IT: First Look at Dell Vostro V13

Last Nov, Dell came up with a new lightweight notebook for its vostro line. It's not surprising that new notebook line are created during the recession. HP did it with their Probook line of SME notebooks. What is surprising is the V13 looks so much like the Apple macbook. I think Dell took a leaf out of Apple design and combine it with Latitude class design.

The design should have come out of the same mold as the higher end Dell Adamo series notebooks. Most of the interface are in the back-end block of the notebook. I doubt the LCD can fold all the way back but i do not think anyone do that any way except for a tablet PC.

The cover is a magnesium alloy surface, similar to the old Latitude D620 and D630 models. It is less prone to leave oily finger marks and give it a corporate look. The specs of the notebooks is also not sub-standard. The Processor is a Intel ULV SU-7300 which is a common processor in today's thin and light weight notebooks like the MSI X340 and HP Probook 5310m. The review model comes with 2GB ram (expandable to 4GB Max)& 500 GB 7200rpm hard disk (normal is 320GB). For interface, it has 2 USB ports (1 is used for quick charge), external VGA port.

The 13.3" LCD comes with webcam. There is also a SD/MMC/CF card reader. I still do not know the use for a express card in singapore but guess there must be some needs for them. The keyboard is full sized and springy. It does not have the same 'click' as the latitude D620 but it is close enough to be one of the better keyboard I have used.

How well the notebook perform in real life, we will review it in a later entry.