with it.
I’d say the Eourocom Version
I’d say the Eourocom Version is way better, It’s cheaper and gives you better upgrades ” glossy to matte screen”. The Eourocom version even let’s you put the $1000 unlocked Ivybridge CPU version of this little beast. I personally liked the version I said, also because you can buy it withought an Os so It’s cheaper.