Best reseller?

I've picked out a new laptop (thanks to some guys on this forum) and I'm now looking to find the best reseller (and also some last modifications).

The laptop I want is the Clevo P151HM1 (the Sager version is the NP8130) which I've discovered is one of the best price/quality.
The most important(non-default) components I pick (depending on the resellers configuration page) are:
i7-2630QM processor
GTX 560M
8GB RAM
750GB Hard Disk
Windows 7
Office Home/Student

Now I'm from Belgium and I'd like to get the cheapest reseller possible, but also a trustworthy one. I've read the Guide on this forum and the best one looks like it is kobalt computers from the UK. Although there is a thread here against them so I'm not sure. I'd like to get the laptop before the month is done.
The laptop G150: Link

A laptop from them, with the above options (and including some essentials like a european power cable) and with shipping and vats costs £1,303.80
which according to X-rates is 1496 euros.

So I've got the following questions:
-Are there better,safer,cheaper resellers available? Most look nonprofessional but perhaps I shouldn't be discouraged by the look of their website. Also customer support is important.

-Are there any significant cheap improvements I can give to the laptop? Some resellers for example offer Diamond Thermal Compound (though not kobalt computers). Somebody also mentioned, that I'd be much better go with the 6970m. It isn't that much more expensive, so I'm not sure. The laptop is meant for college work and gaming and is supposed to be capable of doing both in 4 years time (now on semi-highest settings).

-Any traps I should look out for? Like not forgetting to select a european power adapter for example.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

£1,303.80 or 1496 euros is very expensive in my opinion. The price for that configuration in North America is only around $1350 USD (~950 Euros) with the release of the P151HM-S1 (comes with GTX 560, 1600MHz ram, 750GB HDD).

I also would not buy Windows 7 and Microsoft Office with the computer. You can easily find it cheaper elsewhere or purchase a key yourself. I got a legitimate Windows 7 for $25.

I understand computers can be more expensive in Europe but you may want to contact a Canadian (Fortnax, Reflexnotebooks, Eurocom) or American reseller (XoticPC, Malibal), etc. and see what shipping rates you can get to Belgium.

There are also other European resellers and brands such as Schenker which is from Germany. I would personally look around continental Europe some more first, maybe you can find a location you can even cheaply drive or take a bus or train to from Belgium. I think teh Schenker XMG is the P15xHM.

 

Honestly there will be bad and good info on any reseller you will research. There is no company in the world with 100% happy customers, eveyrone will run into ocassional trouble or glitch or user error.
Over time I read a lot of threads about kobalt and only 1 bad one, so i'd say that they have pretty happy customer base.

 

The 1,327.80 euros includes VAT, which is around 21% extra. The laptop alone costs £1,086.50. Of course that is still more expensive than North America, which is odd. One of the reasons, I made this thread, to get more info about price and such.

 

its swings and roundabouts when it comes to which country to buy from.
yes america is always much much cheaper and sometimes the same price as in pounds as it is in dollars.
problem is if you buy from america then you have import and custom duty to pay of 20% vat and also if it has to be returned for repair you may have to cover shipping one or both ways.

as mentioned above yes there has be a few negative threads concerning kobalt over the last year and they have held there hands up about some of the delays. sandy bridge recalls and ssd problems were of course out of their control but of course people are still going to pre order laptops in the mean time which will of course cause longer delays than they had liked for customers.
i always tell people that are on a tight time scale to contact the sales team on their forum HERE who will be able to tell you how long it roughly should take.
they are a family run buisiness and they are closed weekends but you would be faster getting a reply on their forum before sales opens agin on monday.

good luck to which ever company you chose as that laptop youve picked above is a beast.

 

How'd you manage to get Windows 7 so cheap? I personally opted to have Windows 7 installed, but agree that you should definitely purchase Office elsewhere.

 

Heya,

Pretty much as the above, no company ever have a 100% happy customer base, never been done.

Pretty much every re-seller has both negative and positive feedback on these forums, not through any fault of thier own.

One thing to remember is that if you order from the states that you will have to pay import tax and if anything should go wrong you will have to pay postage both ways which more often then not will exceed the savings you made to start with

Pman

 

Might let the Office drop like you guys say. Open Source alternatives should be sufficient. That is about 77 pounds cheaper. Or in total 1391 euros. From the states is more expensive, at least 200 dollars for shipping alone. Also not handy for repairs and such.
About the time schedule, the website mentions "System Shipping 2/3 day". Since I only need it at the end of the month( won't be able to use it till then), I should be safe, even if there is a 1 week delay.

Still, the main question remains: any extra suggestions about additions to the laptop and the reseller?

 

hi again. they system shipping actually means 2-3 days from when it is built. for the uk its next day delivery and for europe its 2-3 days.
thats why i said its best to talk to sales first as it can take upto a month depending how many are in the queue before you. these laptops are hand built to your specification which can take 1-2 days and then testing and burn in after that.

 

There's always tons of real windows liscenses and keys for software out there. Hang out on more computer forums, check out the buy and sell, talk to friends who are into computers, etc. A lot of IT guys have multiple spare licenses that they can sell for cheap. For some businesses when they buy a volume liscense, they get a bunch of individual keys they never use and sell anyway. You just have to realize that software is always cheaper if you don't buy it preinstalled or at retail prices.

I also don't think Office is necessary at all today. Open Office or Libre Office will handle all MS Office formats and they are free, full suites.

Also check out student programs from Microsoft. Students can often get desktop/server OS's and developer suites from Microsoft's Dreamspark program for free.

 

Oh stupid of me, should've known that 2-3 days would be unrealistically fast.
However their FAQ states 10-12 working days (normally). So basically 2 weeks. So, it should arrive before the end of the month, if I order it this weekend.

 

Can you buy a laptop elsewhere in Europe and go pick it up yourself and avoid Belgian VAT? VAT is so expensive in Europe. VAT (GST) in Canada is only 5%.

You have to realize a lot of resellers, especially in Europe make a lot more money off computers than it costs for their barebone wholesale cost.

I personally know that the barebones P151M unit without CPU, RAM, and HDD is actually only ~$789 USD for individual sale (even cheaper at wholesale).

Now, look at what you can buy the CPU, Ram, and HDD for? A 2630/2720QM is only $200 USD on Ebay. 8GB DDR3 1333MHz sodimms is $90 USD. 750GB Seagate Momentus is $90 USD. (these are ebay/retail prices right now, it's even cheaper for resellers to buy at wholesale). That's only $380.

So if you actually bought the barebones system and then the CPU, HDD, and RAM separately, it's only a total of $1169 USD! (builder and wholesale cost is probably $1000 USD only).

$1169 USD is only 800 Euros!

 

If I were you I would avoid kobalt computers for now they have a lot of delays right now. I ordered a Kobalt G150 in April and waited 6 weeks and they did not get around to building it.

 

Damn. I really would like to have the laptop at the end of the month. Have some spare time then. And also I'm a bit impatient...

 

Yes I hoped to get my laptop in a month too but unfortunately it did not come close to happening. There are other resellers out there that offer a more competitive deal you know. I just need my refund before I can buy elsewhere I hope you don't fall into the same trap. Read my story before you make any decisions on Kobalt thats all I can say http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/583492-disappointed-kobalt-computers.html

 

@ the suggestion to build it myself. I'm not really comfortable with that, plus you don't get any customer support. Perhaps when I'm a bit more knowledgeable.

I have read your thread, and it (and similar threads) don't look very good.

I've checked all the other european resellers, but a lot of the sites don't even exist anymore, are amateurish, are immensly old(still selling pentium chips?), don't feature the laptop I'm searching for or other stuff.

Kobalt computers looks like the best deal. Perhaps I should search for other options, but I'm not sure how/which.

Edit: mySN is also a reseller that has been recommended to me. Unfortunately it is all German, which makes it hard to understand (even with handy google translate).
It is also somewhat more expensive (they charge for the non-german stuff). Their laptop is:
XMG PRO P501 Gaming Notebook 39.6 cm (15.6 ")
• 39.6 cm (15.6 ") Full-HD Glare (1920 * 1080) with LED - Backlight
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M 1536MB GDDR5
• Intel Core i7 2630QM - 2.00 to 2.90 GHz 6MB
• 8GB (2x4096) SO-DIMM DDR3 1333MHz RAM
• 500GB Seagate Momentus 7200.4 SATAII 7200rpm (ST9500420AS)
• DVD Burner SATA Multi-Standard
• without WLAN - Module
• Basic Warranty: 24M. Pickup & Return | 6M. Buy-Repair-DE
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit DSP DVD English
• Microsoft Office 2010 Starter (only if ordered and pre-installation of Windows 7)
• Keyboard BELGIUM

Which I assume to be equivalent to the G150 or NP8130. Clocks in at around € 1,490.00 (without shipping, I think). Anybody has any experience with these guys?

 

I know there are many European resellers of the P150HM and 150HM. You just have to find them. I can't because I can't google in German, French, etc. It would be easier for you. You're Belgian, you can read French right? Keep looking.

mySN.de | XMG XIRIOS XESIA | buy Schenker Notebooks - XMG P501 PRO Gaming Notebook 39,6cm (15.6")

http://www.deviltech.de/deviltech.p...id/1e7468a8b1b375446.59149740/Devil-9000-DTX/

Clevo France?
http://www.clevo.fr

 

if you are from belgium:
Bytesatwork hardware online webshop
may be an good option. Myself ordered from
NEXOC - mobile systems
which I can recommend. (order to delivery less than a week)

 

Thanks for the reply.
Yes, I've inspected them. Unfortunately, I just can't figure out their shipping dates and if they are less of a hassle than Kobalt.

This is the deviltech version(which doesn't charge extra for other languages), doesn't have the 560M but does have the better HD6970 and costs around 1.454 euros (without shipping I think): link

Clevo is expensive really fast and charges extremely much for other languages (I'm a flemish belgian).

DevilTech and mySN look promising, but I can't get a good angle on their quality. Does anybody have more feedback about them?

Edit: You posted while I was typing, I shall check your resellers soon, thank for the suggestions!

 

just a small tip: if the reseller of your choice doesn't have the exact configuration you want on their web form, or you think the price is too high it, send them an email or contact them using a web form with the configuration you want for a tailored offer

 

I will keep that in mind. The bytesatwork link seems good. Send them a quick email to ask about delivery. It is a bit more expensive though, but close by, easy to use and their site looks good.

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

Remember to ask for discounts. Many resellers in NA will have further discounts if you press them for it. Since they are close, maybe even visit in person.

 

Will do. Thanks for all the help guys, this bytesatwork company is close by, has nothing but positive reviews, and offers decent prices!

 

I bought the p501 (p150hm) from mysn. I'm pretty happy with the overall experience.

M4S XMG P501 PRO Gaming Notebook 39,6cm (15.6")
. 39,6cm (15.6") Full-HD Glare (1920*1080) mit LED - Backlight
. AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2048 MB GDDR5
. Intel Core i7-2630QM | 2,00 - 2,90GHz 6MB
. 8GB (2x4096) SO-DIMM DDR3 RAM 1333MHz
. 750GB Seagate Momentus 7200.5 SATAII 7200U/Min (ST9750420AS)
. TSST / SonyNEC / LG DVD±R/±RW/-RAM/ DL(+R) SATA Multinorm
. Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 (inkl. Bluetooth)
. Basis-Garantie: 24M. Pickup&Return | 6M. Sofort-Reparatur -DE
. ohne Betriebssystem
. Microsoft Office 2010 Starter (nur bei Bestellung und Vorinstallation von Windows 7)
. Keyboard SWISS

1507 euros total including EU vat and shipping. Being in Switzerland i paid 1266 euros and paid the 8% VAT upon reception (yay swtizerland ).

Price wise, it's bit more expensive compared to some resellers in the USA, but the shipping cost from USA -> EU makes it cheaper getting it here. An added bonus is knowing i could easily ship the laptop back for repairs if needed.

Time wise, the laptop was shipped 7 days (5 or working days) after the payment cleared.

I could email them in english and had no problem communicating with them and they answered all emails within a couple hours, or the next morning (if sent late in the afternoon).

I would recommend them to anyone buying in europe.

- Alex