The keyboard is backlit

The keyboard is backlit

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This latest version is ever so slightly different from the last 17-inch Origin laptop we saw, but you'd have to compare them side by side to notice. Different parts of the keyboard tray have a brushed-metal finish now, and the audio output jacks have moved from the left side panel to the right side panel. The rear of the system now tapers slightly, instead of being squared off.

The end effect of the changes is minimal, and you won't see any major structural changes, such as adding separate media control buttons or rearranging the keyboard. The touch pad, however, has been upgraded to a button-free clickpad, with the fingerprint sensor that used to sit between the left and right mouse buttons now being set off to the far right side. If you choose Windows 8, the new touch pad supports with battery such as Sony PCGA-AC16V Ac Adapter, Sony PCGA-AC19V1 Ac Adapter, Sony PCGA-AC51 Ac Adapter, Sony PCGA-AC5E Ac Adapter, Sony PCGA-ACX1 Ac Adapter, Sony VGP-AC16V8 Ac Adapter, Sony VGP-AC19V23 Ac Adapter, Sony PCG FX215 Ac Adapter, Sony PCG-3192 Ac Adapter, Sony PCG-492L Ac Adapter, Sony PCG-505G Ac Adapter, Sony PCG-505X Ac Adapter all the new multitouch gestures for Win 8 navigation, but I still find using a touch pad less than optimal for a lot of Windows 8 tasks.

The keyboard is a less common variant of the typical island-style keyboards found on most laptops. The key faces are widely spaced, but the base of each key is wider and nearly touches its neighbor. The large keys and full-size number pad make typing easy and error-free, but the keyboard has a lot of flex, especially in the middle -- another example of a nonpremium feel. A few layout oddities add frustration; most notably, the Windows key, which is very important in Windows 8, is now on the right side of the spacebar instead of the left.

The keyboard is backlit, which makes it easier to find media control button combos during a low-light PC gaming session (such as Fn+F3 to mute the speakers). You can launch a command center app that lets you adjust the color and pattern of the backlight across three different zones on the keyboard. It's not as advanced as the keyboard backlight options offered by Alienware, but it's still probably more options than you'll ever need.

The 17.3-inch display has a native resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels, which we've seen become more common even in smaller 13- and 15-inch laptop screens recently. The display is crisp and bright, and is additionally covered by Origin's No Dead Pixel Guarantee. Customers have 45 days to return any system with a dead pixel, a type of coverage more-mainstream vendors do not offer. Audio from the Onkyo speakers is loud and fine for basic gaming or video playback, and can be adjusted via a Sound Blaster control panel, but you'll still want headphones or external speakers for a realyl immersive experience.

I may knock the Clevo case design as old-fashioned, but this newer version is ruthless in cutting out-of-date ports such as DVI and VGA video outputs. You get a healthy number of USB 3.0 ports, and something I always appreciate, an eSATA port -- especially useful for hooking up a large external drive to store game downloads, movies, and other big files.