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Dell Vostro V130 review

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Verdict

Sleek, surprisingly powerful and with a good range of options - but battery life is poor

Review Date: 10 Dec 2010

Reviewed By: David Bayon

Price when reviewed: £904 (£1,062 inc VAT)

Overall Rating

Features & Design
5 stars out of 6

Value for Money
4 stars out of 6

Performance
4 stars out of 6

Dell hasn't always been known for its focus on style, but with the advent of the gorgeous Adamo, it had a laptop for the kind of people who'd buy a MacBook Air or a Sony VAIO Z Series. It didn't quite pull it off, but the design soon evolved into the sleek Latitude 13 and now this: the Vostro V130.

It's flat, gently curved at the sides, and measures just 20.5mm thick (including feet) - and that's the same from front to back, since there's no incline or variation at all. The lid opens on a hinge set an inch or so from the rear edge, giving it a neat, angular look when sat on a desk. And best of all, it weighs just 1.66kg. That isn't quite as light as the 1.33kg of the 13in MacBook Air, but it isn't far off, and shows just how honed Dell's design has become.

There are no ports or sockets around the sides, bar a single memory card slot for SD, MMC and Memory Stick formats - and that comes with a plastic stopper to keep the silver lines clean. Instead, on the flat rear edge you'll find D-SUB and HDMI outputs, Gigabit Ethernet, two USB ports and a USB/eSATA combo port. It's a slim selection that may require a USB port replicator.

The keyboard exhibits no such compromise. The keys are large with no shrunken tiddlers, and there's space for the page navigation keys down the right-hand side. Key travel is shallow - not surprising given the tight squeeze of the base - but it's comfortable enough to type on, and the multitouch touchpad and buttons are responsive. There's no ThinkPad-style trackpoint, or security extras such as fingerprint readers and TPM chips, however.

The 13.3in screen has the usual 1,366 x 768 resolution, and its white-LED backlight is even and keeps things nice and bright. Thankfully it isn't glossy, so although the colours aren't as vibrant as on the Sony VAIO Z Series, you won't have to worry about reflections from the office lights. The lid feels strong, as does the base, and the hinge has enough stiffness to stay put when you're moving it about.

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Comments

User comments

Do businesses use the security features?

Dell, HP, Sony & Lenovo's ThinkPads have, in the past, always included the finger scanner or TPM chip.
Dell's latest have shun them and Apple have never had them on their Macbooks; do businesses actually use the extra security features on laptops?

By Duggie on 11 Dec 2010

sometimes

In the large worldwide corp that I work in, the use of laptop finger print scanners is enabled for the upper echelons, but not for the rank & file!

By Sarcen on 12 Dec 2010

How does this compare to Latitude

David, as a current owner of the Latitude E6400, how does this compare? Obviously it's smaller but I am keen to know how the build quality differs? I have always bought Latitudes except from once buying an XPS M1530 which I instantly regretted and sold on eBay for a loss due to the 'downgrade' in build quality. Would I have any such concerns with the Vostro, being Dell's 'budget' business line?

Also, my Latitude has a 14.1" 1440x900 screen. If I were to downsize to a 13.3" would I find 1366x768 too cramped? My main usage is web browsing, Outlook and Visual Studio 2010.

Your comments would be very much appreciated as it's virtually impossible to see Dell's business laptops in the 'metal' without actually buying it - then you incur a loss if you decide to send it back.

Many thanks.

By anthona on 15 Dec 2010

@anthona: It's surprisingly robust actually. I know the Vostro is technically a cheaper brand, but it's still a thousand-pound laptop. The base is stronger than I expected given its thinness and the hinge feels good.

As for resolution, 1,366 x 768 is pretty standard at 13in, so I don't think you'd notice a huge drop. To test that you could just go into any shop and try a 13in laptop - they'll be the same in that respect.

Regards
David

By DavidBayon on 16 Dec 2010

CULV processors

@David - I see these have the Core i5 processor on the Dell website, but what it doesn't mention is the GHz which I believe is only 1.6GHz and they are using the low voltage CULV chips. I also note the relatively low benchmark score of 1.06. If I invested in one of these would it be able to handle Visual Studio 2010?

My current laptop is a Core 2 Duo 2.54GHz and I wouldn't want to spend that much only for something slower (even if it is more stylish!).

Do you have any thoughts on this aspect?

By anthona on 21 Dec 2010

@anthona: yes, it's the low-voltage version of the Core i5, so it's a little limited in its raw performance. I don't have a benchmark score for your current CPU to hand, but I imagine that would get around 1.2 in our benchmarks - not a huge difference from the Vostro's 1.06.

By DavidBayon on 22 Dec 2010

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