The range of Vostro laptops are designed for the demands of small
businesses and those business men and women who need to be on the
move. The Vostro laptop range aims to give you the best in performance
and durability in a lightweight framing that really makes the most of
your budget.
Improvements and Enhancements
The Dell Vostro V131 is a step up from the Dell Vostro V130, in many
ways. When our chief reviewer Amar Singh got in touch with Leszek
Ziomkowski – EMEA CSMB Product Line Manager at Dell – he filled us in
on the numerous enhancements they had made to ensure the Dell Vostro
V131 was the crème de la crème.
Leszek commented that the main area that required enhancement was the
battery life.
As a result Dell ensured that the Dell Vostro V131 is a
staggering 9hours rather than mere 4.2hours you get out of the Dell
Vostro V130. However, he did go on to comment that the Dell Vostro
V130 was a compromise between design and battery life.
This is because
the 4cell battery is clearcut with the chassis of the laptop unlike
the battery of the Dell Vostro 3350 that places the entire laptop at
an angle. Nonetheless, the Dell Vostro V131 has a slight gradient due
to the 6cell (or optional 8cell battery) but it is not as steep as
that of the Dell Vostro 3350.
In addition, just to make this laptop
better than the rest Leszek informed us that the Dell Vostro V131 has
the ability to contain 8GB RAM which is well remarkable considering
most laptops only come with 4GB and most are pushed to handle 6GB.
In
short it just means your laptop will be remarkable fast.
The Vostro range can also be accompanied by data protection ranging
from strong authentication to data protection services that are simple
to use and require little or no maintenance.
Nonetheless, both options
keep data protected and secured from corruption, accidental deletion,
hard drive crashes, theft and more.
Dell have not stopped there though to ensure your computer is stopped
from password hackers they have included a fingerprint reader. A
feature that is not present on the Dell Vostro V13 but is present on
the Dell Vostro 3350.
The
microphone and speakers have been enhanced since the Dell Vostro V130
and many of you will notice that unlike the Dell Vostro V131 the Dell
Vostro V130 actually contains two speakers. Along with all of this
comes built-in WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0.
If we offer Bluetooth 3.0 a little more attention we will discover
that it offers transfer speeds of up to 24Mbit/s, compared to 3Mbit/s
of Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. However, this is partly due to the fact that
Bluetooth 3.0 creates a Bluetooth link which is used for negotiation
and establishment and the high data rate traffic is carried over an
802.11 link.
Quick Launch
The laptop features a set of customizable quick launch buttons that
enable instant access to your favourite social media sites or to
launch your most commonly used application. Whatever it is you’ll be
able to launch whatever you want with just the push of a button.
Furthermore, to make sure your hardware is protected, as in the
physical laptop, the Vostro V131 has a spill resistant keyboard which
can guard against most minor liquid spills.
Connectivity
When it comes to multi-media this laptop is fully loaded. It includes
an 8-in-1 card reader, which supports SD, SDXC, SDHC, MS, MS-Pro, MMC,
MMC+, xD-Picture Card. Along with the card reader comes two speakers,
a combo stereo headphone/mic jack, digital array mic, 2 USB 3.0 ports,
a VGA slot, a HDMI port, a USB 2.0 powershare port and an integrated
1.0mp HD webcam.
However, before you jump to the conclusion that a
1megapixel camera is a let down considering most laptops comes
standard with a 3.0mp camera, the nice people at Dell informed us that
because this 1megapixel is High-Definition it is actually better than
a standard 3.0megapixel camera.
Colour Options
In terms of colours, you don’t really have much choose. You have
between Aberdeen Silver, an option that is also available on the Dell
Vostro V13, and Lucerne Red, an option that is also available on the
Dell Vostro 3350.
Conclusion
Overall, this laptop is a powerhouse when you spec-it-up to the correct requirements and even when you don't it is still a laptop worth putting on your shortlist. The long-life battery life, 8GB of RAM (which is optional) and the comfort of the trackpad and keyboard are just a few of the numerous features that ensured the Dell Vostro V131 recieved a 9 out of 10 rating from Laptops.co.uk