Kobalt computers, + some general Sager info, has anyone dealt with them ?

Forgive me if this is the wrong section but as far as i`m aware Kobalt are rebranded Sager machines.

http://www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk/comanchesli_overview.php

Ive basically had enough of Dell so i`m on the hunt for a new laptop, i came across the Sager NP9850 and i really liked the spec and the neat, stylish, not in your face look of the laptop + the incredible power at a very reasonable price.

I`m in the UK and by the looks of it we can`t get the Sager name here, from what ive found out we can get the same sager laptop which is renamed under a different re-sellers brand name.

Can anyone tell me much about Sager or Kobalt Computers, how would the spec below compare to something like an M17X do these Sager machines perform well and are they reliable ?

 

Look in the owners thread for the M980NU / NP9850 - Pman ordered from Kobalt (one of the first to get a M980NU) and I haven't heard anyone have issues with Kobalt or the M980NU. FatPanda has some issue but that's due to a bum machine (HDD / OS / potential GPU issue). Kobalt very customer oriented.
If I'm not mistaken Kobalt's are rebranded Clevo units not Sager and Sager rebrands the Clevo units.

 

Ahhhhh, i didn`t spot that as i was looking for threads with Sager in the title. Thanks

 

I highly reccomend Kobalt, purchased my M980Nu from them, met the MD and FD in person when i picked up my laptop.

Excellent customer service and reputation, visit thier forums from the site for support or ask me if i can help i will.

Fatpanda brought his from novatech btw not Kobalt

btw the take the turbo memory out, useless in the m980nu

andrew is meant to have removed it as an option but hasnt got round to it yet

 

...Mmm, that's funny. Normally the Kobalt fan club strikes quickly and mercilessly on this board. Perhaps they're all down the pub this evening.

 

Sorry about that didn't mean to state that FatPanda got his from Kobalt. I knew he didn't...doh!

 

Sager = rebranded Clevo
Kobalt = rebranded Clevo
Kobalt != rebranded Sager

The best way to find out about Kobalt is to call them on the phone or post on their forums.

 

Thanks for the replies, from what ive read they seem to be an excellent company where you get more of a personal touch than you would with the bigger blue chip companies.

Does anyone have a pic of the back of the LCD as ive looked but can`t seem to find one, any pics at all would be appreciated.

 

give them a chance Oiad,the dreaded lurgy is doing the rounds at Kobalt HQ

Hi The_Stig
as mentioned above the Comanche SLI is the Sager NP9850 is the M980NU
it does get a little confusing with all the re branded names but they are all the same Clevo.
Kobalt had the worlds first prototype of this beast that was premiered at the gadget show in birmingham and i was lucky enough to be there to get the first pictures and have a play with this beast of beasts.
there was a delay on its release but Pman was one of the first in the uk to get it and as mentioned there is a nice big thread on here 90+ pages to have a read through.
you could also check out the kobalt forum (in my sig below) to get the run down on imo the best family run computer company in the uk today.
i am just so glad i had a nightmare of a time with alienware otherwise i would not have found kobalt. check out the testimonial page just for peace of mind and to see how customers are treated as a person/friend instead of a number.
give them a quick call and you will either talk to the managing director or technical director.
hope this helps out a bit.
Jim

ps: lots of pics of the chassis on the forum.

 

MrDJ

Thanks, they sound like a good set of people at Kobalt, like you i`m fed up of Dell or Hell which is more appropriate.

Do you have a direct link for the pics of the new Comanche especially of the back as ive had a quick look on the Kobalt forum and their is nothing obvious, they must be buried in another thread.

One important question i have, is the keyboard backlit ?

 

the question that was asked a thousand times before the release.. backlit keyboard. sadly the answer is no its not backlit.

find the pictures HERE in this thread. scroll down quite a way to see the updated pictures.

 

Thanks

Its a real pitty that they didn`t put a backlit keyboard into this laptop as it could have been perfection, the laptop spec is amazing and Kobalt seems to be a great company, unfortunatley for me i need a backlit keyboard which is one of the reasons why i originally bought an M1730. Its suprising they didn`t put one in considering the spec that they designed into the laptop as it wouldn`t have taken much to include a backlit keyboard.

I`ll probably wait until this machine has a backlit keyboard in the future and would have to rule it out for now, thanks again.

 

Well... as a Kobalt fan that just woke up... and after having dealt with Dell and Alienware before I ended up getting a Clevo from Kobalt, I can only say that Kobalt is as good as you will get.

I can't say much about the new Comanche SLI (although it looks great from what I've read), but Kobalt is a company that is rare nowadays. It's a "family" business, made for their costumers, made to make you feel like you are buying a personalized computer with a close and personalized service. It's like you become friends with Kobalt's owners, you feel close to them and fell that you can count on them to help in any way they can.

To cut a long story short... they are one of the best companies I've dealt with in my life (the best regarding computer tech, by far...). They might not have the same power as a company like Dell, but then again, they are not seeking for power and massive profit, leading the company to treat their costumers as a secondary issue when compared to the profit numbers in the end of the year.

Cheers,
Miguel, Kobalt fanboy!!!

 

There are rumours of a backlit keyboard for the m980nu but I haven't seen anything concrete and if you 'need' one then I wouldn't wait as it will prob come with the m980 refresh q3 next year

I love my machine to bits and everyone I have showed it too is simply amazed with it's raw grunt even without clocking it up, despite the reports from some sites the screen is very good it's not amazing but it is very good

When it's clocked up it is an exceptionally fast

 

I wouldn't worry too much about a backlit keyboard. Surely if a refresh of the M980NU is released with one, you may be able to buy that backlit keyboard as a part. I mean, if you want it that badly...

 

I never really understood the allure of the backlit keyboard, it just seemed to mean that you could never take a laptop to a business related meeting...

 

Not many people would take a laptop like these to a business meeting. Backlit keyboards are good for when there's minimal light. Plus, ya know, it just looks zawesome.

The 'dreaded lurgy' wouldn't keep fanatics away, surely?

 

isn't it cheaper to get a sager laptop shipped from the US than to buy from kobalt in the UK?
I am going to buy one of these laptops but I found that it's like £250 cheaper to buy from the US even with an international shipping charge of over $200 :s
or are there disadvantages of buying from the US in the UK?

 

think you have to also pay the vat once its brought into this country.
if you ever need to send it back you will have to pay shipping and insurance both ways (as far as i know).

 

yeh if they catch it in customs you are screwed basically and will have to pay £300 + in charges

not to mention as DJ says you are covered by no warrenty as US warrenty doesnt apply over here and sales of goods act cant be enforced on a US vendor

 

Oh OK is that £300 just VAT?
If I buy a laptop for £1300 from the US then the VAT is about £230

so are you saying that I will probably have to pay this charge when it goes through customs but if lucky I won't?

 

VAT is now at 15%, so it's only £195.

Yes, it will almost certainly get the VAT charge added and if you need to send it back, you pay postage both ways (ie lots)

 

tbh its abit of a false economy tbh

 

Oh lol I forgot it went down to 15%

Ok well thanks for the help I guess I'll try to order from the UK then, but I didn't see the WUXGA option on the kobalt website which is why I was going to order from the US site.

 

The OP was asking about the 18.4" chassis, if you're interested in the 860TU/NP8662/Nexus then we can get the 1920x1200 screen, it is very high res though for a 15.4" laptop unless you have very good eyesight! The reason we don't offer then on the configuration page is two fold - 1/ when we offered them very few people wanted the 1920 res so we stopped holding stock 2/ there was a huge issue with dead/stuck pixels

 

Lets say i waited until windows 7 is out which isn`t long now would this laptop have the option to come pre-installed with Windows 7 ?

Also, it has an option on the customise your laptop where it says "System Recovery"...... Their are 2 options, one says "Kobalt System Recovery Kit And Backup Software On Internal Drive" (+£25) and the other is to have the same option on an external drive.

Forgive me here as i`m not as computer savvy as a lot on here, does that mean you have to pay £25 for your back up which normally comes free with most laptops or is this some extra facility thats worth the extra money ?

 

Yup, we will be shipping all systems with the option of Windows 7 from October 22nd. Until then all Vista instillations have a free Windows 7 upgrade voucher which you can use - Vista to Windows 7 doesn't need a clean install but you can decide to do this, however you do need a full genuine activated Vista instillation either way.

The system recovery option is Acronis True Image, you also get the original OS disk for Windows system recovery if needed. Acronis is handy because you can create incremental backups which is good practice on an external HDD (Vista Ultimate has its own backup).

 

Can I get an update to Windows 7 from you??? Then again, it's been only one year since I've bought my precious Nexus!!!!

 

oi milcs,bugger off,im first

happy birthday for next week. no not milcs, his nexus

 

Just a couple of questuions abouit the Comanche SLi.

Does it have an aluminium chassis ? Does it have a built in webcam ? Does it have any rear USB ports and how do you feel that USB`s are positioned, how many USB`s does it have and are they all USB 2 ?

Is the optical drive slot loading or a pop out tray and when it closes is it 100% hidden away so that no dust can get in ? Whats the quality of the screen like as i did notice that its not a WUXGA ?

Can someone also confirm that the back of the LCD is one solid black colour and not 2 tone like in this picture, is the grey a reflection ?

 

hi again stig.
if possible could you remove that picture or crop it as the lads hate that picture

its totally black and that is a reflection of the table its sitting on as you can see the reflection of the mains lead. we had a lot of spot lights on the stand.

3 usb 2 ports and one esat/usb port. 2 on left and 2 on right.

easiest thing is to look at the pictures on the kobalt forum that ive posted as it shows all sides. all the user manuals are also posted on their with full spec and illustrations.

 

the screen is all black with a mirror finish so that grey is a reflection

the LCD is a urban design and does not say Style Note.

4 usb ports, 2 on each side, all usb 2

the only screen offered is 1920x1080 which is bout as high as it gets, bar some 1920x1200 and is a very good quality screen

and the 2 handsome gents are Andy and Neil from Kobalt

 

1. Is the chassis made from aluminium ?
2. Does it come with a webcam and TV card as standard ?
3. How quiet are the fans, do the fans only come on now and then rather than being on all of the time ?

I found everything i need picture wise here, i just need answers to the above really.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Hands-On-Clevo-M980NU-Notebook.14554.0.html

It looks a stunning laptop, sleek, a bit like a wolf in sheeps clothing which is what i prefer.

 

1.yes
2. webcam yes, tv card no
3. they never come on full pelt with me even under full load

dont take notebookchecks review for anything they wouldnt be able to tell the difference between a laptop and a kitchen tile