Chic technology at a reasonable price

The Vostro V13 looks pretty flash and performs well despite its lack of CD/DVD drive and too few USB ports. Photo / Supplied

REVIEW
* Dell Vostro V13.
* Price: From $1299.
* The good: Stylish, light-weight mobile computing at a reasonable price.
* The bad: No CD/DVD drive and a lack of places to plug things in.
* Rating: * * * * (out of five)

When it comes to laptops, thin is in and brushed aluminium is the new black.

Dell have incorporated both these style elements into the Vostro V13, the latest addition to its Vostro business laptop brand.

This 13.3-inch screen device gives corporate road warriors the option of carrying around a bit more technology chic without having to part with too much cash.

One criticism sometimes levelled at Dell laptops is that they appear great out of the box, but become ragged and shoddy-looking after a few months of hard usage, when wear and tear starts to take effect.

The V13 certainly looks good new, and, I suspect, will hold its allure a bit better than some of its counterparts.

My 2009 model Vostro 1220, despite having a smaller screen, looked bloated and ugly beside its slimmed-down, spruced-up stablemate, the V13.

A blue neon ring on the tip of the power cable that glows when the adaptor is turned on caught my eye as an example of a style accessory added to the V13 - of no practical use, but pretty cool looking.

But while the waif look may be in this year for laptops it also has its down side.

One is there's no room to include a CD/DVD drive on the V13 and another is a lack of anywhere substantial on the side of the device to stick stuff in.

As a result, V13 users have to make do with only 2 USB connections at the back of the device, and one of those doubles as an eSATA port.

With the rise of devices we seem to need to connect to laptops via USB these days, it's likely the road warriors this machine is aimed at will probably face the hassle of carrying around a USB multi-connector to ensure they have enough plug-in capacity.

Performance-wise, the V13 I tested came with an Intel 1.4 GHz Core 2 Solo processor, had 2Gb of RAM and was running Windows 7 Professional. Not the most powerful combination, but certainly more than adequate for most on-the-road business tasks the device would be called on to perform.

The V13 uses a solid-state drive, meaning no moving parts and a useful reduction in overall weight, which comes in at an easy-to-handle 1.59kg.

Priced from US$1299 depending on features and software, the V13 is not the cheapest business-suitable laptop around, but for the style-conscious corporate crusader looking to make an affordable tech fashion statement, it is a good option.