Dell Vostro V130 Review

Vinod Yalburgi

Dell Vostro V130 is thin and light notebook targeted at the business user. It is the successor to the Vostro V13 which received a low response from its target segment due to lack of features and core processing power. The overall design and shell of the Dell Vostro V130 is the same as the Vostro V13, the internal platform has been upgraded to the new Intel Core i3 platform along with addition of some missing ports in the Vostro V13. The final result is an interesting mix, let’s find out whether the Dell Vostro V130 manages to excite the business user or will it meet the same fate as the Vostro V13.

Look and feel

With a 13.3-inch (screen-size) form factor along with a super-light package that weighs just 1.59 kilograms, the Vostro V130 is extremely portable. Measuring less than an inch in thickness, it is the slimmest enterprise notebook that we have tested in our labs. While being so slim and portable, the Vostro does not compromise on the build quality. Wrapped in brushed aluminum chassis, the V130 feels very rugged yet ensuring a very classy enterprise-like image. We have absolutely no complaints with the V130 in the design and build compartment. The internals are equally high-quality, use of high-grade plastic eliminates any creaks or bends across the entire body. A robust full-sized keyboard complements the design. The trackpad isn’t very “large” but for a 13.3-inch notebook, it feels sufficient. The keys have good feedback but they are a little noisy, making typing quite audible. Trackpad is accurate and smooth but the response is not as fast as some of the other enterprise notebooks, the Lenovo ThinkPads offer better trackpads for sure. The soft touch trackpad buttons are well configured, requiring just the right amount of pressure. We do however miss dedicated shortcut buttons, a feature that is very common with business notebooks. Toggling Wi-Fi on/off and volume controls has to be managed via the function key combination

The Vostro V130 comes with a 13.3-inch matte screen, a far cry from the usual glossy screens with mirror finish that severely affects legibility under bright-light conditions. The screen quality is pretty good with a good balance of brightness and contrast to ensure that the screen does not appear washed-out when the brightness is set to maximum level. The top of the screen bezel houses a 2.0MP webcam and a microphone for video conferencing.

Features

The V130 includes one of each eSATA-USB combo port, HDMI port, VGA port, Ethernet port and two USB 2.0 ports. One good thing to note is that two airflow vents and all the ports are located at the back. The only exception is the memory card reader, which is placed on the left side. The microphone and headphone ports are conveniently placed on the front. This provides a clutter-free user experience with enough room on either sides of the notebook. However, the slim profile of the Vostro V130 comes at the cost on a significant omission, the optical drive. You will have to buy an external USB based optical drive to fill the void. The V130 includes a charging indicator right next to the power LED on the front edge while the hard drive activity, Wi-fi, Bluetooth, numlock and capslock indicators are placed above the keyboard

Read on to know the performance, our take, specifications, ratings and test results on the next page...