Published in Reviews

Dell's Vostro 1310 takes the value crown

by on17 March 2009

Index



Benchmarks

Cinebench R10


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In the single CPU rendering test, the Vostro scores 2050 and renders the frame in 7 minutes and 14 seconds. In xCPU mode, the score is 3850, and rendering time is 3 minutes, 43 seconds. No surprises here. Multiprocessor speedup is rated at 1.88, slightly above average.

3Dmark 06

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In Futuremark's 3Dmark 06, the Vostro 1310 scores 405, thanks to Intel's IGP. The CPU score, however, is what matters, and at 1700 it isn't bad at all.

SiSoft Sandra

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CPU scores in Sandra are average, as well as memory latency.

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But at 3.8GB/s, memory bandwidth is a bit disappointing.

HD Tune


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HD Tune results are quite good. The Hitachi drive offers a burst rate of 89.3MB/s, but more importantly CPU utilization is just 1.4 percent. Access and transfer times are average.


Conclusion

Looking at the Vostro 1310 as an all round laptop, you're bound to find a few things to complain about, but as a business machine, it's fairs rather well. Anyway, let's start with the shortcomings.

The most annoying flaw is its tiny touchpad. Measuring just 62x38mm, it can be quite unpleasant to use, and the touchpad buttons are far from perfect, too. The mono speaker is too weak, there's no video out, and some plastic bits feel a bit flimsy and cheap, but the touchpad dwarfs all of these issues. Although we think the design is suitable for this product class, we think Dell should have done a bit more to make it look slimmer, some curved edges would have gone a long way to making the Vostro look a bit better.

Now for the good stuff. The non-glare screen is quite good, and so is the keyboard. Apart from video out, it packs all ports you could ever ask for, and they are very well placed. On the wireless side of things you get n-draft WiFi and Bluetooth. Performance is more than adequate, especially considering we're talking about one of the cheapest SKUs. Although we'd like to see a bit more storage, the HDD is quite fast, and the T5870 at 2.0GHz packs more than enough muscle for business users. It has 2GB of memory, which is enough, but it's a bit on the slow side. Battery life is good, and it doesn't heat up much.

Nothing spectacular you might say, and we'd agree, if it weren't for the price. In the US you can get a similarly spec'd SKU for just $599, while in Europe it will cost you €539. What's more, you gen get a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo for €499, and if you think a Celeron 550 at 2.0GHz with 1GB of memory will suffice, it will cost you just €419. Basically, this makes the Vostro 1310 the cheapest 13-incher around, prices for similar products in the EU start at about €600, and that's with Pentium dual-core CPUs. There is no Core 2 Duo 13-incher for under €650, while Dell has one for just €499.

Although it has some shortcomings, and it's not a stylish, thin machine, it's a very sensible choice and truly offers unbeatable value for money. It's a nice piece of kit, it costs about 20 percent less than its competitors, and it deserves our Top Value award.

Supplied by Disti Sarajevo

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Last modified on 18 March 2009
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