Dell Vostro V131 Notebook in Review

As the name suggests, the Vostro V131 is a refresh of the Dell Vostro V130 (reviewed by us), whereby the case has been slightly changed and the inside has been completely renewed. At first glance, the V131 appears to look exactly like its predecessor. At a closer look, you'll find that the connectivity (new: USB 3.0) and the bottom side have been altered. The keyboard lights up in the dark. However, you have to order this option for an extra charge. Dell 3360 battery
The workmanship of the Vostro V131 is still on a par with the high level of its predecessor. In our first review, the only point of critique was the too low tension of the hinges.

Performance

The laptop supports up to 8 GB of RAM in two DDR3 1333 MHz modules. The entry-level processor offered is the Intel Celeron 847 ULV CPU with a clock frequency of 1.1 GHz. A significant performance gain is possible by selecting an Intel Core i3 2310M or an i5-2410M processor. Dell 3460 battery

However, not only the choice of the CPU can bring about large performance reserves. Dell now also offers the user to build in fast Solid State Drives (128GB) ex factory. Contrary to conventional 7200 rpm hard drives, which are offered as alternatives, they not only reduce boot and launch times of programs, but also work silently and are shock resistant. Dell 3560 battery

Battery Life

According to Dell, the non-removable battery of the Vostro V130 was an important point of customer complaint. Now, it is a thing of the past and the laptop gets a standard 6-cell battery with a capacity of 65 Wh (in comparison: Vostro V130 - 30 Wh). You will have to take into account that the battery protrudes on the laptop's bottom and affects the notebook's slimmness. It also adds a bit to the total weight (V130: 1.6 kg vs. V131: 1.8 kg). In return, the capacity has been more than doubled. A 4-cell battery should also be offered for the Vostro, but, not in Europe for the time being. We could surf the Internet via WLAN for nearly 8 hours with the 6-cell battery. This would be a multiplication of the V130's results with a 30Wh battery. Further tests will follow.

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Contrary to the V130, a maintenance cover that can be easily opened allows access to the RAM modules and the hard drive.

At first glance, the published entry-level prices seem attractive. Starting form 419 euro the Vostro V131 is available with Celeron ULV CPU. The Core i3-2310M model with 4GB RAM, a 320 GB HDD, Bluetooth and Windows 7 Professional costs 539 euro. The same configuration, but with i5-2410M CPU, starts at 639 euro - all prices without VAT.

These were our first results and impressions. An in-depth test of the new Dell Vostro V131 will follow within the next few days. XPS 13 battery

Review Alienware M17x R3 GTX 580M i7-2820QM Notebook
After our comprehensive review of the weaker version of this notebook, the Alienware M17x R3 with GeForce GTX 460M (Optimus) and Core i7-2630QM, we find that the new GeForce GTX 580M and the more powerful i7-2820QM have turned up in the same machine. However, our review model has to do without the fast SSD, to the detriment of the application performance in particular. As the case is identical, we refer you to the Case, Connectivity and Input Devices sections of the existing M17x review for more detailed information. The following review focuses mainly on the differences arising from the more powerful hardware used in this version.

Performance

Equipped with a powerful Core i7 quad-core processor and Nvidia's fastest mobile graphics card, the Alienware notebook has the potential to storm to the top of our rankings. The only thing holding it back is the hard drive - for the application performance to really shine, it should have been an SSD.

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The Intel Core i7-2820QM is a high-end quad-core processor. As well as its four physical cores it also offers four virtual cores thanks to Hyperthreading technology. The speed varies between 2.3 and 3.4 GHz depending on system load and the computer's status (automatic overclocking using Turbo Boost). In our benchmarks the processor showed the high performance we expected, ranking at the top of the mobile CPUs. Only the Core i7-2920XM Extreme with its higher energy consumption can beat the i7-2820QM.

The Core i7-2620QM in the previously reviewed Alienware M17x lags quite some way behind, by 11% (Cinebench 11.5), 12% (Cinebench 10 Single), 14% (3DMark06 CPU) and 16% (wPrime 2.0). Dell M4600 battery

Compared to other Core i7-2820QM systems, the M17x's performance is about average. Generally, only workstation laptops like the Fujitsu Celsius H710 or Thinkpad W520 are a little faster.

Therefore the CPU should have more than enough power to cope with demanding applications like HD video clips or 3D games. Dell M6600 battery

When it comes to system performance, the Alienware is held back somewhat by the conventional hard drive. For example, it's even defeated by the previous review model with its intrinsically less powerful hardware, because of the lack of SSD. The Celsius H710, which has the same CPU but also has a Toshiba SSD, is out in front by some way, with a 72% lead in the PCMark Vantage test and 24% in the PCMark 7 overall score. Nevertheless, the M17x's fast CPU and GPU do place it in the top tier, and it demonstrated good application performance in all tests.

The highlight in this notebook is quite clearly the high-end DirectX 11 graphics card from Nvidia. This is the fastest notebook graphics card currently available and only to be beaten, if you believe the various rumours flying around, by the AMD Radeon HD 6990M, soon to be released.

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The GeForce GTX 580M in the Alienware M17x has a base speed of 620 MHz and offers 2 GB of dedicated GDDR5 graphics memory. You can read in-depth information about the architecture of the GTX 580M on our GeForce GTX 580M graphics card information page.

In our benchmarks, the ranking of the GTX 580M in the Alienware M17x was consistent with our previous results from GTX 580M notebooks. Only a few SLI or Crossfire systems were faster out of all the notebooks we've tested so far, confirming the GTX 580M's status as the fastest single graphics card we have tested to date.

With a maximum transfer rate of 120 MB/s in the HDTune benchmark, the integrated Seagate ST320LT007-9ZV142 scores very highly for a conventional hard drive with magnetic plates. The transfer rates are in the top tier for HDDs, and the access time is mid-ranking.

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However, the HDD can clearly not keep pace with the Samsung SSD from the previous M17x R3 review model. In the CrystalDiskMark test, for example, the HDD is trounced by up to 21,000% (Read 4k QD32). In the sequential transfer rates, the advantage falls to 'only' 21% - 149%.

Gaming Performance

In our classic gaming benchmarks, the GTX 580M really shows its strength, and other than Crysis and Metro 33 it could play all games fluidly on their highest settings. Compared with the Schlenker P501 with the same graphics card but a fast SSD, the Alienware is on roughly the same level. Only with Bad Company 2 on maximum details did the GTX 580M remain on the level of a GTX 560M.

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Battery life

Thanks to Optimus, the energy consumption during light use is very good for a notebook of this size and in comparison to the weaker model. With heavy use, the energy consumption rises sharply, with the powerful GeForce GTX 580M demanding substantially more energy than the GTX 460 (196 vs. 163 Watts).

When on battery power, the Alienware M17x benefits greatly from the Optimus automatic graphics switching system. 5 hours and 46 minutes in idle is a decent result for a gaming notebook of this calibre.

However, under heavy use the battery life is reduced to the usual hour. Unfortunately you will have to forgo mobile gaming during this hour, as the graphics card only runs at 73.6 MHz, reaching only 3712 points in the 3DMark 06 benchmark (same level as the Intel HD Graphics 3000). So you should do without the GTX 580M when on battery power, as it does not give you any improvement in performance.

In the web surfing test, which is truer to life, the battery lasted exactly three hours on the maximum brightness setting and with about 1.5 hours of YouTube videos for which the GTX 580M was active. So with a lower screen brightness and without the videos, the battery could last for even longer.

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It took the battery about 2 hours and 20 minutes to fully recharge.

Verdict

There is very little wrong with this notebook, as we found before with the weaker model with GTX 460M graphics. The glossy screen, the keyboard ghosting, the GPU throttling on battery power, and the high price tag are its main flaws.

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Other than that, the Alienware M17x does everything right. Very good emissions readings, outstanding performance (though an SSD would have made it even better), good input devices, and an attractive gaming design speak very clearly in the notebook's favour. Optimus also does an excellent job in this 17-inch notebook, making a significant contribution to some of the notebook's aforementioned good qualities.

The price for such a well-equipped machine is unfortunately also quite formidable. At some way over 2500 Euros, you will have to dig pretty deep into your pockets. But in return you get the cachet of having what is (for now?) the fastest mobile graphics card around.

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