My Comanche from Kobalt arrived - short review w/pics

After reading lots of reviews I finally ordered my new laptop. Decided to go with Kobalt Computers based here in the UK after hearing good things about them. Here's the spec:

Chassis - :: Comanche 17" 1900x1200 WUXGA X-Glass
Processor - :: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9550 Quad Core Processor 2.83GHz
Video Card - :: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTX 512MB DDR3
Memory - :: 4GB OCZ DDR2-PC6400 800Mhz 5-5-5-15 2x 2GB DIMMs
Hard Drive 1 - :: 64GB Samsung Solid State Drive
Hard Drive 2 - :: 320GB 7,200rpm SATA with 16MB Cache
7 in 1 card reader - :: 7 in 1 card reader 1
Operating system - :: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit
Optical Device - :: 8x DVD±R/W
Soundcard - :: Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook
Mouse Mats - :: Kobalt Mouse Mat 1
Warranty - :: FREE UPGRADE!! 3 Year - Collect & Return [E-mail, telephone & website support]

Review

Delivery
Received it on July 10 having placed the order on June 26, so it took exactly 2 weeks (10 working days) to arrive. It probably would have been slightly quicker had they not had to wait almost a week for their supply of 320gb 7200 hard drives to reach them. Even so I think 2 weeks is fairly quick so I can't complain there. Packaging was top notch, no chance of it getting damaged.

Overall Performance
The laptop boots up in around 12-15 secs and runs very smoothly indeed. I've been playing CoD4 for the last few days and it hasn't stuttered once. The graphics look amazing! Haven't got a copy of Crysis so can't give it a real run for it's money with that. I've also installed MatLab on here which obviously works a treat. I was unsure of a good benchmarking program to use so haven't done any proper tests or anything, but suffice to say i'm really pleased with its speed.

Battery Life
Not good. Drains very quickly - I wouldn't really expect to get more than an hour and a half out of it. This is with the SSD too, so if i'd gone for like 3 sata drives and dual graphics cards then I guess it would have been even worse! :\ This is definitely the biggest drawback to the whole system.

Style/looks
I don't know why people say this is an ugly laptop cos it really isn't! Okay, so it's not as flashy as an Alienware, but I still think it has a certain charm. It looks big and powerful and it performs accordingly.

Monitor
Very crisp, no dead pixels as far as I can see. The 1920x1200 res is very impressive and it feels sturdy. Looks nice and bright, dunno what else to say!

Speakers
Not bad. They go fairly loud without getting distorted, and are fine for gaming. I don't think i'd listen to music using them unless I was desperate though.

Fans
People often seem to worry about the noise that these Sager machines make, but I really don't know why. It's effectively silent with the fans running normally, and even with them on full-blast it's hardly a problem!

Weight
I don't have any accurate scales so I can't get the exact weight of it, but it is fairly cumbersome. I've included some pics below comparing it to my very old Thinkpad so you can see the difference in size. Having said that I can comfortably sit with it on my lap on the sofa, and with a decent backpack it's not too bad to carry. The guys who complain so much about it's weight are exagerating slightly imo. I think the biggest problem is that it's so expensive i'm scared to death i'll damage it!

Customer Service
Communicated with Andrew via email throughout the process and he was very helpful. He always emailed back the same working day too which is good. Haven't had any problems whatsoever with any aspect of the laptop so far so haven't had to test out their post-sales service, but he seems like a genuine guy and I can't imagine them trying to pass the buck with any problems. I like the fact it's a small business and it's their livelihood so they take a proper interest. You don't get that same level of care when dealing with a big company.

 

looks magnificent!!!.... just remember to clean those vents every few weeks. they do get clogged up.

 

CONGRAT

HAVE FUN WiTH IT

 

She's a beast!

 

Nice wallpaper!

 

Welcome to the family!! Great pictures. Take more!

The low battery life is to be expected. You're running a desktop quad core which knows no limits to power consumption. You are correct that the NP9262 has a certain charm. For me, it has a presence due to its large size. I like that in the things I own, because my desktop, desktop monitor, and my TV are all really big. The laptop just adds to the collection.

Enjoy your portable monster!

 

Congrats! And nice wallpaper Can I have it ?

 

Sure, here's the link:

http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs29/f/2008/161/2/7/Alexander_IV_by_niteshift.jpg

 

Very nice looking machine, you will definitely enjoy it.

 

Cong on your beast

 

very nice, screen looks sweet. fyi though, no one complains about that laptops fan noise level. In fact, people were amazed how quiet it was. yours is the D901 range. the m570 range was the one with the noise issues though.

 

Ah okay thanks, didn't know that.

 

wow so nice man i want one so bad.. i think ill prob use this dell i just got for a bit then sell it and buy the 9262.. the prices just came down or i would have joined the crue already lol.. congrats...

 

congrats looks great have fun with it

 

Thanks much!

 

how do people work those fractals? is there any skill to it, or do they just play with a shape for like 10 hours untill it looks cool?

 

It´s really big........

 

that's a beautiful "little" machine there.

 

I'd say that they start with something simple, or somewhat simple (here I think they started with a long exposure of a light moved across the camera's field of view) And then transform it multiple ways. (They probably cut out unwanted parts then mirrorred it multiple times to achieve the symmetry, then applied some other filters)

At least that's what it looks like they did. Of course, this is all just a guess, and I'm way oversimplifying the process.

Sorry for taking this thread off-topic. Great laptop, minds_i! I'm jealous.

 

argh.. you just made my can't-wait-any-longer-till-my-laptop-comes feeling got worse!! it looks so nice i wish i can fast-forward time now.. anyways, gratz.. i'd be posting pics when i get mine have fun bringing that thing around and watching people's =0 face!

 

zfactor ur dell is faster

 

hahha yeh i know what u mean leon. when my mates see my lappy they go whoa thats hugee.. then when i tell em whats under the hood they be like WHATT!! u got a quad in there..?

 

sorry phoduma i dont understand what u mean zfactors dell is faster.??

 

yeah.. my friends are already 'making fun' of me even before mine arrives.. they're like: 'OMG 5.2KG?!' and 'why don't we bring our laptops to school everyday'. what i haven't told them is.. what's INSIDE (which is what really matters to me).. yeah make fun of the size and weight, but lets see who games with a nicer gaming experience yeah? haha..

well, i don't have a 'quad' to show off this beast, but shouldn't a [email protected] smash every single laptop that's being sold in my country now?

xoticpc should have shipped out mine last evening, and expected to arrive next week. just waiting for my tracking number so that i can see which country my big baby is stopping over for a drink

desktop processor in a laptop baby!

 

Yeh i got a sager 9260 (basically same)
its kinda wierd seeing the same lappy with the kobalt logo.

Im gonna upgrade my mobo soon so ill get upgrade my single 7950gtx to something more, as well as quad core.

It'll treat you well!

 

Basically, yes.

 

yeah love the sound of that won't be ANYTIME soon till smth like this beast comes to singapore..