kobaltcomputers.co.uk - G150 Laptop

nbd2

Hey all,
Just placed an order with kobaltcomputers.co.uk for a G150 laptop. Thought I'd post up a thread about the whole progress of the order, just to try to give as much feedback as I can for anyone thinking of going with them.

The spec of what I went for is:
15.6" 1920x1080 FHD X-Glass LED
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M 1.5GB GDDR5, 192 CUDA Cores, DX11 & PhysX
500GB Western Digital 7,200rpm with 16MB Cache
8x DVD±RW
Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Quad Core with HT 2.0-2.9GHz 6MB Cache 45W
Intel® 6230 Advanced-N WIFI Bluetooth combi module
16GB Corsair DDR3 1333MHz CAS9 4x 4GB
2 Year - European Collect & Return (all shipping, parts and labour)

So the reason I went for kobalt is simple. They do very high spec at a very reasonable price. They're also one of the few European based companies that do the P150HM barebones, which is arguably the best 15.5" machine going. Brands like Sager, Clevo, Malibal etc, all use it, and it is savage.

Before I ordered, I had a couple of questions. I need a pretty high spec machine, as I'm in my last year of architecture, and I do a lot of rendering. I had concerns about the balance between the CPU, GPU, and boatloads of RAM. They were really quick with the response, getting back to me within the day. The technical adviser said the chosen CPU was a great choice, but, if my budget allowed, go for the better GPU over 16Gb of RAM. My budget didnt. That being said, 16Gb of RAM will definitely keep my render times down, so I'm certainly not complaining!

The other great selling point with Kobalt is that they offer a European Collect + Return warrenty. I had considered pcspecialist.co.uk, cos they have the same spec, at basically the same price, but, don't deliver to Ireland. These guys do, although their lead time is a bit longer at 3-4 weeks. That wont really bother me though.

In any case, I'm very pleased with the order so far. Spec is good, price is good, and service is good. I'm looking forward to getting it, and I'm going to try to run a few benchmarks on it. I certainly want to compare render times vs my old machine.

Also, on a final point, I'm sure there might be a few people thinking that a desktop was a better option. Possibly, but mobility is a 100% must for me.

I'll keep you all posted on the progress.
N

machalla

Oh dear.. Not to worry you but I was thinking of getting something from Kobalt recently and then I noticed all the appalling reviews recently on how long it was taking them to actually provide the laptop.

Also no customer service of note. I hope you're experience is better than that.

http://www.google.ie/search?q=kobalt+computing
3rd search result "Avoid Kobalt computing" and some other fairly negative views on them.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo-reviews-owners-lounges/605612-do-not-trust-kobalt-computer.html

nbd2

Yeah I saw those, and I was a bit apprehensive, but, they seem to be a bit better recently. I'll see how things go. To be honest, there isn't anywhere that offers that kind of spec, at that price, and that deliver to ireland. I'd be inclined to wait to be honest.

I shall remain optimistic!

Ri_Nollaig

nbd2 wrote: »

Hey all,
Just placed an order with kobaltcomputers.co.uk for a G150 laptop. Thought I'd post up a thread about the whole progress of the order, just to try to give as much feedback as I can for anyone thinking of going with them.

The spec of what I went for is:
15.6" 1920x1080 FHD X-Glass LED
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M 1.5GB GDDR5, 192 CUDA Cores, DX11 & PhysX
500GB Western Digital 7,200rpm with 16MB Cache
8x DVD±RW
Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Quad Core with HT 2.0-2.9GHz 6MB Cache 45W
Intel® 6230 Advanced-N WIFI Bluetooth combi module
16GB Corsair DDR3 1333MHz CAS9 4x 4GB
2 Year - European Collect & Return (all shipping, parts and labour)

So the reason I went for kobalt is simple. They do very high spec at a very reasonable price. They're also one of the few European based companies that do the P150HM barebones, which is arguably the best 15.5" machine going. Brands like Sager, Clevo, Malibal etc, all use it, and it is savage.

Before I ordered, I had a couple of questions. I need a pretty high spec machine, as I'm in my last year of architecture, and I do a lot of rendering. I had concerns about the balance between the CPU, GPU, and boatloads of RAM. They were really quick with the response, getting back to me within the day. The technical adviser said the chosen CPU was a great choice, but, if my budget allowed, go for the better GPU over 16Gb of RAM. My budget didnt. That being said, 16Gb of RAM will definitely keep my render times down, so I'm certainly not complaining!

The other great selling point with Kobalt is that they offer a European Collect + Return warrenty. I had considered pcspecialist.co.uk, cos they have the same spec, at basically the same price, but, don't deliver to Ireland. These guys do, although their lead time is a bit longer at 3-4 weeks. That wont really bother me though.

In any case, I'm very pleased with the order so far. Spec is good, price is good, and service is good. I'm looking forward to getting it, and I'm going to try to run a few benchmarks on it. I certainly want to compare render times vs my old machine.

Also, on a final point, I'm sure there might be a few people thinking that a desktop was a better option. Possibly, but mobility is a 100% must for me.

I'll keep you all posted on the progress.
N

When you configure a laptop and select delivery "REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (£30)" is one of the options? Pricey, but I assume that means they will deliver to here.

I too was interested in getting a laptop from Kobalt, still unsure, I really wanted the GS150 (Clevo W150HRM) but its hard to find good reviews, they do seem like a small town outfit alright.

nbd2

Most of the reviews say the same thing. long wait, but worth it. I know there was a lot of horror stories, but, there's just as many good ones too. I'm anticipating a 4-6 wait on it to be honest, but for that kind of spec, at that kind of price, I don't really mind. There isn't a lot of places that will offer that.

machalla

If I might ask, what price is that spec anyway?

A 256Gb SSD would have been the icing on the cake for this but I imagine that can always be put in later on if prices fall.

nbd2

That came to the best part of €1400.

I'm not sold on the SSD drives at the moment to be honest. When you take into account the price and capacity of them, I'd be more inclined to replace the HDD with a 9600Rpm drive with a big big capacity. To be honest, I don't even need that high a read/write speed. Even with things like ableton etc, the 5400rpm drive in my current laptop is fine.