New Dell Vostro V131

[purgalm]

Does anyone know what is the precise model of SSD installed inside by Dell? I'm wandering if it's better to order v131 with HDD, buy Crucial M4 and replace it (I would still have an external HDD) or but the v131 with SSD from Dell...

[Pseudorandom]

Get the MBA. The pricing of the Latitude E6220 is a sick joke.

The E6220 is a bit expensive, though is definitely a better built laptop than the MBA. Unless Apple worked miracles that no one noticed, I would say that MacBooks are Vostro/Edge/ProBook level quality. Latitude is up there with the Thinkpads/EliteBooks, though Latitude seems to be on the decline in recent revisions.

xm66, have you taken a look at the Thinkpad X220? Its much thicker, but its about the same weight as the MBA/E6220, much faster, and much longer battery life. Looks much nicer too imho. The IPS display is 50USD upgrade, though it supposedly has a few issues that aren't noticeable in normal usage that you should probably look into before pulling the trigger.

[xm66]

xm66, have you taken a look at the Thinkpad X220? Its much thicker, but its about the same weight as the MBA/E6220, much faster, and much longer battery life. Looks much nicer too imho. The IPS display is 50USD upgrade, though it supposedly has a few issues that aren't noticeable in normal usage that you should probably look into before pulling the trigger.

you can't really compare those two (x220 & mba), it's a completely different story. and the x220 even much more expensive. let's maybe wait for the asus ux21/31, hopefully it will serve as a cheaper version of mba at the same quality level

[Pseudorandom]

Not sure about worldwide. But in the US the X220 is way cheaper than both the MBA and E6220.

I wouldn't bet on the ASUS ux21/31 being on the same quality level as the MBA.

[Darkstone]

In fact, with an equal configuration, the X220 is only €200 more expensive than the V131 in my country, that includes oversea shipping (borderlinx) and an IPS screen because it isnt available here (well, it is, but only with a single €600 stick of 8GB RAM :S ).

[PikaTux]

Review: Notebookcheck

[sander_o]

I'm installing the Crucial C300 128Gb SSD (Would have gone with M4 but that has an issue with super fast bios boots). In the last 4 three hours I've only heard the fan at boot time.

Installing now...

Update:
After the first desktop appeared the first boot from off to desktop happened in 19 seconds with zero tweaks. The machine is currently sitting there running windows update and is 100% silent. (I've also set every option to maximum battery in the Balanced power option and cpu max to 10% - To surf the web you really don't need it to be higher)

I've installed the updated Intel chipset/Wireless driver from the Intel page and that's about it. No synaptics driver installed as yet and all function keys work as intended (apart from the touchpad. Not installed the accelerometer as the SSD doesn't need it)

44 running processes and the entire machine is pretty much working as intended with nearly all options. Onto the tweaking now (Why would anyone want a machine with so many pointless services over and above the standard clean install?)

After tweaking:
23 running processes and I can still do everything a standard user at home can do. Wireless, networking, sharing files... etc. The main objective of my tweaking is to make sure that the CPU sits at 0% when idle. If it isn't then the battery is being used and I'm aiming for better battery life, speed and stability. 526Mb used at idle. Still 19 seconds boot to desktop. The ACer 1820ptz remains the top at 15 seconds.


Next: Battery life tests

Hello Excalibur (or anyone else who knows the answer),

Could you please explain your reason for not buying the Crucial m4? I do not understand the 'superfast BIOS' argument.
Actually I was just about to purchase Crucial m4 to install into the Dell V131, since it is cheaper and in principle better then the c300. Can you tell me what can (or will certainly) go wrong if I would go for that combination?

Cheers,
Sander

[sander_o]

Hello Excalibur (or anyone else who knows the answer),

Could you please explain your reason for not buying the Crucial m4? I do not understand the 'superfast BIOS' argument.
Actually I was just about to purchase Crucial m4 to install into the Dell V131, since it is cheaper and in principle better then the c300. Can you tell me what can (or will certainly) go wrong if I would go for that combination?

Cheers,
Sander

[excalibur1814]

The C300 and M4 both have their plus points so neither is better than the other when you look at the performance charts. Depends on what you need it for.

The M4 issue: Just pop over to the Crucial forum and you'll soon have all the info you need. On a selection of machines the bios processes whatever it has to do that by the time it's finished it then moves onto booting from the M4 drive... which is simply not ready! The laptop then appears to have a black screen or flashing cursor and nothing happens. If you then press Ctrl+ALt then Del the machine boots as intended.

As usual there's ZERO information with regards to an updated bios for the M4. You might be lucky as it'll be fine with your machine.

[ZeroShock]

i initially wanted to buy toshiba r835.. but... the heat issue turned me off..

it this a great replacement?
im planning to buy just the i3 version with 2gb ram(and plan to just upgrade it to maybe 4gb)... for 599... any coupons/discounts i can use for this to make price lower?

tax in california is just so high...

if i get the i3 version does it also come with bluetooth and widi?
how much is upgrade for backlit keyboard?

thanks guys