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There are a plethora of laptops aimed at the business user, many of which fall into the ‘grey, boring and clunky category'. Dell are trying to shake this market up by offering a rather sexy alternative which stands out in a crowded market. No longer will a sharp dressed executive have to hide his head in shame when whipping out his laptop in the company of peers.
The Dell Vostro 130 (successor to the Vostro 13) is without doubt one of Dells most attractive designs to date … with a uniform, razor thin aluminum chassis immediately catching the eye. Technically, first impressions are positive, with a high quality, anti glare WLED screen supported by 7,200 rpm hard drive, up to 4GB of DDR3 memory and Intel Core i3/i5 ultra low voltage processor. With prices starting at £399, it won't break the business bank account either.
Could this be the ultimate affordable business laptop with added sex appeal? Today KitGuru will reveal all.
Our review sample shipped with the full 4GB of memory, a 500GB 7,200 hard drive and the highest specification i5-470UM processor. This particular system costs £779 inc. delivery without VAT applied.
A full range of specifications available:
Processors
Intel® CoreTM Processor ULV i5-470UM (3M Cache, 1.33GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Intel® CoreTM Processor ULV i3-380UM (3M Cache, 1.33GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Intel CeleronTM Processor ULV U3400 (2M Cache, 1.06GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-Bit
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Basic 64-Bit
Ubuntu® Linux®
Memory
DDR3 SDRAM (800 MHz) one slot supporting 4GB1 DIMM.
Chipset
Mobile Intel® HM57 Express Chipset
Graphics
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (HD)
Display
13.3″ (34 cm) diagonal LED-backlit HD (1366 x 768) Anti-glare
Primary Storage1
5400 rpm SATA 250GB
7200 rpm SATA 500GB
128GB Solid State Drive
Standard Free Fall Sensor on the motherboard
Optical Drives
Optional External 8X DVD+/-RW
Multimedia
Speaker
Stereo headphone jack
Microphone jack and integrated microphone array
Integrated 2.0 Mega pixel webcam and Dell Webcam Central software
Power
6-cell Lithium Ion sealed battery (30WHr)
Connectivity
Integrated Wire: Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 NIC)
Wireless LAN: Intel 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.0; Dell 802.11 b/g/n; Intel® WiMax Link 6250 (US only)
Bluetooth: Bluetooth v3.0 + High Speed
Mobile Broadband : Dell 5540/5620 EM820U HSPA (requires mobile network operator service)
Ports, Slots & Chassis
Network connector (RJ45)
USB 2.0 (2)
USB 2.0/eSATA combo (1)
Microphone jack
Headphone/speaker out
5-in-1 card reader
HDMI
User accessible SIM card slot
15-pin VGA video connector
Dimensions & Weight
Width: 330mm
Height: (front/back) 16.5-19.7mm
Depth: 230mm
Starting weight: 3.5lbs/1.59kg (with 6-cell battery)
I love it. I am actually comtemplating it for college. I dont need massive battery life, but it seems somewhat of an oversight from Dell to only get 2 hours or so out of it. businessmen on the move might need at least double this a day.
I am glad you didnt score it down too badly though, it does a lot of things right.
My colleague in work has this and his overheats a lot, as our office is very warm. I might fire in an SSD for him next week and see if it helps.
I agree completely with the review. the internals are great and the design is beautiful, but the battery technology just doesnt cut it. for a business orenited machine this is a huge problem. there are a lot of complaints about it on dells forums.
I bought this last month and agree with most of the review. the design is brilliant, but my battery barely lasts 1.45 when watching youtube videos 🙁 I find this unacceptable and I wish I had read reviews before buying. apart from this is great. I hope Version 2 is better.
good review Zardon. seems like a decent all round machine unless you need a lot of battery support during the day. I suppose some business professionals might just need it for a presentation over lunch or something, then its ideal as the size is great.
Typical of Dell really.
Make an adamo style pc for the masses, keep the sexy looks, put a nice keyboard in, good screen, great design, then copy Apple and put the battery inside to keep the shape lovely.
Then cock up the battery life completely ruling it out for the target market. this is the third review on this machine ive read, this is the most detailed and unfortunately id have scored it much lower as the primary function for businessmen is a battery that lasts at least 4 hours. not 2.
I like it a lot, and the entry level one is cheap. shame about the battery, and you cant even buy another for replacement during the day. as you need to take the whole machine apart. what a stupid idea 🙁
ID buy it if I had the money, but a netbook is my limit, ordered a dell 10 inch last week, still hasnt arrived
That is a gorgeous laptop for the price, just a shame they didnt manage to get battery life to 4 hours or so 🙁 2 hours is terrible.
I just ordered one for college work, I dont need long battery life, just 1 hour at lunch, then it will be in mains at night. thanks for detailed review. I got an SSD in mine.