Dell Vostro V130 review

The keyboard is comfortable to type on; even though the flat keys are grouped together tightly we liked the keys’ firm action. There’s no number pad, but each key is a good size and all the punctuation marks are where you would expect them. The touchpad’s shape is similar to the screen’s and is responsive, as are the two individual touchpad buttons below it.

There’s no built-in optical drive and almost all the ports are at the back of the laptop – this can be inconvenient when connecting peripherals. The shared eSATA/USB port is useful, but connectivity is otherwise limited to two dedicated USB ports. A multi-format reader at the side is slightly more accessible, as are the audio jacks. There’s a SIM card slot at the front of the machine. though this particular model doesn’t come with a built-in 3G modem to make use of it.

The V130 is the first laptop to use Intel’s Hyperbaric cooling technology. This may sound complicated, but it essentially means the cooling fan acts as an air intake, rather than an exhaust. It certainly seemed effective, as the laptop felt cool to the touch after several hours’ use yet remained surprisingly quiet throughout.

We liked the Vostro V130’s compact design, but felt it fell short in everyday use. Performance suffered because of the low-voltage components, but battery life was still disappointing at under four hours. At only 1.6kg it’s incredibly portable, but for all day computing you’ll want to pack a charger. This, along with the unimpressive screen and poor quality audio limits its appeal to home users.