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The Dell Vostro 130 left us with mainly positive feelings. The Intel Core-i5-470UM processor is certainly powerful enough … passing all our performance testing with flying colours.
The build quality is excellent and the keyboard, track pad, and WLED screen are quality additions which enhance the feeling of buying a high value for money system. We are particularly fond of the chassis design, as it is sexy, slim and extremely portable.
It could almost have been a Macbook Air beater, but there are some glaring issues. The primary letdown for me is battery life, which is extremely disappointing. The six cell integrated battery lasts around 2 hours under general use which is certainly going to rule this machine out to a sizeable portion of the potential business oriented user base.
Replacing the battery isn't a simple job either as you have to remove the rear panel completely with a screwdriver set, hardly ideal on a plane or bus. We dread to think how much life you would get from this system without the ultra low voltage Intel processor. The lack of optical drive might be an issue for some, but it is to be expected with a 20mm chassis design.
Overall, the Dell Vostro 130 can be recommended. The design is beautiful, the screen and keyboard are great and being so thin, it is easy to carry around all day. Sadly, the battery will only last part of the morning before it needs a recharge and we think this is the biggest weakness of the machine. It is built to be portable, while utilising Intel's high performance ultra low voltage Core i3 and i5 processors, but the battery life cripples it.
KitGuru says: If you do purchase the machine, we strongly recommend the addition of an SSD drive. Performance is massively enhanced and due to the chassis design, internal temperatures drop by several degrees.
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.