Kobalt G860 Laptop Review

Performance Analysis

We were expecting pretty big things from the Core i7-720QM, and the CPU duly delivered; just compare the scores of this (nominally) 1.6GHz quad-core to those of the 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo Mobile T9800-powered Alienware M17x which cost considerably more when it was released just few months ago. While the G860 scored 1,136 points overall, the Alienware limped home with an overall score of 978. Video encoding was naturally a high point for the i7-720QM, as the eight threads tore through the test and posted a score of 1,397. This is some way short of Rock Xtreme 790, but you'd need to put some serious hours in the gym to be able to carry the Rock around.

From our Lynnfield testing, we know that the combination of the P55 chipset and Lynnfield CPU is significantly faster than the P45 chipset and a Core 2 CPU. We were therefore hopeful that this laptop would be able to handle Crysis at 1,680 x 1,050 with 2x AA (we used an external screen to ensure that the score was comparable to those of previous laptops). Alas, the G860 came a touch short, with a minimum of 17fps and an average of 21fps. The Rock makes another interesting comparison points here, as the frame rates are barely ahead of the Kobalt, yet the latter is £500 less.

We're fairly sure, therefore, that even Nvidia's fastest mobile offering - the GeForce GTX 280M - just hasn't got the gaming power, as we doubt the CPU is the limiting factor with the G860. Switching back to the screen of the laptop, we could get Crysis more or less playable by running it in DX9 mode with no AA; the minimum of 24fps and average of 30fps was smooth enough. Batman: Arkham Asylum ran at between 40-60fps at 1,600 x 900 with 4x AA and maximum detail settings (though no PhysX), showing that console-port games should run without a hitch on the G860. Equally, Race Driver: GRID ran at between 49fps and 64fps at 1,600 x 900 with 4x MSAA, which is a solid effort.

Conclusion

We weren't really sure what the new range of mobile Core i7 CPUs would be like. In it's closed position, it might looks like a Liquorice Allsort but the idea of an eight-thread CPU in a laptop sounded even more extravagant, and the clock speed of 1.6GHz had us worried after previous experiences with slow multi-core CPUs. We needn't have worried, though, as Turbo Boost rescued the i7-720QM, typically ramping the frequency up to 2GHz. As a result, the Kobalt G860 stormed through our Media Benchmarks in one of the few gaming chassis that actually deserves the title of 'portable'.

While Intel has delivered on the promise of mobile performance, the Nvidia graphics card was a slight sticking point for the G860. The top-end GeForce GTX 280M is a sensible choice on Kobalt's part, but Crysis shows that we need faster mobile GPUs before gaming laptops can truly deliver on their promise. Less demanding games ran perfectly well on the G860, though, so it's worth a look as a foldaway gaming PC.

Given the G860's reasonable price, we were expecting to see quite a few compromises. However, we were impressed to see a decent screen, a stylish finish and solid build quality. If you're looking for a powerful PC that you can fold up and store in a desk drawer, or sling in a backpack and carry around comfortably, the Kobalt G860 should be near the top of your list.

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

Score Guide