Ever since I first saw the new line of Dell Vostro V-series last year (t’was just the V13 before), I already liked the form factor. Now, they’ve got something meatier with the Vostro V130. Read our full review of the Dell Vostro V130 after the jump.
The Vostro V130 followed the same design and genetic make-up of the premium Dell Adamo series (which was discontinued earlier this year). Only this time, they’ve rationalized it and offered it to the business/enterprise market, making it more affordable and somewhat configurable.
The Vostro V130 model that we got had this specifications:
Dell Vostro V130 specs:
13.3″ display @ 1366×768 pixelsIntel Core i5 U470 @ 1.3GHzIntel HD Graphics4GB DDR3 RAM500GB SATA HDD2 x USB 2.0 portsBluetooth 3.0WiFi 802.11 b/g/nHDMI porteSATA portWindows 7The laptop does not come with a built-in optical disk drive (CDROM) so you will get to get an external if you want one. Some models have a 3G SIM card slot and WiMax (US only).
This model was actually announced in the US sometime in November last year and came to the Philippines several months ago. It’s pretty normal from laptops in the business market to have this refresh cycle since corporate users usually follow a more stringent laptop replacement process than consumer variants.
As such, you will notice it is still using Intel’s first-generation Core i5 ULV processor (the U470M running at 1.33GHz dual-core and goes up to 1.86GHz on Turbo Boost).
The Vostro V130 has a relatively thin frame at just 0.65″ at the thinnest side (that’s 16.5mm only but goes up to 19.7mm at the thickest base) and lightweight as well (under 3.4lbs) considering it has a 13.3″ form factor.
The Vostro V130 has this unique lid design as well — the base of the lid does not close at the edge but a couple centimeters inwards. This gives the laptop a protruding edge (for a lack of a better term, I’d call it the butt end) that provides space for the ports. So unlike most other laptops that places the ports on both the left and right side, the V130 has all of them placed at the back.
This makes sense when you realize that this is good for docking in the office (where all the cables and connections are pulled out from the wall or the back side of the cubicle). Aside from the usual USB ports, you also get an eSATA and HDMI ports accessible at the back.
The only other socket not placed at the back is the SD card slot which is found on the right side (wait, the Kensington locks are there too and the audio port is up front).
The full-sized keyboard on the V130 uses the conventional type, maximizing the size of each key. I liked the soft response of the keys and the tactile feedback it offers (touch typing is a breeze). It’s got a wide trackpad, which is a little flushed to the left, and a nice set of trackpad buttons.
The lid and and screen have a matte finish which is good since it minimizes glare on the display and fingerprint marks on both surface.
Performance on the Dell Vostro V130 is very good since it already uses a dual-core Intel Core i5 processor. It runs at a base speed of 1.33GHz (which is normal for ultraportables) but can go up to 1.86GHz on Turbo Boost when required. The integrated Intel HD Graphics is decent but don’t expect it to cut it out in the gaming department (besides this is a business laptop, right?).
We got a sub-score of 5.2 for the processor while the graphics got the lowest score of 3.1.
What got us a bit disappointed is the battery life. For an ultraportable, we only got a paltry 2.5 hours on a single full charge (3 hours at best but that’s without WiFi). Not sure why Dell would make it so but I guess they think this pretty little laptop just needs to stay in the office.
Dell claims this model is the first ultra-thin laptop to offer Hyperbaric Cooling, an Intel Advanced Cooling Technology, to help it stay quiet and cool.
The Dell Vostro V130 is being offered to Small Business and Corporate customers for a retail price of Php41,700.
This article originally appeared at - yugatech
