Aimed squarely at the small and medium business market, the Dell Vostro V131 is a 13.3in ultraportable capable of tailoring itself to the tightest of IT budgets. Now, with the addition of Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors and a newly removable battery, the latest update to the range aims to be faster and longer-lasting than ever.
It might look somewhat understated in its palette of dark grey and silver, but the Vostro V131 is a lovely looking business laptop. The attractive chassis measures a dainty 19mm thick, apart from the slight bulge of the six-cell battery propping up its rear. The extra bulk of the battery sees it tip the scales at 1.8kg – 170g heavier than last year’s model, the Vostro V130.
Given the extra battery capacity on offer, we’re happy to suffer a little extra weight. Indeed, where its predecessor was hamstrung by poor battery life and crippled by a non-removable battery, we’re glad to see that Dell’s redressed the issue. And with its 65wh battery clocking 7hrs 56mins in our light-use battery test, the Vostro V131 now has the stamina to match its go-anywhere proportions. It’s a huge improvement.
Application performance has improved dramatically too. The previous generation had to make do with low-voltage processors, but the new model now gives the choice of a low-voltage Celeron 847 processor, a Core i3-2310M or a Core i5-2410M. Our model sported the fastest Core i5-2410M processor, and it flew through our application benchmarks with an overall result of 0.68. For a light, compact business laptop, the Vostro V131 is packing some serious power.
It doesn’t mimic the flex-free brawn of Dell’s Latitude range, though. The base gives noticeably when you tug on it hard, and the display’s slender lid also feels a little weak. Still, the backlit keyboard makes for comfortable typing: the wide channels around the Scrabble-tile keys keep mispresses to a minimum and, despite a little bounce in the base, the overall feel is crisp and responsive.
The multitouch touchpad is excellent, giving accurate cursor control, and its two buttons offer a soft yet positive click. And the amber LED light above is a nice touch, clearly indicating when the touchpad’s been disabled.
Physical specifications | |
---|---|
Dimensions | 330 x 238 x 30mm (WDH) |
Weight | 1.800kg |
Travelling weight | 2.2kg |
Processor and memory | |
Processor | Intel Core i5-2410M |
RAM capacity | 4.00GB |
Memory type | DDR3 |
Screen and video | |
Screen size | 13.3in |
Resolution screen horizontal | 1,366 |
Resolution screen vertical | 768 |
Resolution | 1366 x 768 |
Graphics chipset | Intel HD Graphics 3000 |
VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 1 |
HDMI outputs | 1 |
S-Video outputs | 0 |
DVI-I outputs | 0 |
DVI-D outputs | 0 |
DisplayPort outputs | 0 |
Drives | |
Optical disc technology | N/A |
Optical drive | None |
Battery capacity | 65wh |
Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 |
Networking | |
802.11a support | yes |
802.11b support | yes |
802.11g support | yes |
802.11 draft-n support | yes |
Integrated 3G adapter | yes |
Bluetooth support | yes |
Other Features | |
Modem | no |
ExpressCard34 slots | 0 |
ExpressCard54 slots | 0 |
PC Card slots | 0 |
USB ports (downstream) | 1 |
FireWire ports | 0 |
PS/2 mouse port | no |
9-pin serial ports | 0 |
Parallel ports | 0 |
Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 0 |
Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 |
3.5mm audio jacks | 1 |
SD card reader | yes |
Memory Stick reader | yes |
MMC (multimedia card) reader | yes |
Smart Media reader | yes |
Compact Flash reader | no |
xD-card reader | no |
Pointing device type | Touchpad |
Integrated webcam? | yes |
Camera megapixel rating | 1.3mp |
Fingerprint reader | yes |
Smartcard reader | no |
Carry case | no |
Battery and performance tests | |
Battery life, light use | 7hr 56min |
Overall Real World Benchmark score | 0.68 |
Responsiveness score | 0.83 |
Media score | 0.68 |
Multitasking score | 0.53 |
Operating system and software | |
Operating system | Windows 7 Professional 64-bit |
OS family | Windows 7 |
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