Kobalt G860 Laptop Review

Display

Kobalt has made the sensible decision of giving the G860 a 15.6in screen, (its G870 machine has a 17.3in screen). There are two resolutions from which to choose. Kobalt chose the 1,600 x 900 rather than the 1,920 x 1,080 version to send to us, which will be friendlier to the mobile GPU.

The screen has an LED backlight and a glossy coating, but the colours weren't quite as vivid as we expected. Skin tones in films and games were realistic, but the general picture was a touch muted. However, we were pleased to see all the richness of the shadowy Arkham Asylum, and other games looked fine.

The vertical viewing angle is slightly narrow, but this becomes an issue only when you move your head off-centre - for a single person gaming on the G860, the viewing angles won't be a problem. While the LED backlight was a bit of a surprise - we'd expected this laptop to have few luxury additions given the price - the keyboard was even more so.

Keyboard

The keys are in the chiclet style (some called it the Apple style) and have a nice textured feel. The solid plastic keys have a pleasing rubbery feel and a great action. Despite the comparatively small Enter key, the keyboard's great for typing or gaming; best of all, the Ctrl key is in the correct place at the bottom left. Three fairly responsive touch-sensitive buttons above the keyboard give you quick access to email, a web browser and a fan speed throttle.