Origin PC Evo17-S (2022) Review: Big Gaming Performance in a Thin 17-Inch Laptop
Origin PC’s Evo-17-S gaming laptop puts the blazing performance of top-end components in a slim, stealthy body, assembled with the personal touch of a custom PC builder. The 17.3-inch laptop is remarkably compact and light at 4.9 pounds (2.2 kilograms) and yet churns out impressive frame rates. Like the company’s gaming desktop builds, you get more control over what goes into the Evo17-S than you would with any of the bigger-name brands.
You can even choose what goes on the outside, too. And you get more personal service and support. There are a few opportunities for improvement, but overall the Evo17-S is a big-screen gaming laptop to shortlist, especially if you’re after something that’s more tailored to your wants.
Like
- Impressive performance
- Many configuration options
- Stellar service, support
Don’t Like
- Noticeable display backlight bleed
- No per-key RGB keyboard lighting
Choice is yours
For the Evo17-S, Origin offers just a few combos of a display, Intel processor and Nvidia graphics processor.
The starting configuration, currently priced at £2,416 (GBP2,203, AU£3,823) pairs a 144Hz 17.3-inch 1080p display, an Intel Core i7-12700H and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. For £500 more, you can bump the graphics up to an RTX 3080 Ti or, for £800 more, you get the 3080 Ti with a Core i9-12900H CPU and a 240Hz 1440p display with 100% sRGB color space. From there you choose the RAM — 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5 — and up to two, 2TB PCIe NVMe solid-state drives.
This is where Origin stands out from the competition. While gaming laptops from others might let you pick the amount of storage you get, they don’t offer a selection of brands, sizes and speeds to meet your needs and budget. Plus, with more laptops being made with the RAM soldered onboard, it’s nice to have the option to add more down the road.
This laptop is expensive, going over £4,000 fully loaded. But other gaming laptops similarly configured from Alienware and Razer are equally pricey.
Origin PC Evo17-S (2022)
| £3,545 |
| 17.3-inch 2,560×1,440 240Hz display |
| 2.9GHz Intel Core i9-12900H |
| 32GB 4,800MHz DDR5 |
| 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics |
| 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen 4 SSD |
| 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, 2.5Gb Ethernet, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home |
| USB-C Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 1 (x3), HDMI 2.1, DC-in, audio in, mic out |
Origin also provides free labor on RAM and storage upgrades if you send in the laptop. In addition to its stellar reputation for hands-on support, Origin also offers a wider array of configuration options in its system-building tool, so you should be able to hit your dream specs pretty closely from the start.
This includes parts from its parent company, Corsair. Parts are covered with a one-year replacement warranty and buyers get 24/7 US-based tech support.
The Evo17-S might be thin but its performance is big.
Josh Goldman/CNET
Performance that doesn’t disappoint
With a top-notch processor and high-end graphics chip, it’s not a surprise the Evo17-S can hit some high frame rates even on newer demanding games. Whether you want to have a more immersive gaming experience with the 1440p-resolution display and details set to high or drop the resolution and detail settings to really use the display’s 240Hz refresh rate, the component combination in my review system can handle it. (Our benchmark test results are at the end of this review.)
The one minor performance ding would be the Corsair MP600 Pro SSD that was in my system that was slightly slower than WD and Samsung drives in other gaming laptops we’ve tested recently. It’s unlikely to be a performance difference you’d notice in use, but it might be worth paying a little extra for the Samsung 970 Evo Plus or 980 Pro SSDs if you want the best speeds. Predictably, a laptop this thin and powerful does get hot when you’re gaming or doing anything else demanding.
The fans do get loud but keep both the left and right sides of the laptop cool for your hands. The only place it gets hot on top is in the middle from above the keyboard down to the top of the touchpad.
The Evo17-S is compact for a 17.3-inch laptop.
Josh Goldman/CNET
Remarkably, battery life is pretty good. Gaming should still be done when it’s plugged in.
But if you want to kick back and stream some video or get some office work done away from an outlet, you can. On our streaming video test, it lasted 5 hours, 38 minutes. Some power management and reducing the screen brightness below 50% will stretch the battery time further.
The display is nice, too
The base model of the Evo17-S has a 144Hz 1080p display.
I can’t speak to the quality of that display, unfortunately, but the higher-end 1440p 240Hz screen in my review laptop was quite good. Bright with good color and contrast, the display covered 96% sRGB, 68% NTSC and 73% AdobeRGB and P3 color spaces and its brightness at 100% measured 420 nits. At its highest brightness, though, I did notice backlight bleed at the corners in dark game scenes, especially at the bottom of the panel.
This is not uncommon and not a deal-breaker for me, however, it might be for some potential buyers.
The laptop’s Control Center app gives you quick access to important settings.
Josh Goldman/CNET
I have a few more minor criticisms. For instance, the lack of per-key RGB backlighting on the keyboard — a feature you’d find on other gaming laptops at this price. The keyboard does have RGB lights, but you can only set them to solid colors or a handful of different patterns. (There’s a light bar at the front edge of the laptop as well.) I’m not a fan of the flat keycaps, but that’s personal preference and in general, the keyboard’s feel and layout are just fine.
Also, the speakers are loud but they sound thin. There are separate audio-out and mic-in jacks on the right side, though, so get yourself some speakers or a headset to plug in instead. Similarly, the built-in webcam is 1080p, which does give you more detail than the 720p webcams that were once standard.
Even in good lighting, though, there’s visible image noise so you may still want to use a discrete webcam. With plenty of ports on the left, right and rear of the laptop, you can connect multiple displays and accessories.
System Configurations
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.9GHz Intel Core i9-12900H; 32GB DDR5 4,800MHz; 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080Ti; 1TB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.9GHz Intel Core i9-12900H; 16GB DDR5 4,800MHz; 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080Ti; 1TB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-12800H; 16GB DDR5 4,800MH; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070Ti; 1TB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-12700H; 32GB DDR5 6,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti; 512GB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-12700H; 16GB DDR5 6,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti; 512GB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-12500H; 16GB DDR4 3,200MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060; 512GB SSD |
It’s worth mentioning, too, that although the laptop comes in a stealthy black with a metal lid, soft-touch keyboard deck and a plastic bottom, you can opt to have Origin apply one of 11 prints to the lid for an additional £65. I like the all-black look, though, and makes it more office-friendly.
Regardless of what you choose, you’re still getting a nice-looking thin-and-light design packed with as much performance as you want to pay for and the personal service and support of a custom PC builder.
How we test computers
The review process for laptops, desktops, tablets and other computer-like devices consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our expert reviewers. This includes evaluating a device’s aesthetics, ergonomics and features. A final review verdict is a combination of both those objective and subjective judgments.
The list of benchmarking software we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve.
The most important core tests we’re currently running on every compatible computer include: Primate Labs Geekbench 5, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10 and 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra.
A more detailed description of each benchmark and how we use it can be found in our How We Test Computers page.
Geekbench 5 (multicore)
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022)
Alienware x15 R2
Origin PC Evo17-S
Lenovo Legion 5i Pro
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Cinebench R23 CPU (multicore)
Lenovo Legion 5i Pro
Origin PC Evo17-S
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022)
Alienware x15 R2
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
PCMark 10 Pro Edition
Lenovo Legion 5i Pro
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022)
Alienware x15 R2
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
Origin PC Evo17-S
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Online Streaming Battery Drain Test (in minutes)
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022)
Origin PC Evo17-S
Alienware x15 R2
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58
Lenovo Legion 5i Pro
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Origin PC Evo17-S
Lenovo Legion 5i Pro
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022)
Alienware x15 R2
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Guardians of the Galaxy (High @1920 x 1080)
Alienware x15 R2
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022)
Origin PC Evo17-S
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest @ 1920 x 1080)
Alienware x15 R2
Origin PC Evo17-S
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022)
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
Lenovo Legion 5i Pro
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
System Configurations
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.9GHz Intel Core i9-12900H; 32GB DDR5 4,800MHz; 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080Ti; 1TB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.9GHz Intel Core i9-12900H; 16GB DDR5 4,800MHz; 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080Ti; 1TB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-12800H; 16GB DDR5 4,800MH; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070Ti; 1TB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-12700H; 32GB DDR5 6,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti; 512GB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-12700H; 16GB DDR5 6,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti; 512GB SSD |
| Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-12500H; 16GB DDR4 3,200MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060; 512GB SSD |
