Malibal - My review

I recently found out I was going to be deploying overseas so I sold my gaming desktop, and after much research and looking at vendors, models, specs, etc... I settled on Malibal.

I placed my order for the Lotus P150EM SE, and over the course of its production they were extremely patient with me, especially when I wanted to make last minute changes (which was often). I was informed throughout the production process, and notified when it shipped about 5 days after I had placed my order.

The packaging was top notch, Laptop bag, manual, drivers disc, everything was all included and the laptop itself looked much better than I thought. Build quality was top notch, and setup was easy. It was up and running in under an hour!

One thing in particular I would like to commend Malibal on is there technical support. I have been building Desktop computers for 15 years now, and when I emailed them about a small issue I was having with the Nvidia GTX 675m they immediately recognized that I knew what I was doing hardware wise, and they are working on getting me a replacement card that I can install myself.

I can't say enough good things about Malibal, I highly recommend them!

 

What was your issue to warrant a new card if you don't mind me asking?

 

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this question, but it seems as good a place as any (these forums are huge and anything I enter into the search field returns an error)...does anyone know why the MALIBAL forums are down? It's been about three days now, so I have to assume they took them down on purpose? Just wondering, so any news is appreciated, thanks!

 

Hey Morey! I emailed Malibal today concerning the forums being down, and the only reply I received was "The forums are currently down but will be back up shortly."

So... yeah

Kind of a bummer because I want to read Fenrir's response to his Satori.

 

Malibal probably got tired of all the questions about why this person got there laptop into production before this other person that ordered a week before and bla bla bla...
I assumed that when they will have shipped all those backorder with 7970m the forums will be back.

 

Sadly I'm thinking the same thing. The guy who ordered his laptop on 6/6 got his laptop before all but like 4 people. Really pissed a lot of us off, then the forum went down.

My opinion is that they knew this was going to happen more and more and didn't want people to hear about it.

 

Funny timing with the forum crash eh.... coincidence?

 

I'd hate to think that the whole "forum is down" thing was done on purpose. They have always been friendly and prompt whenever I had cause to interact with them (which wasn't often, so I don't have a lot to go on, but still), so that just seems strange.

I know they were still working on some of the forum mechanics, and I wondered if they inadvertently changed a setting or someting that nuked the whole show. But no matter the cause, I do hope the MALIBAL forums will be up soon, as I want to hear all about Fenrir's review as well, and my Satori also arrives on Monday.

 

Also, in regards to their production schedule, I have a feeling that some people had placed their orders over a month prior, and their credit card authorization probably expired and thus they had to reauth (which I hope didn't put them to the back of the line).

As far as me, if it will help anyone guage their own process: I ordered my Satori (with a 7970M) on 6/3, filled out the authorization email the same night, got the processing email on 6/19, and the shipping email on 6/21; it is due to arrive on 6/25 via 2nd day air UPS.

 

I think we can confirm it then. Because I ordered on May 1st and it is still only rumoured that my laptop might be built today and shipped out sometime next week. Seeing how I will be on vacation for the next 3 weeks, I'm considering maybe cancelling and ordering from Xotic. At least then Malibal won't get my money.

And they use VBulletin, a supported forum software. In under 20 minutes I guarantee you that forum would be back up and working if they put any effort to it.

I just went and complained to a Malibal rep, probably got me pushed back but why do I care, I'll be on vacation. I'll type up a full review given I receive the laptop one day. It won't be positive. They could send me a laptop out of gold, this is the last time I will let any member of my family order from them.

Inb4 its not their fault.

EDIT: And when did you meet a friendly rep? I've called a bunch, and all except once I was met with a guy who had to be on the urge of passing out from exhaustion. And then their live chat reps are just depressing, you just get snippy answers from them (someone else mentioned this on the Malibal forum before it went down, though I forget exactly what was said). I guess you can consider them helpful in a sense, if you don't mind generic dates.

 

@Xeno
Join the club. Starting to consider cancelling my order and take my business elsewhere. I didnt order the P170EM, but 150em so it's the back of the line for me even though i ordered a month ahead of Morey. Honestly I'm not pleased with their choice of selecting recent orders over someone that's been patiently waiting.
I dont even want to think about the possibility of getting a defective product and dealing with what will likely be a cs nightmare.

 

I dunno, Malibal has been very good with me. Despite somewhat curt replies, their ticket response times are unparalleled. Since the production email thread on their forums is down, I can't say whether my case is the exception or the rule. Ordered June 6th (P150EM-SE), I received an email from them on Thursday saying my machine had shipped with an entry in the tracking form that something had happened on the 19th. I should be getting it on Monday.

 

Bummer, I ordered on 6/6 and when the payment was confirmed, my laptop shipped that day Be here on Tuesday. Also received emails on the status of the order so didn't have to check the site and really responsive.

The biggest reason for me not ordering with Malibal was their shipping costs. I found their $50 off discount was less than what Sager reseller could offer and the shipping costs nullified the $50 discount...

And I don't give a *****(explitive) about registering on their forum and making 5 random posts to get a discount. I have to waste time on their forum to get a discount that will just make it equaled to competitors because of their shipping fees? Please... They could just give me free shipping + the $50 discount.

This disappoints me considering I get free shipping on all my clothes, shoes, anything from NewEgg and Amazon usually. And having to pay $1500+ on a laptop and an additional $50+ in shipping fees hurts.

 

...
You ordered June 6, the 15 inch version, and it shipped out before mine did... and before idyu's (and probably a lot of others, seeing how I ordered on May 1st and its "going into production" on Friday, so MAYBE it will ship next week)

Wow. I ordered from Malibal because if you go look at there old reviews from previous years, their customer service was top notch. But the more recent the reviews you look at, the worse they are it seems...

Only reason I'm staying with them is because I ordered before May 11th, they gave me 2 day shipping (doesn't matter now though :/) and IC diamond, plus they had already upgraded me to $100 screen on xotic for $30.

But I really can't believe your order shipped out and you ordered on June 6th :/ Wow.

 

I think I might have gotten the priority treatment because I didn't order IC Diamond from them (I'm applying it myself, about $25 saved there since I'm dead broke now); they said that on the 19th they focused on a few P150EMs alongside the P170EMs. I assume those special ones are the ones without the thermal compound; I assume it was a quick "drop the card in and ship" kind of deal. I never got a production email, just a shipping email.

And I rechecked my order status; it's currently in a shipping center about ten to fifteen miles away from my house. The entry from the 19th was that the order was processed and ready for UPS.

 

I would be beyond pissed if that was true, seeing how they upgraded me to diamond free lol. But if you check this section of the forum you'll see my post on how they force cancelled my order because I was talking bad on them (this is a different username to, they must have checked my email or I was too specific in my description)

 

Honestly, I was quite suprised when I got the production notice email when I did. I had thought it would be July (or late June at the very least) before my order got to that stage, considering how late I originally ordered.

 

I received my laptop on Friday (P170EM with the 7970m). Apparently it arrived on Thursday, but I wasn't home when UPS dropped it off. I received the "in production" email from MALIBAL on Wednesday evening, which is a little weird if UPS tried to delivery it to me the next day (I'm in Toronto). My only complaint was that they didn't give me a UPS tracking number, so I had no idea it was coming until after the second delivery attempt. I remember seeing this happen to other customers as well before the forums went down. They were really burning through the notebook production, so I think that kind of mistake is more than forgiveable.

The computer is amazing: They sent exactly what I ordered and everything is running smoothly at great temps. Like others, however, my 7970M is somewhat under-performing, which I hope AMD will fix when the 12.7 drivers are released. Some applications (like Minecraft) seem to want to default to the Intel HD4000, but you can force applications to run off the dedicated card in Catalyst Manager.

 

Shouldn't minecraft still run on it fine lol? But yea, glad you found that hidden option in the CC. Does UPS not leave slips? I didn't know that... Fedex and DHL do, but 99% of the time my UPS guy just doesn't care and leaves the box... Though I hope he's not going to do that with my laptop

 

I think UPS only left the slip on the second delivery attempt, which was a little strange. The HD4000 runs Minecraft just fine, but naturally I'd rather run it on the 7970M I just told CCC to associate javaw with the dedicated card. I had to pay ~$300 for Canadian taxes, so he couldn't just leave it at the door

 

$300 in taxes?! GST/HST whatever, right? how much was your laptop all in all?

 

HST is 13% so this seems rather high, $200 would make sense. I was under the impression that they used the more expensive shipping to avoid brokerage fees and all you pay is HST. I'm Canadian and visiting my friend in the states in a few weeks, got it sent to him to avoid all the BS tax and shipping costs.

 

well quick update, I was busy all week end playing with my new Satori P170EM(and the great powerful 7970m).
ordered on June 12, got my shipping email on June 21 and received it at my door on the 22nd(and I am in Canada).
I had no OS installed(added an SSD myself) so that might be why it was so fast.

Great notebook, awesome performance(Max Payne 3 with max setting is running great!), only had some issues at first getting the graphic card drivers to work, but it is all good now with the supplied drivers.

Thanks Malibal! As far as I am concerned it was awesome doing business with you

 

Well happy to see some satisfied customers to say the least gratz

 

Hey sorry that I haven't replied since the original post, I'm in the military and moving constantly!

The original reason they sent me a 7970 was because the gtx675m I ordered was blue screening after about 20 minutes worth of gaming. I spoke with them about all of the solutions I personally tried, and in the end they overnighted me a 7970m and a self installation kit so I could install it before I went overseas.

To me this shows an outstanding customer service, loyalty, and even trust in their customers. (I told them I was A+ certified, and they didn't ask for any further info, they just sent me the self install kit and let me upgrade the card myself to save time)

Everyone has different experiences with manufacturers, but Malibal was extremely personal and helpful to me!

 

Hang on, you had a defective gtx675 and with no further ado or sending them the defective product and based on your word only, they sent you an urgent overnight upgrade 7970m with a self-installation kit? No charge?

That is just brilliant customer service if you ask me.

But just out of curiosity since I'm a bit confused, over here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/669740-7970m-self-upgrade.html#post8599012

You're asking where to buy a 7970m self-upgrade kit from Dell. What happened?