Dell Vostro V130 review

Dell’s Vostro laptops have always been strikingly thin and at less than 2cm thick, the new V130 is no exception. The aluminium design is striking and wouldn’t look out of place in the home or office.

The V130’s Intel Core i5-470UM processor has a Turbo Boost mode, which increases the clock speed from 1.33 to 1.86GHz when needed. This low-voltage model is slower than other Core i5 chips, but it consumes less power and runs at a lower temperature. Everyday applications will still run smoothly and 4GB of memory helps with multitasking.

The Intel HD graphics are now integrated with the processor, and have come a long way from previous generations of Intel graphics. They are now powerful enough for high definition video, but playing games still remains out of reach. As a low 7.1fps in Call of Duty 4 shows, only casual games and older titles will be playable.

Like a lot of business laptops, the 13.3in screen has a matt finish to diffuse reflections. Image quality is only average. The screen is bright and images are sharp, but colours aren’t especially vibrant. The 1,366×768 resolution is well suited to web browsing and large enough for 720p video playback. The screen doesn’t tilt much but has acceptable viewing angles. Sound from the two tiny speakers was poor, with no real volume and mediocre audio quality.