RSSDell debuts reworked Vostro notebook
By Ed Oswald | Published April 15, 2008, 6:19 PM
Designing according to consumer feedback, and even taking a little inspiration from Apple, Round Rock, Texas' Dell debuted its redesigned Vostro small business laptop.
The new release is part of a larger undertaking by Dell to expand its laptop portfolio by 50 percent during the year. Europe, the Middle East and Africa will be able to purchase the laptops Tuesday, while a launch is scheduled in the Americas for May 1, and the Asia-Pacific region on May 5.
Dell says the redesign has a lot to do with customer feedback that it received for the previous slate of Vostro laptops. Business consumers are looking for a lighter and thinner laptop like those offered by Lenovo, LG, Sony, Apple and Toshiba, but at a more affordable price.
"We paid attention," Dell SMB chief Frank Muehleman said.
Many low-profile notebooks on the market today are actually among the most expensive. Lenovo's X300 starts at $2,799, and Toshiba's Portege R500 starts at $2,099. Both Sony's Vaio TZ series and Apple's MacBook Air start at $1,799, buyers would be able to purchase three of the cheapest Vostros for that price.
Of course, compared to some of these notebooks, Vostros are behemoths at over an inch in thickness. Then again, the Vostro is meant as a budget business system -- so a fraction of an inch in size difference may be an unfair basis of comparison.
Either way, the new laptops feature a sleeker design, with a slot-loading optical drive. The Vostro 1310, sporting a 13.3 inch screen, has 94 percent of the viewing area of a 14.1-inch model, yet weighs 20 percent less, the company said.
Dell's inclusion of a low-cost, highly portable notebook addresses the changing face of business and home computing, where users have two systems. The user's "desktop" computer is increasingly a full-featured notebook, and the mobile system is a unit both light in weight and in features.
ok so they screw up the vostro line...
I like DELL notebooks (own 2 of them;) but it seems that the new Latitude line that is coming soon needed a space on market...vostro line was simply too good.
vostro 1400 is one of the best notebooks I came across (much better than a bit heavy and big 15'' model) with an excellent keyboard (read excellent...for me even better than IBM T60 I sometimes need to use, old dedicated layout is out of fashion nowadays) and really great finish and build quality (although plastic, sometimes it feels sturdy as a tank, with magnesium chasis and HD cover) and generally speaking I like it even better that my twice as expensive main developement machine XPS M1330 (HDMI for me is a must...)
BUT
looking at the reviews of this new line already avaiable, mono speakers on 13'' model, cheaper plastics, missing ports, cheaper keyboards with really weird key placement (it's not a VAIO/APPLE style (arrows) not standard DEL-HOME-PG-END column) and not a space betweeen (useless) CAPS LOCK and an A key...WHY DELL? WHY? You used to be top class in keyboards (unlike toshiba/HP and comp)
it really looks like a lot of detail is lost in new line and all is headed towards weight loss...I reapeat myself again, Vostro 1400 is GREAT machine (although a bit heavy, with 9 cell I'm _allways_ above 5 hours of work) been through some nuclear war in my hands both in handling and in power usage (running 100% usage of its CPU DUO CORE 90% of the time) and still looks like new... this new line seems too be somewhat cheaper for me.
I'm glad they didn't replace the great 14'' model...
the only positive of the new line? well 15'' model was really heavy and big so needed a refresh and 13'' is really cheap and portable plus the screen looks to be really great according to reviewers (not like 14'' on Vostro 1400 line) and 17'' model seems a light and cheap desktop replacemet machine. Light...again ;)
If only they took the quality forward not a bit backward (both in build, plastic, keyboard layout and feel and so on..)
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|Just bought my wife a 1700 Vostro, decent specs, built like a tank & great value.
Seems like a good all-round package (and yes, service is every bit as important as bottom line price to me).
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|This is a very favorable comment!
My Vostro 1400 had a defective video card. I was amazed at the extremes that Dell went to (including replacing the entire mainboard) to identify and fix the problem.
Hey! anybody will sell you hardware. Dell really delivered on service!
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|A buddy of mine bought one from the last batch.
Apparently his wife uses it to teach. She has yet to have any issues or complaints about it. Almost thinking Dell may have done something right on the consumer side of things for once. (Die hard fan of their Optiplex/Latitude business lines)
Hopefully these new one's are just as good.
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|My company has purchased a good 30 Vostro notebooks in the last 6 months - not a single problem on any of them. Better yet, half use Vista and run great (for all the Vista hating fanboys).
Our business Inspiron laptops have run without a hitch as well.
In all honesty, I've had more problems with quality brand laptops like Toshiba. I look forward to checking out these 13" Vostros.
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|Didn't like the Insprions much. Plug issues on the first (and last) batch we ordered.
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|Vostro is great. The build much better than expected. Glad they have a 13" model. I am actually hoping for a smaller laptop, like 10 or 11" that weight under 4 lbs with an extended battery.
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