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A small business laptop is an enticing prospect for companies that don't need the amenities of an enterprise-class system, and frankly, want to save as much money as they possibly can. The HP HSTNN-CB45 Battery Dell Vostro V131 ($799.99 direct) is basically the Dell Vostro 3350 ($741 direct, 4 stars)our reigning Editors' Choice for the small business categorybut without the latter's DVD drive. Its most notable HSTNN-OB45 improvement (over its predecessor, the V130) is the new eight-hour plus battery. It also adds USB 3.0 technology and leaps to a standard voltage Intel Core i5 processor (from a low-voltage version of the previous iteration). If you're willing to pay a slight premium over the Dell 3350, it's the thinnest, most portable Vostro laptop available. Design The V131's chassis is just as lavish as that of a Dell Latitude laptop. Its Aberdeen Silver enclosure is made of GATEWAY AS09A71 Battery magnesiuma strong metal that's also used in enterprise-class laptops like the Dell Latitude E6420 ($1,788 direct, 4 stars) and Lenovo ThinkPad X220. Press the palm of your hand on top of the lid, and you'll find that the V131 held firmer than the aluminum-based HP AH547AA Battery Probook 5330m ($899.99 direct, 3.5 stars). At 13 by 9.1 by 0.8 inches (HWD), it's about as thin as the GATEWAY AS09A61 BatteryLenovo ThinkPad X1 ($1,499 direct, 3.5 stars) and HP 5330mall of which, like the V131, lack an optical drive. The big 65WH battery gives the V131 a slight lift from the back, although not as steep of a slope as the Dell 3350's 8-cell battery. Its four-pound frame falls between the Lenovo X1 (3.7 pounds) and Dell 3350 (4.8 pounds).
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More The 13.3-inch widescreen is smaller than the 14-inch one found in the Dell E6420, and matches that of the Lenovo X1, HP 5330M, and Dell 3350. Its 1,366-by-768 resolution is boilerplate, although that's the case with AS09A51 Battery most small business laptops. You'll find higher-resolution screens on consumer-oriented laptops like the Sony VAIO VPC-SA2FGX/BI (1,600-by-900) and Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (1,440-by-900). A V131's matte screen is common on small business laptops, and it won't give off as much glare as the glossy one found in the AS09A31 Battery Lenovo X1. The V131's full size keyboard ranks as one of the best in the business class, because its GATEWAY NV78 Battery scalloped chiclet-style keys conform to the shape of your finger. It's a fantastic typing experience, complemented by a wide touchpad and pair of soft mouse buttons. A backlit keyboardwhich you can find on the Sony SA2FGX/BI and Lenovo X1 isn't part of this deal, though. Features The V131's lack of a DVD burner is what differentiates it from the Dell 3350. I would hardly call an optical drive a necessity these days, but many GATEWAY NV58 Battery IT managers are reluctant to part ways with legacy features. Unlike the HP 5330M, the V131 is equipped with two USB 3.0 ports, which supports transfer rates 10 times the speed of USB 2.0. Its HDMI port, multimedia card slot, VGA, Ethernet, and Webcam are features that GATEWAY NV54 Battery can also be found in the Dell 3350 and HP 5330M. The 500GB hard drive isn't the biggest one available on the V131 (it goes up to 750GB), but few professionals will require more storage than that. In addition to the standard 802.11n Wi-Fiand Bluetooth, the V131 can also be configured with 3G Mobile Broadband (with GSM or CDMA technologies)a feature that's more common in an enterprise-class laptop like the Lenovo X220. Meta tags: wholesale battery, notebook battery, laptop computer batteries Performance While an updated processor is common with laptop GATEWAY NV53 Battery revisions, it's a compelling upgrade that update means going from a low-voltage to standard-voltage processor (think low-powered to full-powered). The 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M CPU is a monstrous leap in speed, and GATEWAY NV52 Battery along with 4GB of memory, the V131 easily trumped its predecessor in all of our speed tests. It scored 2.56 in the Cinebench R11.5 test and finished the Photoshop CS5 test in 4 minutes 21 seconds, which was FUJITSU LifeBook MH330 Battery slightly behind the HP 5330M (2.78 in Cinebench; 3:53 in CS5), since the latter has a higher-clocked Core i5. The differences, though, are negligible enough that real-world tasks won't favor laptop over the other. In terms of graphics horsepower, the Dell 3350 has the slight advantage. It scored 5,672 on 3DMark 06 with integrated graphics (it can also be configured with an AMD graphics chip); in contrast, the V131's integrated graphics didn't do so well (3,991). The biggest complaint about the Dell V130 was its small 30WH battery, which lasted a paltry 3 hours in our MobileMark 2007 FPCBP231 battery test. Dell addressed this with a bigger 65Wh FMVNBP184 battery in the V131, and the payoff was huge. Its MobileMark score of 8:27 doubled that of the HP 5330M (3:49) and nearly tripled that of the V130 (3:02). Its impressive display was only bested by the Dell 3350's 80WH battery, which lasted 9:32. The differences between a small business and enterprise laptop SMP-CWXXXPSA4 used to be more clear-cut, but now the lines are blurring. The Dell Vostro V131 has been updated to include a standard-voltage Core i5 processor and big 65WH battery. It has most of the features found in its Dell Inspiron 13R Battery enterprise siblings and doesn't cost nearly as much. The only small business laptop that has the V131 beat is its sibling, the Dell 3350, whose battery is longer lasting and overall price is more budget-friendly.
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