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.
