Dell Vostro V131 Review

Editors Rating:

Reviewed by Arup Choudhury on November 3rd, 2011 ,

Exclusive review of Dell Vostro V131

Are you looking for a small medium notebook which offers you a great balance between price, performance and battery life? If yes, then, Dell Vostro V131 can very well be the machine for you. The notebook has been targeted towards users who are looking for a cost effective budgetary notebook. It has been specifically targeted towards those who can handle almost any office task. But does Dell Vostro V131 have in itself to be notebook enticing enough for business enterprises. Check out our exclusive Dell Vostro V131 notebook to find the answer for yourself.

Dell Vostro V131 Looks And Design

The notebook has a clean and business casual design and is almost encased in matte. There are a few glossy silver lines around the touchpad and the keyboard. The lid is pretty stylish with a trademark Dell logo in the middle. The screen hinges are very much visible on the lid. The notebook is one of the thinnest notebook you will find in the market. The chassis of the notebook is pretty elegant and is similar to that of a Dell Latitude laptop.

The build quality of the notebook is average. It however has some weak spots. The keyboard when pressed hard folds pretty easily. When the corners are twisted then the notebook bends inward slightly. Though the design looks stylish, we felt that the build quality could have been better. One can upgrade the memory of Vostro V131 by removing a screw underneath the panel. Though it may look very easy, but in reality it is really complex. One can install 6GB of memory in the machine.

Dell Vostro V131 Keyboard

Dell Vostro V131 notebook features a full-sized keyboard which has an attractive blue backlighting. The keys are flat and rounded at the corners. They feel smooth and soft to touch and provided us a comfortable typing experience. During typing noise levels were minimal. We felt that the space between the keys is a bit more than required and we liked the fact that the keyboard is backlit in nature. This means that the keyboard facilitates typing in dark. Overall we were quite impressed by the keyboard of the Vostro V131.

Dell Vostro V131 Touchpad

The Synaptics touchpad of the notebook is very smooth and offered smooth navigation. Since the surface of the touchpad is smooth, hence even if the fingers have moisture its fine. The touchpad is quite big. So if you happen to be the one with large hands, then you should not face any problem using the touchpad. It has a separate left and right mouse buttons which when clicked performs very well. The mouse buttons supports multi-gesture.

Dell Vostro V131 Specs

Let us take a look at some of the technical specifications of Vostro V131

Processor: 2nd generation Intel icore 5 processor
Weight: 1.64 kg
OS: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
RAM: Up to 2GB Single Channel DDR3
Display: 13.3 HD LED display
Resolution: 1366×768 pixels
HDD: 320GB

Dell Vostro V131 Display

The laptop boasts of a 13.3 inches anti-glare matte 720p display which is capable of displaying pictures of resolution measuring 1366×768 pixels. The contrast rating of the machine was very low. Though the colors rendered were decent, yet we thought that it could have been better. Viewing angles were not that great and the overall display appeared washed out. The only thing which impressed us about the display is its matte finish. Since most of the offices are well illuminated, it requires a surface which is non-reflective.

Dell Vostro V131 Features

Dell Vostro V131 has a great array of ports. It has a couple of USB3.0 port which helps in faster transmission of files. It also has a HDMI port, a 8-in-1 card reader, one USB 2.0 and a VGA port. There is no docking station. The notebook has a finger print reader which improves the security of the notebook. Though there is no display port, the presence of VGA and HDMI port did not make its presence felt.

Dell Vostro V131 Connectivity

Connectivity is very robust with Vostro V131. You can launch wireless multimedia and connect to office with the optional 3G and 4G broadband. Connectivity is enhanced by the presence of Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0.

Dell Vostro V131 Audio

The laptop is equipped with Conexant HD audio which gave a good output. The sound reaches to very high levels and there is no distortion when we switched the audio up to 100%. We were disappointed to note that there is no sub-woofer. Another thing which we noted is the location of the speakers. When we kept the laptop on our lap, then the audio got a bit muffled. Overall we were impressed by the audio of the notebook.

Dell Vostro V131 Heat

Dell Vostro V131 notebook did a great job while regulating heat. Although it has just one exhaust vent it was relatively cool and because of the brushed aluminum design, the machine is very cool to touch. Even while watching HD Youtube videos, the machine was cool.

Dell Vostro V131 Performance

The machine carried out multi-tasks very smoothly. Web pages ran very smoothly and the core i5 processor gave a good performance. The notebook also played 720p and 1080p videos without any distortion. The Intel HD graphics did a good job, rendering nice graphic effects.

Dell Vostro V131 Battery Life

Our unit of Vostro V131 provided a great battery life. The 6 cell Lithium ion battery delivered a runtime of a whooping 9 hours which was simply outstanding. The second generation Intel dual-core processor and the balanced power consumption helps to enhance the battery life of the notebook.

Dell Vostro V131 Drivers

Download Dell Vostro V131 drivers.

Dell Vostro V131 Price

Dell Vostro V131 price in the USA is around $ 500 while the price of the machine in India is approximately Rs 30,000.

Dell Vostro V131 Verdict

Dell Vostro V131 is a great notebook for business users. The robust battery life coupled with the blazing performance of iCore 5 processor makes the notebook a decent purchase. The robust internal hardware of the machine will not disappoint you and you can safely bet your money on the device.