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Dell’s Vostro laptops have always been strikingly thin and at less than 2cm thick, the new V130 is no exception. The aluminium design is striking and wouldn’t look out of place in the home or office.
The V130’s Intel Core i5-470UM processor has a Turbo Boost mode, which increases the clock speed from 1.33 to 1.86GHz when needed. This low-voltage model is slower than other Core i5 chips, but it consumes less power and runs at a lower temperature. Everyday applications will still run smoothly and 4GB of memory helps with multitasking.
The Intel HD graphics are now integrated with the processor, and have come a long way from previous generations of Intel graphics. They are now powerful enough for high definition video, but playing games still remains out of reach. As a low 7.1fps in Call of Duty 4 shows, only casual games and older titles will be playable.
Like a lot of business laptops, the 13.3in screen has a matt finish to diffuse reflections. Image quality is only average. The screen is bright and images are sharp, but colours aren’t especially vibrant. The 1,366×768 resolution is well suited to web browsing and large enough for 720p video playback. The screen doesn’t tilt much but has acceptable viewing angles. Sound from the two tiny speakers was poor, with no real volume and mediocre audio quality.
The keyboard is comfortable to type on; even though the flat keys are grouped together tightly we liked the keys’ firm action. There’s no number pad, but each key is a good size and all the punctuation marks are where you would expect them. The touchpad’s shape is similar to the screen’s and is responsive, as are the two individual touchpad buttons below it.
There’s no built-in optical drive and almost all the ports are at the back of the laptop – this can be inconvenient when connecting peripherals. The shared eSATA/USB port is useful, but connectivity is otherwise limited to two dedicated USB ports. A multi-format reader at the side is slightly more accessible, as are the audio jacks. There’s a SIM card slot at the front of the machine. though this particular model doesn’t come with a built-in 3G modem to make use of it.
The V130 is the first laptop to use Intel’s Hyperbaric cooling technology. This may sound complicated, but it essentially means the cooling fan acts as an air intake, rather than an exhaust. It certainly seemed effective, as the laptop felt cool to the touch after several hours’ use yet remained surprisingly quiet throughout.
We liked the Vostro V130’s compact design, but felt it fell short in everyday use. Performance suffered because of the low-voltage components, but battery life was still disappointing at under four hours. At only 1.6kg it’s incredibly portable, but for all day computing you’ll want to pack a charger. This, along with the unimpressive screen and poor quality audio limits its appeal to home users.
