Eurocom has proven that it can deliver very powerful mobile systems. The Canadian company’s Sky X9W mobile workstation we reviewed last spring was one of the fastest portable systems we have ever tested, although its price and weight certainly made it a niche product. We recently received the Eurocom Sky DLX7, which the company claims is “the most powerful ‘desktop laptop’ ever made,” based on the fact that it includes an LGA1151 socketed CPU typically found in desktop systems. With a claim like that, we couldn’t wait to subject it to our tests.
The Eurocom Sky DLX7 is a 17.3-in. laptop based on the Intel Z170 Express Skylake chipset. The $2,666 base configuration includes an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU unlocked for overclocking, an NVIDIA Quadro K3100M mobile GPU (graphics processing unit), 16GB of memory, a 1920×1080 display, and a 1TB 7200rpm SATA hard drive, but no operating system.
The system we received came housed in a sculpted charcoal gray case measuring 16.72×11.81×1.6 and weighing a hefty 9.2 lbs. Its huge 330-watt power supply (7.75×3.75×1.75 in.) adds another 3.1 lbs. While most modern mobile systems have become thin and light, the Eurocom Sky DLX7 weighs more than 12 lbs.
Thanks to its fast CPU and high-end graphics card, the Eurocom Sky DLX7 turned in some of the fastest performance we have ever recorded for a mobile workstation. The only system to routinely surpass it on standard benchmarks was the Eurocom Sky X9W we had previously reviewed, which with double the memory bested it on several of the SPECviewperf tests.
On the SOLIDWORKS test, the Eurocom Sky DLX7 was the clear winner, surpassing every other mobile workstation we have ever tested.
In December, EUROCOM Sky X9 brought us into the world of the “desktop laptop,” a category of notebooks featuring desktop socket processors and other enthusiast-level PC parts. This month, EUROCOM sent us a Sky DLX7 boasting Intel’s Core i7-6700K running on the Z170 chipset to take full advantage of the unlocked processor. The laptop also features an NVIDIA GTX 980 that delivers the same 2,048 CUDA cores; 8GB GDDR5 memory; and 7Gbps memory clock you’ll find on the full-sized GPU. In other words, the Sky DLX7 is another no-compromise notebook with performance that can truly compete (and possibly top) gaming PCs.
EUROCOM is able to fit all of the impressive hardware into a notebook shell that’s only 1.6 inches thick. You won’t mistake it for a MacBook Air, for example, as the system weighs close to 10 pounds, but laptops with comparable hardware often feature a thicker profile that’s sometimes more than 2 inches thick. The full-sized keyboard is comfortable to type on and provides smooth feedback. We like the Sky DLX7’s wide palm rest, as there’s plenty of space to support your hands.
As you might expect based on this laptop’s nearly maxed-out specs, the Sky DLX7 was a rock star in our benchmark tests. In 3DMark’s Fire Strike test, for example, it produced an overall score of 11272, which is near the score of EUROCOM’s Sky X9 with dual GeForce GTX 980Ms. Our game tests show that the DLX7 would be an excellent LAN party companion. It delivered better than 70fps in both Metro: Last Light and Dying Light, and 47.5fps in Witcher 3. The speedy processor- and memory-intensive test results of SiSoftware Sandra further illustrate the complete performance of the Sky DLX7.
The Sky DLX7 looks to have nearly identical hardware options to the Sky X9 we previously reviewed. The Sky DLX7 is slightly slimmer with a less flashy exterior. Performance-wise, you can can’t really go wrong with either model. For any notebook this caliber, you can expect to pay a pretty penny, and the $5,411 price tag on the unit we tested is similar to the highest-end configurations from other notebook manufacturers. But even the base specs are quite beefy, and we were able to scale the price all the way down to $2,384.
Eurocom introduces their Sky DLX7 17″ laptop with Intel’s latest Skylake 14nm desktop i7-6700k CPU and the new flagship mobile GTX 980 GPU, which amounts to, to put it bluntly, a very powerful portable desktop in a laptop package. With support for up to four 16GB DDR4 modules it can run 64GB RAM if desired, as well as dual M.2 drives and dual 2.5″ hard drives or SSD’s each in a RAID 0 or 1 configuration. Eurocom provided a sample DLX7 laptop for a review but more importantly to allow us to push the limits of it using Prema’s (v)BIOS Mods.
For this first post we will look at an overview of the physical laptop. Successive posts will show stock CPU and gaming performance results, followed by the performance of the system with a Prema vBIOS mod, and finally take you through some details of the Prema BIOS mod which opens up a plethora of user configurable options in the BIOS. vBIOS mod and BIOS mod can be run independent of each other, but recommend both for best configurability and performance.
The Sky DLX7 comes in a stylish matte black plastic chassis with a 17″ 1920×1080 IPS LCD, a full LED four zone color backlit keyboard with numberpad, a large touchpad with independent mouse buttons and fingerprint reader nestled between them. Its bulk is apparent, but considering the hardware installed, a necessary heft and size if anyone expects proper cooling of desktop components. The keyboard and touchpad are common across the other performance Eurocom laptop lines, and are comfortable and responsive for gaming and general use.
It's pricey, of course, but has key advantages over its closest competitors in the form of 100 percent AdobeRGB coverage and upgradeable LGA 1151 socket.
Every time a Eurocom comes by our way, there's a pretty good chance that it'll reach the top of our database in terms of performance and hard numbers.
The Eurocom DLX7 offers more than its big-name competitors in the form of removable processors and a standard 4K UHD panel with very high AdobeRGB coverage. This makes the Eurocom the better notebook for digital graphics work and editing when not running the latest games.