I like the simple black, but Origin offers flashier options.
Case in point: as I was testing it out I happened to get stuck in the San Diego airport for an extra hour plus (thanks Southwest Airlines!), but the time flew by thanks to an impromptu game of Civilization 5: Gods and Kings. The Core i5-3360 handled the turn-crunching admirably (and though it's probably unrelated to the EON11-S, that was probably the best game of Civ 5 I've ever played.)
Once untethered from the airport's power, though, the battery cost of the speedy GeForce 650M graphics hardware took its toll -- it conked out 55 minutes later, just as the captain announced our descent into San Francisco. By contrast, I got just over five hours of typical wi-fi web-browsing use with the screen at medium brightness.
| Origin EON11-S Specs |
| CPU: Intel Core i5-3360M RAM: 8GB DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB) Hard Drive: 256GB Samsung 830 Series Solid State Drive Graphics Card: 2GB GDDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit) Warranty: One-year part replacement and 45-day free-shipping warranty with lifetime labor/24-7 support Price of Reviewed System: $1,340 |
Origin recommends that you plug the EOS11-S into an external screen via the full-sized HDMI or VGA ports. That's good advice.
Sitting with the laptop on an airplane tray directly in front of me, the extremely limited optimal viewing angle of the 11-inch matte screen didn't bother me at all, and the 11-inch size was actually ideally suited for the cramped environment, and most of the generated heat is blown off to the left side so as not to cook your genitals. But if I'd been sharing the view with someone next to me to watch a movie, they'd have had reason to complain about that viewing angle -- even shifting in my seat was enough to wash out the picture. That's probably why Origin recommends that you bypass it by plugging the EOS11-S into an external screen via the full-sized HDMI or VGA ports, and attach a mouse or gamepad to the three USB ports (two of which are USB 3.0) for maximum enjoyment -- and that's good advice. It also means this laptop is at least as much about gaming at your destination as on the journey.No dongles required -- just plug in and go!
This should be a given for gaming, but putting away my Bluetooth mouse wasn't a great idea. The trackpad has the same cool looking light texturing as the top and wrist rest -- a nice detail at first that actually becomes uncomfortable on my fingertips when I use it for an extended period, and using tap-to-click (as opposed to the two physical buttons) often resulted in the pointer sliding away from my target before the click registered. Two-fingered scrolling works, but only if done just the way the EON11-S likes it.
Black not attention-grabbing enough for you? Origin offers several options to pimp your ride.
On the other hand, I like the chiclet keyboard quite a bit -- it's suitable for light typing, even for my meaty hands. I have two complaints: one, the sleep key is located between the volume down and mute key (on F4), which virtually ensures I'll be putting it to sleep when I only wanted it to shut up for a bit. And two, the right arrow key only works about 75 percent of the time, which is something that Origin's impressively personal warranty and support would certainly rectify.
Max It Out
Because all anybody's really interested in doing when they buy a new gaming PC is turning everything up to maximum, that's what I did here: all sliders pushed as far to the right as they'd go -- no compromises. All of this, by the way, is happening on my single 1920x1080 monitor. Nothing fancy.
Batman: Arkham City
Sadly, the EON11-S can't come close to playable framerates with everything maxed out, averaging just 17 frames per second in the benchmark test. I had to disable PhysX and antialiasing to get it to the low 30s, where I consider it playable, but you'd probably want to turn down a few other options for a smooth experience. BAC is still totally playable if you're willing to make that sacrifice, of course.
Total War: Shogun 2
Again, I saw framerates dip below 20 on maximum settings, which is a little disappointing given that the benchmark test doesn't even show any real battles. Medium settings gave a more reasonable result, and I'd consider that playable.
DiRT 3
This one we can max out! At an average of 45fps, DiRT 3 runs beautifully.
3DMark 11
X701 on Extreme settings.
But is it a good deal?
In that it's pretty much the only 11-inch gaming laptop available (since Alienware discontinued the M11a), yeah -- but I'd only strongly recommend it for gamers who are frequent travelers and need something light and powerful to make the most of their in-flight hours. If you're wondering how it compares to those sexy Ivy Bridge-powered ultrabooks, based on 3DMark score alone we're talking triple the power of the similarly priced Samsung Series 9 13-inch ultrabook I just bought for my wife. Thin may be in, but until integrated graphics can post these kinds of numbers, gamers would do well to consider something with a little meat on its bones.
Note: Origin's currently running a back-to-school promotion that can score you a free 128GB SSD in this PC.
Score
Pros: A tiny 11 inches and four pounds; strong graphics performance; good keyboard.
Cons: Poor screen; rough trackpad; an hour of mobile gaming time.