Kobalt Reviews..

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I am still looking for a games laptop, got let down with a good deal on a reasonably priced P Bell GX M-010 and although i would like the Asus G73 i am still waiting for the initial rush of price increases to settle down.
SO i have been advised by people in the forum to look at Kobalt's stuff and they do have a nice deal on the 17" model. BUT has anyone any experience of their reliability,performance and after sales service.. Any info gratefully received.. Thanks. :-)
 
I recently ordered the 17" G870. I have spoken to a couple of guys there and they seem very friendly and helpful.
There is only a handful of people working there so they are not the quickest. They told me it will take 2-3weeks for my laptop so I still have another couple of weeks to wait.

They also have a dedicated forums which is handy for specific questions.

I was also interested in the G73 but I dont want to import it and they want £1900 in the UK (rip off Britain at its best) There has been a number of issues with the G73 and Asus Support UK are awful so I dont want to risk buying a duff laptop and having no end of hell getting it fixed.
Also availability of the G73 is incredibly low
 
Kobalt aren't the fastest to get the machine to you because they're a small company, there are only 5 of them, but build quality is usually good, after care is usually decent, and providing the phone lines arent busy (again small company) they're helpful over the phone.

I can and do recommend them, even with the flaws, the personal/human touch and being able to speak about stuff with someone who understands you makes all the difference. Obviously they're not perfect, but I'd say they're one of the better of the bunch who provide this sort of machine, which is why they're still in business when companies like Vadim and Beast aren't. (Machine on order below is the second from them :))

If you have any queries, ringing them (even if it takes a few attempts) or dropping into the kobalt forum is usually a good place to start.
 
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Thanks for the input guys, your input was reassuring to Alexrose, I am just about to take the plunge and order the G 870 in a bog standard config with the Ati 5870. There is only one thing i wanted to know about and that is will the fans be noisy on it? I realise that when the guns are blazing in Bad Company2 i am not going to hear them but i dont want to be driven to distraction while watching a movie..maybe i am just being picky ( probably am) :-)))
 
hi alexrose1uk, I saw your name on kobalt forum and I thought i saw it on ocuk.

I'm looking at the lowly GS650/660, I don't want windows as I will run a linux distro. Is the clevo chassis well build? Do you hands make it flex? I like the look of the GS650, the keyboard looks like a macbook.

I just need to sell my real macbook so I can get one of these.
 
Thanks for the input guys, your input was reassuring to Alexrose, I am just about to take the plunge and order the G 870 in a bog standard config with the Ati 5870. There is only one thing i wanted to know about and that is will the fans be noisy on it? I realise that when the guns are blazing in Bad Company2 i am not going to hear them but i dont want to be driven to distraction while watching a movie..maybe i am just being picky ( probably am) :-)))

From what I know about the G860/870, the fans aren't silent, but they're not 'awe' inducing. Machine noise is a really hard thing to guage though without a reference point!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=465201
Give that a read, I dont think he covers noise, but it would give you a good idea what to expect from the G870 (and what some of them overclock like), Moo's review is based on the chassis you're going for.

Oxy said:
hi alexrose1uk, I saw your name on kobalt forum and I thought i saw it on ocuk.

I'm looking at the lowly GS650/660, I don't want windows as I will run a linux distro. Is the clevo chassis well build? Do you hands make it flex? I like the look of the GS650, the keyboard looks like a macbook.

I just need to sell my real macbook so I can get one of these.

Clevo chassis are usually quite well built. Some have issues but they're usually at least rugged if not made for using as a baseball bat. My M980NU doesnt really flex much but its a beast so I'd be surprised if it did flex that much!
It probably wont be made quite as well as an Apple, but then thats part of what you pay for with a Mac. Unfortunately without having seen the GS series in the flesh I wouldnt want to comment. Perhaps see if you can find a review based on the Sager version, Im not sure which the 660/650 are off the top of my head, but someone on the Kobalt forums should be able to tell you, or if you drop Kobalt a call, they might be able to answer you better. Generally I've found them fairly unpushy over the phone, and they'll generally discuss what you want. Because they're busy the trick is getting through to them first haha :)
One thing to keep in mind with the GS650 though is IIRC it has a relatively low screen res.

I saw a review of the larger 17" brother Kobalt don't stock, but I dont think I've seen one of these smaller versions.
If you're interested, here's the review of the larger laptop:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=465506


And yes Clevo are currently using Chiclet (mac style keyboards)...I actually prefer normal ones! :(

PS. As already mentioned though, Kobalt are a small outfit. Dont expect your machine to arrive that week, and the ETAs really are just that. As a small company they're more susceptible to stock issues, or sudden blocks of orders than most, not to mention if they find any issues with your initial build, they usually tend to focus on fixing it rather than updating the order system (as right now tis all manual). When you get an ETA treat it as just that. Often the machine will arrive around then but its often broken, especially during busy periods, or if there are faulty parts found in testing.
 
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Thanks for taking the time to write such a lengthy response Alex. I have just ordered the G870 after a brief phone conversation with Andy(andy 1 or andy2?) I have weighed the pros and cons and Kobalt offer the best deal at the best price, plus its good to support small local business instead of just giving the big boys the money.

PS.. I did like the looks of that Asus G73 though... ahh well it was just a shape.. :-)
 
Sager are actually Clevo, its just a case of Sager being the largest US supplier.
You actually want to be looking at Clevo, not Sager because of this (some suppliers will mention the Sager version, but others won't)
 
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