Kobalt Computers !?

I was wondering about this company http://www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk ..
I couldn't find them on resellerratings... And I'd like to know if they're good and reliable ? Anyone having an experience with them ?
I couldn't find out more about them... well because half their site is down... I get a 404 for the support page or the 'about us' page!
Can anyone give me any details, because I came up with a good config with them..

Subtotal £1,578.53

Good price, non ? And is that Euros or pounds ?
EDIT: Damn.. it's pounds :|

 

well £ is the sign for pounds so i would guess its in pounds also since its a co.uk website its likely based in Great Britain and Great Britain dont use euros

 

And how's the company ? Why isn't it on resellerratings? :\

 

Excellent company . Recieved mine within a week of ordering. I believe they deliver to Europe if that's where you reside or further afield.

http://www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk/forum/

If you register on their forums Andrew@Kobalt replies to any queries.

 

That's pounds
£ = pounds (UK)
€ = euro (EU)
$ = US dollar (US)

03/03/2008 13:45 GMT+1
$1,00 = €0,6593
$1,00 = £0,5045

£1,00 = $1,9821
£1,00 = €1,3068

€1,00 = $1,5167
€1,00 = £0,7652

 

I don't live in Europe. They don't deliver internationally ?

 

They probably do. Just give them a ring... They'll soon tell you.

 

Don't forget to add a nice fat 17.5% VAT to the end total
It's great living in the UK.....

 

a company trying to compete with rock, also has an own forum, but still i'm anxious as they seem to have just started. though i'd advise them to avoid rock's expensive extra's. i am a potential buyer. i just wish the uk used €

 

I believe they have been selling specialist Desktops for quite a few years, and have only recently moved to notebooks. So their reputation is already very well established.

 

yes they immediately score high points if it comes to first impression, for the rest, i'll have to wait for the first problems to arrive and see how they take care of them.
they are very alert and quick in reply on the forum btw, which is a good thing.

 

Well I emailed them like an hour BEFORE I started this thread... still no reply... let's wait and see..

 

im curious too 7hrs,

- if it takes longer than a day.
else: they're probably busy cause they have lots of offers because they are so well established.

 

You have to take in to consideration the time change. I'm sure they are closed at the moment being in the UK and all. Given the exchange rate on pounds though, I'm not sure why you would chose to order from the UK if you're not in the UK though .

 

Maybe because it's closer... it would cost me less / take lesser time to send and receive it if it were to have problems..

 

But that 17.5% is only applicable for residents in UK no?
But seeing as Prasad007 does not live in the UK, i doubt it will be applicable... yea and UK is much closer than USA to where Prasad007 is....

@GeForce2GO

Do you have any idea what they charge for delivery?(even if its only in the UK)

 

VAT is only for Europeans countries. And they are expensive. Novatech is cheaper.

 

Yes, it was about £12 for overnight delivery during the week, and £30.00 for the weekend option, UK only.

 

Novatech dont seem to be very customisable ... i mean its all a fixed configuration and prolly all that you can have different in the OS...

X80R T7500 17" WUXGA - INTEL CORE 2 DUO T9300 2.5GHZ 4GB DDR2 NVIDIA 8800M GTX 512MB GRAPHICS 200GB 7200RPM SATA HDD DVDRW

Oh not to mention only 3mb cache...

I wouldve liked to get more space in the HDD....

 

The t9300 has 6mb cache: http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAQG so that's basically the almost maxed out config...

 

And it's cheaper than anywhere else I've searched.

 

Novatech doesn't seem to offer customizable laptops.... I can't seem to be able to change the hard disk I want.... or am I missing something here ?

Oh and Kobalt replied..

Considering that, I might not go with them since.... well, they've never shipped outside the EU, and I'm not comfortable being the ONLY exception, even if he's ready to ship.

 

Just ask them which carrier they'll use.
If it's DHL or another reputable company, I wouldn't really make a problem out of it
Rock/Xoticpc/... at some point also did their first international transport, and look at where they are now

 

Hmm.. true... Well, I'm just reluctant to be the first Either way, I've replied and let's see what they have to say..

 

If you don't pay VAT you're better off with buying from the US.

 

Except maybe for future repairs, yes..

 

Unless it`s something critical like a new mobo or burned out GPU or CPU, they can ship the parts to you. And you get support from a company you already know how is like.

 

Okay. Either way, so far I don't see the need to fluctuate away from XoticPC, so I'm sticking to em' !

 

My reply a while back :

Their answer :

Let's see how things turn up For now, I'm still with XoticPC...

 

have you ordered from XoticPC yet?

 

Nope. I'll be ordering 20th or 21st of this month (hopefully) .. If that doesn't happen, then end of the month, latest

 

That`s like, March right? by then maybe you could see a new line of notebooks

 

Well to be honest im thinking of the same sort of spec...

T9300, 4GB RAM, 8800M GTX...

I'm not going to wait for the new Clevo's seems it could be a while yet... but i think i will be ordering this month as well. Just asked out of curiosity.

 

Apparently, they might support the upcoming 98M GTX also, so getting the 5793 would also be futureproof.

 

Just wanted to confirm, the Sager 5793 is the same as the Clevo M57xRU-U?

What MXM module is the 9800M GTX?

 

Should be MXM IV, just as the 88M GTX.

 

How come on the Clevo website it states:

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/prodinfo_2.asp?productid=62

• nVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTX
• 512MB DDRIII Video ram on board
• Support PCI-E*16
• MS Directx®10 compatible
• MXM-III
• Support HDCP

Or does it come in both? Im thinking of getting this notebook, and if it also supports the 9800M GTX - would be a bonus.

 

Sorry,what I meant was that the laptop can house up to MXM IV gpu modules.
Yes, it`s MXM III.(although still blurry to me, since it has a TDP of 45W just as the 7950GTX, which is MXM IV...)

 

That sounds right. From what little I can remember of what I read in the MXM standards released by NVidia, the MXM category (i.e., I, II, III, or IV) essentially defines the minimum required free room around the GPU necessary for proper thermal management. The 579x series was originally designed to handle a 7950GTX, which was definitely an MXM-IV based on its thermal characteristics.

What arenji has cited to is the rating of the 8800M GPU itself which, because it has lower thermal characteristics, is rated as an MXM-III card. However, since, as noted above, the 579x series was originally designed to handle an MXM-IV card, that series should continue to have the capability to handle a future MXM-IV card, at least insofar as the thermal characteristics are concerned (everything else is a roll of the dice).

Since thermal requirements increase with MXM number, a system that is designed to handle an MXM-IV card should have no problem handling an MXM-III card (at least on thermals) because the MXM-III card puts out less waste heat than the MXM-IV card the 579x series was designed to accomodate.

 

^ what you said
Well, I wouldn`t be surprised if the 98M GTX would turn out to be MXM III also. In a world of silicon and viagra, the evolution of things goes into shrinking not enlarging.
Helluva paradox, don`t you think?

Off.I`m off to sleep, been wasting to much of my sleep "forumising":twitcy:

 

it's good to hear that the M57xU-U maybe able to handle the 9800M GTX in the future... i thought it was more to do with the interface it had rather than the the thermal characteristics... guess i was wrong.

 

It's not quite as simple as I put it in my post (remember, that was based solely on vague recollection ); however, the primary determinant of whether a GPU card is MXM I, II, III, III-HE, or IV-HE is the amount of room required for the thermal keepout zone. The MXM "standard" is designed so that a motherboard with a given MXM spec can always accept a GPU card of that same MXM spec or lower. E.g., a mobo designed to be MXM III-HE can, in theory, accept GPUs that are MXM III-HE, MXM III, MXM II, and MXM I. See, e.g., MXM Electromechanical Specification at page 39.

Conversely, a GPU card that's rated, e.g., as MXM II can fit into a motherboard that is rated MXM II, MXM III, MXM III-HE, and MXM IV-HE (although Table 4 on page 39 of the reference above muddies this a bit by suggesting that the lower into higher doesn't always apply; however, the text just above Table 4 clearly states

There is one physical difference amongst the different MXM levels that has to do with the HE designation for certain MXM III cards and all MXM IV cards. HE cards have an extra little set of power pins that plug into the MXM connector on the motherboard just past the keep-out key. See, e.g. Figure 27, page 36, MXM Electromechanical Specification.

Thus, each GPU is given an MXM rating of I through IV which essentially indicates how large the thermal keepout zone for the card must be. Conversely, each motherboard is given an MXM rating of I through IV which essentially indicates how large the thermal keepout zone is on that motherboard. As a result, a GPU with a given MXM rating can fit into any motherboard that has the same or a higher rating, and conversely, a motherboard with a given MXM rating can accept any GPU (in theory ) that has the same or a lower rating.

The currently released MXM Electromechanical Specification, version 2.1A, can be downloaded from NVidia here, and the accompanying MXM Software Specification, version 2.1, can be downloaded from NVidia here.

 

Either way the 9800M GTX isnt WAY more powerful than the 8800M GTX. And as you, arenji, I can't wait for the newer notebooks either So I'll be buying end of this month! And XoticPC has new discounts this month!!

 

it might not be WAY more powerful, but it will sure be more powerful.
i think performance will be 140% of the current 8800.

 

140% is a considerable amount to be honest... it could be a worthy upgrade for existing 5793 owners providing that it supports the MXM-IV module, though the 8800M GTX is a great performer as it is.

 

140% out of current = 40% increase from what I know...
Anyway, there is going to be a performance increase, just not this half of the year.

 

Either way, 8800M GTX satisfies me more than needed So I'm obv not waiting for anything anyway..

 

This might bum you out, but there is something you should know. (I learned it the hard way)

If you're from the US and ordering from a store in the US, then there is no problem, same thing for Europe (and maybe some other regions) BUT, if you order from outside of your region. (for ex. ordering something in the US, when you live in Europe, like my case) then you'll be charged about 17,5 - 21% import taxes ... in addition to your purchase.

Why that % ? Well how it works is that when you buy something for example in the US, you pay a fixed % taxes which go to the government in the US. But when the notebook arrives in your country, the government of your own country also want their fixed % of taxes on whatever you bought. So they charge you an additional 17,5 - 21% for import + a fixed fee for processing your item at customs.


So I would strongly advise you to check first, whether or not you'll have to pay that fee. I wanted to order a Sager NP9262 from xoticpc.com, but I live in Europe. So instead of costing me around € 2800, it would now be well over € 3400 ...

 

you should read better

i'm glad you read it well.

 

thanks for pointing that out and quoting my reply, but regardless 40% might still be worth it at a later date, the opportunity is there and that is one of the benefits i could have in getting the current 5973. I'm looking at future options as well, not a necessity of mine but it's a bonus if it is there.