The first thing to mention is that these units are disappearing rapidly as inventory lowers and Dell stopped production as of May 1, 2011. There were specials on for over a month as Dell popped them out at a ridiculously low $350 US, presumably using the existing tooling until a new model went into production. Like a fool, all my instincts told me I should have bought a few and after receiving mine on May 6th, I realized that I should have bought a dozen at that price.Well I managed to get one for myself (at least) and here is the info that should assist any and everyone in deciding if they should buy one.
Obviously it's difficult to accept paying so much more than when it was on special, but I will attempt to evaluate it, given the present price of $630.
It's fairly simple to make comparisons to other 13.3 inch Ultra Slims and from that info, you can decide for yourself if this is the most appealing of the group.
Since the specs are sparse on Amazon, here are the basics. An Intel ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) CPU SU7300, 2 gigs of DDR3 ram and a 320 gig 7200 rpm hard drive. None of the units in this class (Acer, Asus, Toshiba, etc) have dedicated expensive high level graphics cards built in and they all share similar video performance.(Intel HD Series 4 graphics)
So what would make you choose the V13 over the others?
2 things.....
1) The looks, build, slimness, brushed aluminum finish, etc
2) The superior speed from having a 7200 rpm hard drive.
A 7200 rpm drive is approximately 50% faster in performance than a 5400 model, however that does not translate into 50% more performance across the board. Booting up and shutting down will be faster as will all applications that are opened for the first time in a given session. Once these apps/programs are in the cache, the competitive machines with their slower drives should open apps as quickly as this Dell.
As an example, after booting up, let's say 15 seconds after arriving at your desktop image, the V13 might open Internet Explorer to a simple website like google.com, in 3 seconds flat, and then 1 second each subsequent time, whereas the 5400 rpm models from the competition might take 6 seconds the first time, but will also open it in 1 second, the second time and all subsequent times.
One might argue that is not enough to sway you away from other brands, but bear in mind that all apps opened for the first time in a session, will open a lot faster with the V13 than the others, so when you open Firefox, Google Earth, Microsoft Word and all others, you will not be made to wait as long as you would with the 5400 rpm models.
Hopefully, that issue is now 100% clear and we can move onto establishing whether it is the machine for YOU.
If you are reading this review, I presume it is because you have an interest in purchasing this model and there is no reason that we can't establish the pros and cons for you, well enough for you to make a good sound decision, sight unseen.
As you may know by now, it is the slimmest koolest looking Ultra Slim 13.3 incher on the market, bar none.
If you like the idea of having a kool looking machine that occupies so little space and is so easy to move around
(it's actually thinner than an iPad 1), this is probably the dream machine for you, but we need to look at one other aspect, performance vs battery life.
Competitive models like the now discontinued Toshiba T135, will get you 50% more battery life in exchange for the slightly slower performance. The V13 not only draws a bit more power because of its higher performance hard drive, but it also has a smaller battery, in order to fit into such a small slim case.
In short, in power saving settings, you will get 4 hours of service if your unit is well tweaked and you do not over burden it.
For example, I can have Yahoo Messenger, Live Messenger and Skype on, whilst viewing 4 internet pages, and I will get 4 hours of usage.
If you watch video or listen to music, the battery will run out a lot faster, as much as twice as fast.
If you are a frequent traveler, I suggest you consider the Asus/Toshiba or Acer models with longer battery life. The performance from those machines is quite acceptable and the battery life is fantastic.
If you are satisfied with a potential 4 hours of battery life and love the idea of having the koolest looking laptop around, the V13 is the machine for you.
People just go googoo gaga over it, when you hand it to them in their hands.
The easy portability is unsurpassed in its class.
So here is the price you will pay for having the koolest, slimmest, metal construction 13.3 incher with the fastest performance.
You will lose battery life as mentioned above, and some ports.
The V13 has only 2 USB ports and does not have an HDMI out for hooking up to your TV.
It does have Bluetooth which may come in handy for some folks, a VGA out, sound out and microphone in, an SD card reader, an Ethernet port and that's it.
There may come a time when you would like to use an external DVD or hard drive that requires both of your USB ports, so you wouldn't even have one to spare for your mouse, for example.
Personally, I have no problems with what I lose as compared to the competition's models, in order to get this fantastic form factor and the superior performance.
Others may disagree and with good reason, specially if additional ports are essential to them and if longer battery life is a critical factor.
If you have now decided that you want a V13, do not waste any time as the price will continue to go up until there are none left.
Buy dell vostro V13 silver/ intel core 2 duo SU7300/2GB/320GB/13.3" LDE Backlit/6Cell/ bluetooth Now
I bought one of these used (this model is no longer available from Dell), and I like it a lot.Let me point out right away though it's one bad point: short battery life. 3 4 hours for web surfing etc. Less for more demanding tasks like playing video.
If you can live with that, I highly recommend it. It's not much heavier or bigger than a netbook. It's wider and deeper but it's really thin, so overall size comes out about the same really. You get a much better CPU (low voltage core2duo in mine), a 13.3" HD resolution screen, and a full-size keyboard. A major plus for my usage is that it plays full HD videos with no sweat, even streaming videos. Atom-powered netbooks just can't do this.
And this thing looks really cool... it's well-styled and it's strikingly thin. The lid and base are metal (aluminum I think). It attracts attention whenever I use it and people think it must have cost like $1000.
Dell has updated this model. The new one gives better battery life and a more powerful CPU, but it's heavier, thicker, and there's a battery "bulge" in the bottom. I actually much prefer this older model.By far a perfect laptop for what I needed. Web, Office and mobile thin, good looking and power behind it.
Great buy if you looking for a ultra portable laptop with great performance and stylish look. I will admit the biggest downfall is the battery life...3-4 hrs max. Which based on new ultra notebooks coming to the market these days is too short. An outlet is never too far away for to long -
Taking the laptop as is it works great. No complaintsprob about a 3 in ranking. It was pretty basic everyday laptop.
However after adding a 128 SSD, 4GB Ram & 64 OS this thing flies! Would have bumped to a 5 if the battery life was around 5-6 hours. Definitely recommend doing if you decide to get before the stocks run dry.Needed an updated, affordable and durable laptop for work. This product was marked "Like New", but I can't tell that it has ever been used! Perfect Condition, Perfect Operation, and Perfect Vendor! Arrived earlier than promised in perfect condition. Would definitely buy from them again.
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