Dell Vostro V130 review

£1062
Price when reviewed

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.

Dell Vostro V130

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.

Warranty

Warranty1yr on-site next business day

Physical specifications

Dimensions329 x 230 x 20.5mm (WDH)
Weight1.660kg
Travelling weight2.0kg

Processor and memory

ProcessorIntel Core i5-470UM
Motherboard chipsetIntel HM57
RAM capacity4.00GB
Memory typeDDR3
SODIMM sockets free0
SODIMM sockets total1

Screen and video

Screen size13.3in
Resolution screen horizontal1,366
Resolution screen vertical768
Resolution1366 x 768
Graphics chipsetIntel HD Graphics
VGA (D-SUB) outputs1
HDMI outputs1
S-Video outputs0
DVI-I outputs0
DVI-D outputs0
DisplayPort outputs0

Drives

Capacity500GB
Hard disk usable capacity451GB
Spindle speed5,400RPM
Internal disk interfaceSATA/300
Hard diskWestern Digital Scorpio Black
Optical disc technologyN/A
Optical driveN/A
Replacement battery price inc VAT£0

Networking

Wired adapter speed1,000Mbits/sec
802.11b supportyes
802.11g supportyes
802.11 draft-n supportyes
Integrated 3G adapteryes
Bluetooth supportyes

Other Features

Wireless hardware on/off switchno
Wireless key-combination switchyes
Modemno
ExpressCard34 slots0
ExpressCard54 slots0
PC Card slots0
USB ports (downstream)3
FireWire ports0
eSATA ports1
PS/2 mouse portno
9-pin serial ports0
Parallel ports0
3.5mm audio jacks2
SD card readeryes
Memory Stick readeryes
MMC (multimedia card) readeryes
Pointing device typeMultitouch touchpad
Integrated microphone?yes
Integrated webcam?yes
Camera megapixel rating2.0mp
TPMno
Fingerprint readerno
Smartcard readerno

Battery and performance tests

Battery life, light use3hr 55min
Battery life, heavy use1hr 15min
Overall application benchmark score1.06
Office application benchmark score0.93
2D graphics application benchmark score1.16
Encoding application benchmark score1.01
Multitasking application benchmark score1.15
3D performance (crysis) low settings11fps
3D performance settingLow

Operating system and software

Operating systemWindows 7 Professional 64-bit
OS familyWindows 7
Software suppliedTrend Micro Worry-Free Business Security (15mths)

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