Dell Vostro 1510 Review
After last year’s successful launch of the new Vostro line of copmputers targeted ar small businesses, Dell made a serious effort to listen to customer feedback criticizing Dell’s thick and heavy laptops. The result was a bold revision of the Vostro line with thinner and lighter chassis designs for 2008. The new Dell Vostro 1510 is a 15.4″ screen notebook designed for businesses that need a budget desktop replacement. Is this the best choice for businesses or consumers looking for a value-priced notebook? Let’s see.
The Dell Vostro 1510 is available with a range of Intel processors (from the 1.86GHz Celeron M M540 up to the T9500 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo). There are four 15.4″ screen offerings, a WXGA or WXGA+ display with matte anti-glare coating and WXGA or WXGA+ “TrueLife” glossy display. The notebook can take up to 4GB of RAM and Dell offers 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional. The system is priced starting at $599 with integrated Intel X3100 graphics at the time of this writing, but is also available with nVidia 8400M GS dedicated graphics.
Our Vostro 1510 is equipped with the following specs:
Build and Design
Dell received some much needed attention in 2007 with the introduction of the sleek, high performance XPS M1330 and XPS M1530 notebooks. While these more expensive notebooks in the Dell lineup were praised for their looks and low weight, the Dell Insipron and Vostro notebooks were criticized for being bulky and unattractive laptops. Dell listened closely to this criticism when they designed the refresh for the Vostro line. The Vostro 1510 is thinner and lighter than last year’s Vostro 1500.
Unfortunately, the lighter weight and thinner profile come at some cost. Namely, the plastics used in the chassis feel thin and in some areas, such as above the keyboard and on the palmrests, there is a significant degree of flex. The edges of the chassis are also sharper than what we’ve seen on earlier Dell notebooks and these sharp edges and thin plastics make the design of the Dell Vostro 1510 feel slightly unfinished or unrefined.
Like all Vostro releases, the 1510 doesn’t come in multiple colors or display lid patterns. Black is your only option. However, this year Dell decided to get rid of the matte black finish in favor of a glossy black finish with just a hint of metal flake. The black paint with the fine metal flakes is inlaid with the molds so there’s no risk of the glossy finish coming off.
Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the glossy black plastic lid with metal flake paint on our Vostro 1510, it does look and feel nice. Still, the new glossy lid design is a magnet for fingerprints and might not resist light scratches as well as the matte black finish on the previous generation Vostro notebooks.
Another of the new innovations for the Vostro line is the “Hyperband Multi-Antenna” housed inside the LCD lid which Dell claims “can provide excellent reception and help reduce dropped signals” for both Wi-Fi and bluetooth. I’ve never had serious problems with dropped signals while using older Dell notebooks so I can’t speak to whether the new internal multi-antenna actually improved wireless reception … but I can say that I never experienced dropped Wi-Fi connections during the testing period.
Screen
Display options for the Vostro 1510 include a matte finish 15.4″ Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) and a 15.4″ Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) with TrueLife (glossy finish). Dell also offers higher resolution WXGA+ (1440 x 900) displays in both matte and glossy configurations.
The screen on our review unit looks flawless from straight on and the horizontal viewing angles are great. Upper vertical viewing angles are good with just a slightly washed out look, but colors did begin to invert at lower viewing angles when the screen is tilted back.
Keyboard, Touchpad and Media Controls
The keyboard on the Vostro 1510 suffers from severe flex near the center of the keyboard. The keys almost “bounce” as you press them. The keys have a nice matte texture with proper spacing and each of the keys have excellent travel and cushion. There are dedicated page up and page down keys but the home and end keys require the use of the function key, so this might be a little frustrating for users who do a lot of coding.
The touchpad surface utilizes the same matte texture with just a hint of metal flake that is used on the palm rest surface. The touchpad is nice and responsive but feels a little smaller than it should be. The touchpad buttons have excellent travel and cushion. Unfortunately, because of the way in which the touchpad buttons are slightly recessed the touchpad buttons are not very comfortable to use.
A series of touch-sensitive media buttons with blue LED backlights are located above the keyboard similar to the buttons on the XPS notebooks. One nice feature about the media buttons is that the blue LEDs only stay lit for a fraction of a second after being pressed, so they won’t distract you by staying lit all the time. The power button also features a blue LED backlight, but this light says on whenever the notebook is on.
Conclusion
Overall, the Dell Vostro 1510 is a solid budget notebook with clean looks and acceptable performance. Whether you need a simple business notebook or a budget portable laptop with modest gaming capabilities, the Vostro 1510 makes a fine choice.
That said, the chassis isn’t as nice as we hoped … the edges are sharp and could be smoother or more rounded, the case feels hollow and flimsy compared to the earlier Vostros, the touchpad button placement is bad, keyboard suffers from significant flex.
So why buy a Vostro 1510? One huge advantage to the Vostro line is the support, lack of bloatware, and excellent return policy. Dell will let you purchase a Vostro, use it for 30 days, and if you don’t like it you can send it back for a full refund without any restocking or shipping fees. That’s just amazing.
In short, the Vostro 1510 is a good addition to the Vostro family and gives business professionals and consumers on a budget another alternative to the Dell Inspiron 1525. Unfortunately, the price as configured ($684) places it neck-and-neck with the Inspiron 1525. Although the Vostro has a lot to offer, the Inspiron 1525 has a better chassis design, and for roughly the same amount of money businesses can purchase a 15.4″ Dell Latitude notebook or Lenovo ThinkPad R61.
Pros
- Thinner and lighter than the Vostro 1500
- Reasonable battery life
- Nice screen and easy-to-use media buttons
- Solid performance
- No bloatware
- Available with Windows XP
- Excellent return policy (NO restocking or shipping fees within 30 days!)
Cons
- Glossy LCD lid is a magnet for fingerprints
- Chassis plastics feel too thin and hollow
- Uncomfortable touchpad buttons
- No docking station port for desktop use
- No S-video or HDMI port
- Price is a little expensive compared to the Inspiron 1525, Latitude D530 or D531
Data:notebookreview.com
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