Dell Dell Vostro 1000 Notebook Computer (Mobile Turion 64 X2 TL56 1.80GHz//1GB) Screen Size: 15.4 inches
Weight: 6.2 lbs
Processor Options: AMD Athlon 64, AMD Turion X2
Graphics Options: ATI Radeon Express 200M (Integrated)
Vostro notebooks are built exclusively for small business and are ready to be customized with the features and software you want without any unwanted trialware. With flexible technology and service options, wireless connectivity, and AMD processors packed into a compact system, the Dell Vostro 1000 gives you the essential mobility that will get your business going places.

The Dell Vostro 1000 is the budget offering in the Dell Small Business lineup of laptops. It has a 15.4” screen and comes with an AMD Turion processor. The Vostro 1000 is priced at under $500 with a basic configuration, so the price really can’t be complained about. But does the low price equate to a cheap product or is this laptop a great deal for the buck? This review will attempt to answer that.

Specs of Vostro 1000 under review:

• Mobile AMD Sempron Processor 3500+ 1.80GHz
• 15.4” Widescreen XGA (non-glare)
• 512MB of RAM at 533MHz
• ATI Radeon Express 1150
• 60GB 5400RPM HD
• Windows XP Home
• Dell Wireless 1390 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi
• 24X CD Burner DVD Combo

Places to buy laptop

You can buy the Dell Vostro 1000 via Dell.com or over the phone. The Vostro 1000 is easy to configure at Dell.com. I had to wait less than 10-days for my Vostro to ship after placing the order. In fact, it shipped 5-days after placing the order and arrived to me in a total of 7-days. Quite impressive!

Looks and Construction Quality laptop

It’s quite obvious that a nice design wasn’t even considered with the Vostro 1000. This laptop couldn’t possibly be more standard issue looking. It’s made of black plastic and mostly square looking. There is simply no design flare to the laptop. It’s fairly ugly in my opinion, but then again there’s nothing offensive about it. Anyone that cares a lot about the design looks of tech products they buy probably will not consider the Vostro 1000. A small business looking to buy cheap laptops will probably not care about the fact the Vostro 1000 looks like an ugly beast next to say a MacBook Pro.

The build quality of the Vostro 1000 is middling, as you would expect for this price. It’s made entirely of plastic, but is not as flimsy as you might assume. In fact, the plastic body doesn’t have too much give to it. I’ve certainly experienced worse, cheap Acer laptops sold in CompUSA for $400 definitely feel more flimsy than the Vostro 1000.

One thing you should be aware of is that the chassis and build quality of the Vostro 1000 is entirely different to the Vostro 1400 and Vostro 1500. The Vostro 1400 and 1500 have magnesium in their case body, which makes them much sturdier. If you need a laptop to last you 3 – 4 years, the Vostro 1400/1500 are the way to go. They also look nicer because they have a bit of a curved finish, media buttons, LED accent lighting and you can see a metallic finish that’s more professional looking.

Weigh-in laptop

The advantage of the Vostro 1000 being made of plastic is that it’s actually quite light for a 15.4” screen laptop. It’s only slightly heavier than the Vostro 1400 – a smaller 14.1” screen laptop. In the picture below you’ll see that the Vostro 1000 tips the scale at 5.8lbs, which is really quite light for the size:

The small Vostro 1400 tips the scale at 5.64lbs, only slightly less weight than the Vostro 1000:

And the Vostro 1500 tips the scales at 6.5lbs, much heavier than the Vostro 1000!

Heres a comparison of the Vostro 1000 weight to some similar sized notebooks:

Notebook	Actual Weight
Dell Vostro 1000 (15.4" screen, 4-cell battery)	5.8lbs
Dell Vostro 1500 (15.4" screen, 6-cell battery)	6.75lbs
Dell Inspiron 1520 (15.4" screen, 9-cell battery)	7.4lbs
HP Pavilion dv6500t (15.4” screen, 6-cell battery)	6.10lbs
Sony VAIO FZ (15.4” screen, 6-cell battery)	5.62lbs

Its always good to consider how much a notebook weighs when you add in the power adapter for travel weight, here you can see that with the 4-cell battery and power adapter the total weight of the system comes to about 6.65lbs

Size-Up laptop

Another interesting metric I like to look at is the dimensions of the notebook compared to similar notebooks.

Notebook	Dimensions
Dell Vostro 1000 (15.4" screen)	14.02" (W) x 1.42" (max H) x 10.45" (D)
Dell Vostro 1500 (15.4" screen)	14.12" (W) x 1.65" (max H) x 10.59" (D)
HP Pavilion dv6500t (15.4” screen)	14.05" (W) x 1” - 1.69" (max H) x 10.12" (D)
Dell Inspiron 1520 (15.4” screen)	14.12 (W) x 1.47 - 1.65” (H) x 10.59” (D)
Sony VAIO FE (15.4” screen)	14.41” (W) x 1.02” -1.39” (H) x 10.81” (D)
Sony VAIO FZ (15.4” screen)	14"(W) x 0.98-1.4"(H) x 10.02"(D)

The Vostro 1000 is overall smaller than the Vostro 1500, but its not as thin and sleek as the competing VAIO notebooks. Not that the Vostro 1000 was ever trying to be sleek!

Ports

The port selection for the Vostro 1500 is on par with other 15.4" notebooks. Again I’ll compare it to what similar notebooks have so you get an idea of where it stands relative to competition:

Ports	Vostro 1000	HP dv6500t	Sony VAIO FZ
USB 2.0	4	3	3
FireWire	No	Yes	Yes
Media Card Reader	Yes (3-in-1)	4-in-1	Yes (MS and SD)
Ethernet	Yes	Yes	Yes
Modem	Yes	Yes	Yes
Headphone out	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microphone in	Yes	Yes	Yes
Monitor out	Yes	Yes	Yes
HDMI	No	Yes	Yes (optional)
DVI-D	No	No	No
S-Video	No	Yes	Yes
ExpressCard Slot	Yes (54mm)	Yes (34mm/54mm)	Yes (34mm)
PCMCIA Slot	No	No	No
Expansion Dock Port	No	Yes	No

Unsurprisingly there are no high-definition video output ports such as HDMI, DVI or even so much as S-Video on the Vostro 1000. Though the Vostro 1000 doesnt have a stunning array of ports, it at least offers all of the essentials and a generous four USB ports.

Lets take a tour around the ports of the Vostro 1000 to see where theyre located:

Front side

On the front you just see the speakers and the latch on the lid. The latch is pretty cheap feeling, its made of plastic.

Left Side

On the left side you just have the optical drive, which can be either a DVD/CD-RW Combo or Dual Layer DVD+R write drive.

Right Side

On the right side you have the Express card 54mm slot, 3-in-1 media card reader, headphone out, microphone in and then two USB ports.

Back Side

On the back you have the power jack, Ethernet port, modem port, two more USB ports, and a monitor out port.

Performance

The AMD Turion and Sempron processor family is lacking when compared to the Intel Core 2 Duo offerings. It’s pretty amazing how AMD went from being competitive with its mobile processors 2 years ago to being almost stagnant and non-competitive today. They haven’t updated their mobile processors in quite some time.

However, if you’re not going to be using a laptop for high-end demanding work, then the cheaper AMD offerings might be just the right ticket. Dell obviously is able to sell the Vostro 1000 for cheaper because it contains a budget AMD processor. The AMD Sempron and Turion processors offered will run Office applications and web browsers just fine. If you’re a multi-tasking fiend and have several applications open at once, you might be upset by the performance of the processor, but if you’re more of a one task at a time person then it won’t make any difference to you if there’s an AMD Sempron 3000 processor or a much more expensive (and faster) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.20 GHz processor powering your laptop.

One thing that’s probably as important as the processor is getting enough memory. If you go with Windows XP I would say 1GB is the optimal amount of memory, but you could get away with just 512MB. If you’re running Windows Vista then you really want 2GB of memory, but you could get away with just 1GB. The Vostro 1000 under review has Windows XP installed. With 512MB of memory it runs ‘okay’, but it does lag a bit when opening programs or clicking on menus. If there was 1 – 2GB of memory in this machine that lag would definitely go away.

The hard drive offerings for the Vostro 1000 range from 60GB – 120GB. They’re all the same speed of 5400RPM, which is adequate. I’d go with 80GB or up for storage, if you think you’ll be storing a lot of videos and music then the 120GB size is preferable. If the only thing you’ll be storing is word docs, power point presentations and email then 80GB should be fine.

Some Benchmarks

It always helps to put some numbers to the perceived performance level. In the comparison table below, you’ll see that the Vostro 1000 doesn’t keep up with laptops that have faster internal components:

In the following benchmark the program Super Pi was used to force the processor to calculate the number Pi to 2 million digits of accuracy. The lower the score the better, as that equates to faster. The Vostro 1000 was much slower than the Intel based competitors

WPrime is another program that forces the processor to do intense calculations, this time to calculate Prime numbers out to 32M. Again, lower scores (in seconds) mean faster performance:

HDTune was run to measure the disk drive performance, which was in line for what youd expect from a 5400RPM hard drive:

Screen

The screen is a 15.4” Widescreen XGA display (1280 x 800 resolution). XGA is the most standard resolution you can get with laptops, and suits most people. You can choose between a glossy screen finish and matte finish screen, the glossy finish is a $30 upgrade. If you plan on watching movies and prefer more vibrant and bold colors then go with the glossy screen. The only warning to heed with the glossy screen is that it is a lot more reflective, in a bright light setting you’ll see a lot of lights reflecting off the screen.

I got the matte finish screen. The brightness of the Vostro 1000 screen isn’t all that great, it’s certainly below average relative to other laptops. The other major flaw is the amount of light leakage you get from the bottom of the screen. If you look at some pictures I’ll took you’ll see a lot of the backlight bleeding from the bottom of the screen, this is especially noticeable when you’ve got a lot of dark colors on the screen.

Overall the Vostro 1000 screen is pretty bad in terms of quality, it’s not the worst screen I’ve seen but it’s far from the top. Obviously the LCD panel is a cheaper one, which is what you should expect to get for the price.

Keyboard

The keyboard is rather dull in its feel. The feedback from the keys isn’t very good and it seems as if some of these keys are just waiting to jump off. You can’t describe the keyboard as anything but cheap feeling. I’m a snob and very particular when it comes to keyboards though, others might not be so put off.

Touchpad

The touchpad itself works just fine, no real complaints there. The mouse buttons are clunky and cheap feeling, they’re not very pleasing to use.

Software

The really great thing about the Vostro 1000 is that it comes with very little bloatware. There were only 44 processes at startup out of the box. That’s literally half of the amount you’ll get on most consumer notebooks these days that are sold with a glut of “free” software that you’ll never use and rather not have. Having such a clean system really helps with performance, it’s a beautiful thing not to see a bunch of garbage already on your new computer.

The other great news is that Dell provides all necessary recovery disks and drivers on disks. There’s no need to have to burn your own recovery disks like some manufacturers are now making you do.

Battery

There are three battery options for the Dell Vostro 1000: 4-cell, 6-cell or 9-cell. I purchased the cheapest option 4-cell 29WHr variety battery. I regret this because the 6-cell is only about a $20 upgrade and would have provided far better battery life. With brightness set to half way and wireless on and the system idling, the battery on the Vostro 1000 conked out after 1hour and 50 minutes. If you’re actually working on the notebook you can expect about 1h 30m of battery life. If you’re watching a movie with the screen at full brightness you’ll be lucky to get an hour of battery life out of the 4-cell.

I understand that the 6-cell battery provides almost 3 hours of battery life under normal usage, so I’d go with that option. The 6-cell will be slightly heavier, but that’s a worthwhile trade off for the longer battery life.

Audio

There are two front firing speakers on the Vostro 1000. As is typical for notebook speakers, the audio is very tinny and not pleasing to the ears. If you’re an audiophile you’ll find the speakers painful, if you’re not discriminating then the sound might be considered adequate. Using headphones will provide a much richer listening experience.

Noise level

The Vostro 1000 runs quietly, the size, plastic body and low power of the laptop all contribute to keeping this notebook quite cool so that the fan doesn’t have to run very often and thus keeps things quiet.

Conclusion

The Vostro 1000 is good for the price, though you certainly get what you pay for. The screen is middling, the keyboard mediocre, performance is ho-hum, and the build is all plastic and lacking quality. However, if all you’re looking for is a cheap laptop to sit on a desk and be used for productivity tasks such as Office applications and web surfing, then the Vostro 1000 will serve that need. At the end of the day I’d encourage most people to pay an extra $100 - $200 to upgrade to the better quality Vostro 1500, but if you’re on a tight budget then the Vostro 1000 is an okay buy for the price.

Cheers

• The price is right, starting at under $500
• Easy to order and configure via Dell.com, quick delivery in under 10-days
• Very clean install of Windows without a bunch of garbage software
• You get all restore disks and necessary drivers on disks with the computer
• Works fine for general usage

Jeers

• Made of plastic, not very resistant to hard knocks or drops that a laptop might take
• Screen is not very bright and suffers light leakage at the bottom
• Keyboard is somewhat clunky
• Not a computer meant for power users that game and do lots of multi-tasking

( From http://www.notebookreview.com )

Read More..

When Dell launched their new Vostro line of computers last year the Vostros where immediately praised for meeting the needs of small businesses and budget-minded consumers alike. The Vostro 1310 is the newest and smallest addition to the Vostro family of notebooks. This compact business notebook comes with a 13.3" display, dedicated graphics option and a slot-loading optical drive, but does it still offer the right combination of features, options, and price that made the Vostro line so popular? Keep reading and you can find out.

The Dell Vostro 1310 is available with a range of Intel processors (from the 1.86GHz Celeron M M540 up to the T9500 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo). There are two 13.3" screen offerings, a 1280x800 WXGA with matte anti-glare coating and 1280x800 WXGA "TrueLife" glossy display. The notebook can take up to 4GB of RAM and Dell offers 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional. The system is priced starting at $749 with integrated Intel X3100 graphics at the time of this writing, but is also available with nVidia 8400M GS dedicated graphics.

Our pre-production Vostro 1310 is equipped with the following specs:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz)
• Memory: 2GB - 2 DIMM (DDR2-667) (4GB max)
• HDD: 160GB 5400RPM HDD
• Graphics: 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
• Display: 13.3" WXGA Antiglare
• Optical drive: Slot-loading 8x DVD +/- RW
• OS: Vista Business SP1 (available with XP Professional)
  
• Software: 30-day security subscription anti-virus, No trail-ware
  
• Wireless: Dell 1505 Wireless-N Mini Card (802.11a/g/n)
  
• Battery: 6-cell battery
• Other: Webcam and fingerprint reader
• Services: Network assistant; 10GB of Datasafe online; Dell Support Center; PC Tune-up
• Dimensions (HxWxD): 0.94" (front)/1.59" (back) x 12.48" x 9.57"
• Weight: 4.45 lbs (with 4-cell battery), 4.63 lbs (with 6-cell battery)
• Base configuration price: $749
• Price as tested: $1,357

(view large image)

Build and Design laptop

Dell received some much needed attention in 2007 with the introduction of the sleek, high performance XPS M1330 and XPS M1530 notebooks. While these more expensive notebooks in the Dell lineup were praised for their looks and low weight, the Dell Insipron and Vostro notebooks were criticized for being bulky and unattractive laptops. Dell listened closely to this criticism when they designed the new Vostro 1310. The Vostro 1310 is in fact roughly 20% smaller and lighter than the Vostro 1400.

Unfortunately, the lighter weight and thinner profile come at some cost. Namely, the plastics used in the chassis feel thin and in some areas, such as above the keyboard and on the palmrests, there is a significant degree of flex. The edges of the chassis are also sharper than what weve seen on earlier Dell notebooks and these sharp edges and thin plastics make the design of the Dell Vostro 1310 feel slightly unfinished or unrefined.

Much like last years Vostro releases, the 1310 doesnt come in multiple colors or display lid patterns. Black is your only option. However, this year Dell decided to get rid of the matte black finish in favor of a glossy black finish with just a hint of metal flake. The black paint with the fine metal flakes is inlaid with the molds so theres no risk of the glossy finish coming off.

(view large image)

Although I wasnt a huge fan of the glossy black plastic lid with metal flake paint on our pre-production Vostro 1310, it does look and feel nice. Still, the new glossy lid design is a magnet for fingerprints and might not resist light scratches as well as the matte black finish on the previous generation Vostro notebooks.

Another of the new innovations for the Vostro line is the "Hyperband Multi-Antenna" housed inside the LCD lid which Dell claims "can provide excellent reception and help reduce dropped signals" for both Wi-Fi and bluetooth. Ive never had serious problems with dropped signals while using older Dell notebooks so I cant speak to whether the new internal multi-antenna actually improved wireless reception ... but I can say that I never experienced dropped Wi-Fi connections during the testing period.

The following is a short video overview of the all-new Dell Vostro 1310:

Screen laptop

Display options for the Vostro 1310 include a matte finish 13.3" Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800), and a 13.3" Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) with TrueLife (glossy finish). Im a little disappointed that Dell isnt offering a higher resolution option at the time of this writing. However, the overwhelming majority of "average" business users and budget notebook shoppers will think the WXGA resolution looks stunning.

The screen on our pre-production unit looks flawless from straight on and the horizontal viewing angles are great. Upper vertical viewing angles are good with just a slightly washed out look, but colors did begin to invert at lower viewing angles when the screen is tilted back.

(view large image)	(view large image)
(view large image)	(view large image)

Keyboard, Touchpad and Media Controls

The keyboard on the Vostro 1310 is quite nice with minimal flex near the center of the keyboard. The keys have a nice matte texture with proper spacing and each of the keys have excellent travel and cushion. There are dedicated page up and page down keys but the home and end keys require the use of the function key, so this might be a little frustrating for users who do a lot of coding.

(view large image)

The touchpad surface utilizes the same matte texture with just a hint of metal flake that is used on the palm rest surface. The touchpad is nice and responsive but feels a little smaller than it should be. The touchpad buttons have excellent travel and cushion. Unfortunately, because of the way in which the touchpad buttons are slightly recessed and close to the edge of the chassis, the touchpad buttons are uncomfortable to use. The edge of my thumb kept hitting the edge of the chassis when I pressed the touchpad buttons and I ended up with sore thumbs after just a few minutes.

(view large image)

A series of touch-sensitive media buttons with blue LED backlights are located above the keyboard similar to the buttons on the XPS notebooks. One nice feature about the media buttons is that the blue LEDs only stay lit for a fraction of a second after being pressed, so they wont distract you by staying lit all the time. The power button also features a blue LED backlight, but this light says on whenever the notebook is on.

(view large image)

(view large image)

Ports and Features

The port selection of the 1310 is reasonably good for a notebook of this size. Heres a quick rundown of what you get:

Front profile view: LED status lights and mono speaker.

(view large image)

Left side: USB port, FireWire, microphone in, headphone out, multi-card reader, and ExpressCard slot.

(view large image)

Right side: Slot-loading optical drive, WiFi on/off, three USB ports, and power jack.

(view large image)

Back profile view: Battery, VGA out, Ethernet and security lock slot.

(view large image)

Perhaps the most interesting omission from the ports selection is the lack of either S-video out or HDMI. Some older video projectors still use the S-video port and most newer external monitors and high-resolution projectors use the HDMI port. The absence of both the S-video port and the HDMI port means that this notebook wont be 100 percent friendly with all external displays used for presentations. This might indeed be a serious problem for traveling business professionals who never know exactly what type of video-out port theyll need for their next business presentation.

With the addition of FireWire, four USB ports, a media card reader, a headphone jack, microphone jack, ExpressCard slot and Ethernet port youre well equipped ports wise.

I was pleasantly surprised to find four USB ports on the 1310. I was a bit let down by the fact the much larger XPS M1530 only includes three USB ports. The fact that the 1310 packs four USB ports into a reasonably thin and light 13.3" notebook is worth praise.

Audio

The speaker quality was sub par for a notebook of this size and price range. The mono speaker on the 1310 produces dreadfully shallow sound with limited range and no bass. You can get the volume reasonably loud without much distortion, but the audio coming out of this single tiny speaker sounds like a cell phone speaker inside a tin can.

This is unfortunate because many 12" and smaller notebooks (such as the HP tx2000z or HP 2133 Mini-Note) have stereo speakers that produce high quality sound with excellent range of highs, middles, and lows. The Vostro 1310 is a budget business notebook, but Im certain that Dell can do better than this.

The other negative issue is that the location of the mono speaker is on the front edge of the notebook. If youre using the 1310 as a "laptop" this means the speaker is pointed toward your crotch. The last time I checked, humans dont have ears in that area of the body ... which is why audio will tend to sound somewhat muffled when using the 1310 in your lap.

On the brighter side, the headphone out port delivered crystal clear audio to my earbuds during the test period.

Performance and Benchmarks

One thing to notice is that this relatively small 13.3" notebook is available with either integrated graphics or a dedicated graphics card option. While most business professionals only need integrated graphics, the optional Nvidia 8400M GS is great for mobile video editing and Photoshop as well as budget gaming. In fact, the Vostro 1310 actually produced a better 3DMark 06 score than the XPS M1330 that we tested last year. Still, the Vostro 1310 is meant for a more mainstream business buyer looking for good productivity features and a low price, not cutting edge 3D performance.

Our configuration of the Vostro 1310 with the 2.1GHz T8100 Intel Core 2 Duo processor performed quite well during testing and this machine will meet or exceed the performance needs of most users.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi. Lower scores indicate better performance.

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Dell Vostro 1310 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz)	37.736s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
Portable One SXS37 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	41.908s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Samsung Q70 (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)	42.218s
Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz)	42.947s
Samsung X60plus (Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0GHz)	44.922s
Samsung Q35 (Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz)	46.274s

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores indicate better performance):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Dell Vostro 1310 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB)	1,679 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB)	1,831 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores indicate better performance):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Dell Vostro 1310 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB)	4,813 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

HDTune measures the performance of the notebooks hard drive in terms of both transfer rate (read/write speed) and access time (how long it takes to find data stored on the drive):

(view large image)

Heat and Noise laptop

The Vostro 1310 does an impressive job keeping heat under control. The system fan and heatsinks in the 1310 do a great job managing heat when the system is under load ... as we discovered when we ran multiple benchmarks back to back. What we found most impressive was the fact that the bottom of the notebook (usually the hottest side) ended up being slightly cooler than the surface of the keyboard and palm rests. This is quite nice and makes for a more enjoyable "laptop" experience. Below are images with temperature readings listed in degrees Fahrenheit:

(view large image)

(view large image)

Fortunately, noise was likewise a non-issue with the fan on the 1310. The fan moved a significant amount of hot air and the noise was exceptionally quiet. The fan was so quiet, even when running at full speed, that the air rushing past the heatsink actually made more noise than the fan itself.

Battery Life

The 6-cell 58WHr Li-Ion battery provides excellent battery life for the 1310. With Vistas power management running in "high performance" mode, screen brightness set to maximum and wireless on, the 6-cell battery delivered 3 hours and 18 minutes of battery life. The 6-cell delivered 3 hours and 52 minutes of life while browsing the web using Wi-Fi with the notebook set to "balanced" mode and the screen brightness turned down to 50 percent.

There is also an available 9-cell 87WHr Li-Ion battery for those users needing extended battery life and a 4-cell 38WHr battery for those who need a laptop to be as light as possible. Unfortunately, Dell was unable to provide us with the 4-cell and 9-cell batteries during our testing period, so we cannot provide any information on battery life with these batteries.

Conclusion

Overall, the Dell Vostro 1310 is an impressive budget notebook with clean looks and solid performance. Whether you need a simple business notebook or a budget portable laptop with modest gaming capabilities, the Vostro 1310 makes an excellent choice.

That said, the chassis isnt as nice as we hoped ... the edges are sharp and could be smoother or more rounded, the case feels more flimsy than the earlier Vostros, the touchpad button placement is bad, and the mono speaker does not provide a good audio experience. Still, none of these issues are "deal breakers."

The other huge advantage to the Vostro line is the support, lack of bloatware, and excellent return policy. Dell will let you purchase a Vostro, use it for 30 days, and if you dont like it you can send it back for a full refund without any restocking or shipping fees. Thats just amazing.

In short, the Vostro 1310 is an excellent addition to the Vostro family and gives business professionals and consumers on a budget a low-cost alternative to the Dell XPS M1330. Unfortunately, the price as configured ($1,357) places it neck-and-neck with the XPS M1330. Although the Vostro is a great system at the entry level price of just $749, once the price exceeds $1,000 most consumers (and even many business professionals) would be better off with the XPS M1330.

Pros

• Thinner and lighter than the Vostro 1400
• Reasonable battery life
• Nice screen and easy-to-use media buttons
• Good selection of ports
• Solid performance
• No bloatware
• Available with Windows XP
• Excellent return policy (NO restocking or shipping fees within 30 days!)

Cons

• Glossy LCD lid is a magnet for fingerprints
• Chassis plastics feel too thin and hollow
• Mono speaker is painfully weak
• Uncomfortable touchpad buttons
• No S-video or HDMI port
  
• Price as configured is a little expensive compared to the XPS M1330

( Source http://www.notebookreview.com )

Read More..

Manufacturer: Dell Model: Dell Vostro 1700 Screen Size: 17 inches Weight: 7.7 lbs Processor Options: Core 2 Duo Graphics Options: nVidia Go 8400m (Dedicated), nVidia Go 8600m (Dedicated) Description: The Dell Vostro 1700 features a brilliant 17" widescreen display, a full numeric keypad, additional USB ports and high performing graphics options that help to provide you with the versatility and performance that you want.


Overview and Introduction laptop Dell Vostro 1700

The Dell Vostro 1700 is a brand new 17" model business notebook. Like most Dell notebooks, the Vostro 1700 is customizable and it can be configured as either a budget type laptop or powerful desktop replacement.

• Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1.80GHz
• WXGA+ (1440 x 900)
• 2.0 MP camera
• 2048 MB 667 MHz Dual-Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024 MB)
• Hard Drive 160GB Serial ATA (5400RPM) (the only one available at time of order; 7200RPM drives are now also available)
• DVD+/-RW Drive 8x
• Primary 6-cell 56WHz Li-Ion Battery
• 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
• Intel Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g
• Vista Home Premium
• 1 year warranty

Reasons for Buying

Due to the nature of my work I move to different locations every few months so I have been using notebooks for most of my professional career. All models so far have been 14" or 15", however, this time I opted for 17". Though I move often, I do not travel all the time (I fly on average only once a month) so size and weight was not critically important. On the other hand, I use my notebook to watch DVD movies and Internet TV (in fact, I use it in this capacity far more than my TV set and DVD player at home) so a 17" notebook was a good choice for me. In my spare time sometimes I like to play games and, since I like games which are demanding on performance (first person fantasy or shooters), good graphic card was also important.

As I change notebooks often, I do not like to overspend so I set myself a top budget of 1200 euros. Unfortunately for this price the choice of 17" notebooks is limited. Practically it was Dell or HP. All other vendors were either too expensive (like Toshiba or Asus) or did not have the configuration I wanted (like Lenovo or Acer). Eventually I narrowed the choice down to the Dell Inspiron 1720 and the HP Pavilion dv9500t (the Vostro was not yet available when I starting looking for a new laptop). Finally I decided for Dell since for roughly the same price it offered slightly better graphics (Nvidia 8600M GT instead of GS on the HP).

Where and How Purchased Dell Vostro 1700

I ordered first the Dell Inspiron 1720 from Dells Spanish web site only to see a day later the new Vostro line which offered exactly the same specifications but for a lower price, something I did not expect since I thought the Vostro was supposed to be a business model, like the Latitude line. I rang Dell and asked for advice. The sales person told me that, with the exception of the fancy colors on the Inspiron, there is not much difference between the two hardware-wise and it is no problem if I want to cancel the Inspiron order and get the Vostro instead.

The final price, VAT included, was 950.04 euros, a saving of 200 euros over the Inspiron. This price included free shipping and 50 euros off. I ordered it over the phone since Vista Home Premium was not available on Dells web site for the Vostro line. The sales person was happy to change the default Vista Business edition into Home Premium.

So far, so good. One must admit that less than 1000 euros for a 17" notebook with Core 2 Duo processor and Nvidia graphics is a total bargain. However, not all was good news. It took four working days to process my order, even though I placed the order the day Vostro came out (10 July 2007). First I was told that Dell will refund me the difference from the Inspiron so I do not have to worry about payment. Two days later I was told that this is not possible so I have to make another payment. Eventually I paid by a bank transfer since Dell takes ages to unblock the amount of a cancelled order on a credit card and I did not have enough limit for the Vostro. As soon as I made the payment, that was the last I heard of the sales person. He neither replied to any of my emails nor phone calls.

After several calls to Dells Customer Service, I managed to have the order processed and got a delivery date of 9 August. Three days before this date I still had not heard anything from Dell and the web tracking showed that my Vostro is still in pre-production. I called Dell only to be told that as far as the system is concerned the delivery date is still OK. But the next day I received an email that the delivery is delayed until September. Very unprofessional of Dell, not to inform the customer earlier of such a delay. Eventually my Vostro arrived on the 22 August.

Build & Design laptop Dell Vostro 1700

(onclick="displayWindow(http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=26334,Picture,971,855,);" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer;">view large image)

The Vostro 1700 is big and heavy, even for a 17" notebook. It is all black so it is difficult to argue whether it is pretty or not, but it is unlikely that one will find it ugly. On the other hand, stains and fingerprints get stuck on the black paint very easily and they are difficult to get rid of (see the backside image below where the fingerprints are clearly visible).

Being so big, the screen actually takes more effort to open than an average laptop. In fact, I find that to release the latch and lift the screen I need to use both hands. USB connectors also take effort to pull out, so overall impression is that of a strong build. The part above the keyboard, around the On/Off button, bends somewhat when pushed harder but that is the only minor issue I could find with the case which otherwise is solid.

The screen seems well protected. I tried bending it as well as applying a small force on different places but could not notice any image distortion.

The dimensions of the Vostro 1700 are 39.4 cm x 29.3 cm x 4.4 cm (W x D x H) or 15.5" x 11.5" x 1.7". As you can see, it is quite thick in addition to being large so finding a case for it is not an easy task if you, like me, also carry many other things in the case.

Screen

I opted for the Widescreen XGA+ 1440x900 though higher resolution is offered by Dell. Browsing through the web forums, it seems general opinion is that the Nvidia 8600M GT is not powerful enough to handle higher resolutions. I find the native resolution always much sharper looking so I stayed with the XGA+.

The colors and the brightness are more than adequate for a budget notebook (in fact, the brightness is excellent) and it is a real pleasure to play a game or watch a movie on a 17" screen. Certainly the initial experience is stunning when compared to a 14" or 15".

The horizontal viewing angles are very good, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the vertical viewing angles. Couple of degrees up or down and most colors look differently.

Speakers Dell Vostro 1700

The internal speakers are unimpressive. Though the sound is more than loud enough, the quality is poor. I would certainly recommend headphones or external speakers if you want to listen to music.

Processor, Performance and Benchmarks laptop Dell Vostro 1700

Note that all tests were run with the latest Nvidia released ForceWare drivers (162.22 for Vista, downloaded from www.laptopvideo2go.com). The Dell stock drivers performed so poorly (processing around 5 fps on the first 3DMark05 test) that I stopped on the first test and upgraded them.

Heat and Noise Dell Vostro 1700

I find the Vostro 1700 generally very quiet. The fans are hardly noticeable and even the noise of the DVD drive is nothing to complain about.

It gets very hot on few places (but not all) at the bottom so I would not recommend using it in your lap. Being a heavy and big 17" notebook, the extra heat would probably not be the only reason for not using it in ones lap. The air vents are on the left side and, depending on the load, sometimes are blowing plenty of hot air. I find this somewhat unpleasant as I tend to rest my left palm there before typing. It will likely also bother left-handed people using an external mouse.

Keyboard and Touchpad Dell Vostro 1700

(onclick="displayWindow(http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=26336,Picture,971,855,);" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer;">view large image)

The keyboard is solid quality and it is a full one (including the numeric keypad) so using the Fn key is almost unnecessary as most keys from a desktop keyboard are directly available. However, it does not really feel like a desktop keyboard. The Home/End/PageUp/PageDown keys, which I use often when I browse through documents or web pages, are smaller than the rest and are right above the numeric keypad. As such they are not very approachable since the keyboard cannot be inclined like a desktop one. I would have preferred to have them below the keypad. Maybe it is just a matter of getting used to it.

I am unimpressed by the touchpad and would recommend using an external mouse. It is too small (which is ironic considering the size of the machine and all the available space) so most of the time you will end up with your finger in the scrolling area. At the end I disabled scrolling which is the only way to make the touchpad usable unless you have really small fingers.

Input and Output Ports Dell Vostro 1700

All the usual ports are there but nothing more than that. No DVI or HDMI output. However, considering the price range of the Vostro, it would probably be unrealistic to expect more. One thing I find strange is that there is no port for a Docking Station, yet Dell markets the Vostro as a business model.

Back-side view - three USB ports, the modem connection and the S-Video output are here in addition to the power supply connection

(onclick="displayWindow(http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=26338,Picture,971,855,);" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer;">view large image)

Left-side view - the wireless switch and the ExpressCard slot are here (note also the air vents mentioned before)

(onclick="displayWindow(http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=26340,Picture,971,855,);" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer;">view large image)

Right-side view - the busiest in the terms of connectors (and rather annoying if you are right-handed and use an external mouse) housing the headphones/microphone connections, DVD drive, 8-in-1 memory card reader, IEEE 1394 (Firewire), an external monitor output, Ethernet port and two more USB ports (to make 5 in total)

(onclick="displayWindow(http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=26342,Picture,971,855,);" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer;">view large image)

Wireless Dell Vostro 1700

Dells offer is very good in this field though I only opted for the basic 802.11a/b/g card because by the time Wireless-N becomes popular here, for me it will probably be time for a new laptop anyway.

I tried it in few Wi-Fi spots with poor coverage (where my old laptop struggled to maintain a good connection) and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it worked very well.

Battery Dell Vostro 1700

I did not do much testing here as most of the time I run my notebook on AC power and use it as a mobile desktop replacement. Which is what the Vostro 1700 essentially is, so users concerned with battery life should probably not be looking at something as big as the Vostro 1700.

I tried running on the 6-cell battery while using the Vostro moderately (MS Word with Windows Media Player in the background and the Wi-Fi enabled) and it managed for two hours and twenty minutes before the low-battery LED went on at 10% left, which is not too bad, considering its size and components.

Operating System and Software Dell Vostro 1700

As mentioned before, the Vostro 1700 comes with Vista Business if ordered on Dells web site (though Vista Home Basic is also available on some configurations) but when ordering over the phone it was no problem to select Vista Home Premium.

Although Dell markets the Vostro line with an option of having Windows XP or Vista, this is not the case with the Vostro 1700 where XP is not available.

I received a DVD with the operating system but I read on the forums that this is not the case for many people. Note that I ordered my Vostro from Dell Spain (but asked for the operating system in English which was not a problem).

Preinstalled on my system were Roxio, Microsoft Works and Norton Internet Security with 30 days subscription. The DVDs of these applications were included as well as a DVD with the drivers.

Customer Support Dell Vostro 1700

I have not had to use Dells customer support since receiving my notebook so I cannot comment on it, however, as mentioned before, contacting Dell during the ordering/delivery phase was a problematic experience.
( From http://www.notebookreview.com )

Read More..