Dell Vostro V131 Review

Most firms strive to produce distinctions in between their small-business and customer pc lines, occasionally for that place of developing complete new styles that aren't accessible otherwise. the majority of those business laptops aren't of substantially attention for that standard person, but occasionally a sleek pattern as well as a wonderful advertising price create a pc attractive to practically anyone. The Dell Vostro V sequence has long been that way for us for properly much more than a yr now. These slim ultraportables resemble distant cousins in the Adamo, but start at a fraction in the price. The only catch: the last product we reviewed, the slim Vostro V130, experienced a battery lifestyle that was much as well short, as well as a low-voltage processor that wasn't fast, either. the brand new Vostro V131 addresses each processor and battery life, with new second-gen standard-voltage main i-series processors and substantially much better battery performance, although preserving an aggressive price.

The V131's chassis is just as lavish as that of the Dell Latitude laptop. Its Aberdeen Silver enclosure is founded of magnesium—a powerful metal that's also employed in enterprise-class laptops such as the Dell Latitude E6420 ($1,788 direct, 4 stars) and Lenovo ThinkPad X220. Press the palm of your hand on best in the lid, and you'll locate the fact that V131 held firmer compared to aluminum-based HP Probook 5330m ($899.99 direct, 3.5 stars). At 13 by 9.1 by 0.8 inches (HWD), it's about as slender since the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 ($1,499 direct, 3.5 stars) and HP 5330m—all of which, such as the V131, lack an optical drive. The large 65WH battery provides the V131 a slight lift away from your back, although not as steep of the slope since the Dell 3350's 8-cell battery. Its four-pound frame falls in between the Lenovo X1 (3.7 pounds) and Dell 3350 (4.8 pounds).

The V131 skills a really very good array of ports. It not just has one USB 3.0 port, but two; it also has HDMI, an 8-in-1 card reader, one USB 2.0, and VGA. I would've liked to determine one more USB 2.0 port - or in the minimum a docking station port so end users could possess the assortment of more. Other than that, some potential purchasers could possibly be positioned away in the insufficient the SmartCard reader, but this laptop computer does possess a fingerprint reader - to be certain that may replace it in some terms, along the lines of standard laptop computer security. The laptop computer can be missing a DisplayPort - which may maybe or may maybe not be considered a tremendous offer since it has VGA and HDMI instead.

The 13.3-inch display skills a native resolution of 1,366x768 pixels and skills a matte coating, which may also help shield in opposition to glare. We wish we could say we loved the show more, but coloring and pictures rinse out really swiftly at even moderate viewing angles. in spite of the the front borders in the Vostro V131 looking like it has stereo speakers, it only skills a mono speaker. It reaches an acceptable quantity and appear best quality isn't overly tinny, but a tremendous amount of people these times will choose headphones.
The bundled Webcam skills a 1,280x720-pixel optimum resolution, and looked substantially much better than average. The array microphones bundled from the Dell Vostro V131 are also much far better compared to standard laptop; our recorded voice sounded crisp and distinct.


The biggest complaint concerning the Dell V130 was its small 30WH battery, which lasted a paltry three several hours within our MobileMark 2007 battery test. Dell addressed this getting a bigger 65Wh battery from the V131, furthermore to the payoff was huge. Its MobileMark rating of 8:27 doubled that in the HP 5330M (3:49) and practically tripled that in the V130 (3:02). Its amazing show was only bested in the Dell 3350's 80WH battery, which lasted 9:32. 

Dell Vostro V131 Review

The variations in between merely a tiny business and company pc employed to turn out to be extra clear-cut, but now the lines are blurring. The Dell Vostro V131 has long been updated to consist of the standard-voltage main i5 processor and large 65WH battery. It has most in the skills found out in its company siblings and doesn't advertising price practically as much. The only small company pc which has the V131 beat is its sibling, the Dell 3350, whose battery is extended lasting and all round advertising price is extra budget-friendly.