IT: Dell Vostro 3300 Review

Dell recently expand its vostro range of notebooks after the success of the V13. One noticeable fault of the V13 is its battery cannot be removed without Dell technicians. It may not sit well with small/medium enterprise where there is IT personals on-site to support such small items like battery change.

A more interesting note is the introduction of the Intel I-core models. V13 is using the SU7300 core 2 duo models which to some, may be too underpowered to operate some more heavy stuff like video editing and engineering software creation. (We tried in the company and has no problems.) I-core has 3 favors, the i3, i5 and the high end i7. For most effective usage, the i5-520 will do well. It's the same processor that powers the review model. Below are the other specs on the review model

Processor: Intel i5-520M 2.4Ghz
RAM: 3GB upgradeable to 8GB
Graphics: Intel Graphics GM4500HD
Display: 13.3" LED with Webcam
Hard disk: 250GB 5400rpm
Optical drive: DVD Writer
Battery: 4-cell Li-Ion
Others: 5-in-1 card reader
3 USB ports with 1 as the E-SATA
802.11b/g/n wireless card
Gigabit Ethernet card
Windows 7 32-bit Professional
VGA-out connector
Bluetooth

The keyboard remains full-sized and despite what dell says, this notebook weighs 1.94kg with 4-cell battery and optical drive n 1.74 without battery but with optical drive. It's not really lightweight but for its price at less than S$1400, it makes attractive deal. The body is same as V13 with the outing as the Aluminum alloy type.

On the whole, the Vostro 3300 is a good buy if the V13 looks a little underpowered. Personally, i will prefer the V13 due to its lightweight (refer to my early review on V13 for more details)Hope I can buy one this coming Christmas :)