Dell Vostro 3350 Laptop Review

The Dell Vostro 3350 is a 13.3-inch ultraportable laptop that's geared towards small business users. It has fantastic battery life and mobile broadband capabilities, but it only has average performance in the end.This Dell Vostro 3350 measures 13 x 9 x 1.2-inches (wdh) and weighs about 4.5-pounds, which makes it an ultraportable laptop that is definitely compact enough to carry around with you throughout a long day of work. It has a sleek, attractive design that has a silver color (also available in bronze red) and feels quite sturdy too.

Specification and Features:

• Supported Processor (Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7)
• Genuine Windows® 7 /Home Professional / Ultimate / Premium 64-Bit
• DDR3 RAM Up to 6GB
• Intel® Mobile HM67 Express Chipset
• 512MB AMD Radeon Graphics card
• 13.3 inch HD WLED
• Audio Speakers
• DVD+/-RW optical drive
• Up to 500GB
• 6-cell Lithium Ion battery Standard
• LAN Port (RJ45)
• USB 3.0 (2) 10 time faster
• USB 2.0/eSATA combo (1)
• Microphone jack Port
• Headphone/speaker out
• 8-in-1 multi card reader
• 34 mm ExpressCard
• HDMI™ connector
• 15-pin VGA video connector
• Standard Multi-Touchpad key pad
• Weight: 4.50lb/2.04kg

The icing on the cake is the 80WH Dell Vostro 3350 battery, which is bigger than every other battery in this group. This resulted in the kind of battery life international travelers and road warriors long for—9 hours 36 minutes on MobileMark 2007 tests. That's nearly triple the battery life of the Dell V130 (3:02) and Lenovo X1 (3:20) and double that of every other laptop in this group. It simply had no equals in this department.

The decent-sized touchpad was also great to use; the smooth plastic finish let our fingers glide across its surface with minimal resistance, making cursor movement in Windows feel very responsive. Multi-touch scrolling was enabled by default, but we had to manually enable pinch-zooming and rotation. Once we had, they were recognised accurately and were very quick to activate, unlike other touchpads we’ve seen. There was very little travel in the two touchpad buttons, but they felt firm and emitted a noticeable click when pressed.

At the price, the Vostro 3350 is great for someone who wants a compact but powerful notebook. Note that you can also configure the 3350 with a Core i3 processor for as less as 41,990. To match our review unit, an alternative in the same price range is the Sony SB18GG/B notebook —similar specs but without the HD webcam and 8-cell Dell J1KND battery for 69,990. However, the Sony does have a magnesium body and a lower weight of 1.7Kg for the same screen size.

At 4.5 pound starting weight and measuring 1.07-1.17 inches thin, the Dell Vostro 3350 supports Intel's 2nd generation Core i3 / i5 / i7 dual-core processor, up to 6GB DDR3 memory, 512MB Radeon HD 6470M discrete graphcis and more. The Vostro 3350 also features two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, eSATA, 8-in-1 Card Reader, DVD+/-RW optical drive, LED-backlit anti-glare LCD, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, optional backlit keyboard, HD Webcam, Windows 7 Pre-installed OS.

A multiformat (SD Card, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick) card reader is on the right of the front outside edge; to the far left is a tiny strip of indicator lights for Dell Vostro 3350 AC adapter, hard-drive activity, battery, and wireless connectivity. Our test laptop came with 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi and built-in support for Sprint's EVDO-Rev. A mobile broadband network (but you must purchase a plan, of course). I would have liked to see dual-band (2.4/5GHz) Wi-Fi since the 2.4GHz variety tends to choke in a crowded urban environment with lots of legacy 2.4GHz networks.

While there's nothing particularly wrong with it, the Vostro 3350's touchpad doesn't hold up quite as well as its keyboard. It's large, doesn't interfere with typing and offers a pleasant smooth surface, while well-placed individual buttons give a reassuring click. However, there's a slightly 'sharp' edge between the pad and its buttons on which - in rare circumstances – you may catch your finger.

Dell equips the Vostro 3350 with a large 8 cell lithium ion battery, which is supposed to also make a whole work day possible remote from a power outlet. This power supply is really anything but compact with 80 watt hours. Moreover, the device is lifted by 21 millimeters. A nice side effect. The protruding battery lip can be used well as a handle, provided the Dell Vostro 3350 battery is locked in properly and you're not worried about your laptop.

On its side, you'll find an 8X DVD+/-RW optical drive with double-layer DVD+/-R write capabilities. An embedded webcam can be found above the LED as well. The Vostro 3350 features two USB 3.0 ports, one USB/eSATA combo port, an 8-in-1 card reader, a VGA port and HDMI output among others.

In keeping with the business-notebook mantra, the Vostro 3350 is (thankfully) bloatware-free. In addition to Windows 7 Professional and the aforementioned security, Webcam, and support software, you get Roxio Creator Starter Edition, which provides DVD-burning, backup, and restore capabilities, and CyberLink's PowerDVD 9.5 media-player software. On the whole, the software that's included is mostly a good, useful mix.

Compounding this was the fact that our review model was supplied with the wrong Dell Vostro 3350 adapter, offering a mere 65W to the Vostro’s recommended intake of 90W. When a replacement 90W unit was procured, things worked a little more reliably. Thankfully, we're assured by Dell that this was a one-off mistake, and that any units sold with the add-in graphics cards - the hardware that demands the extra oomph from the PSU - are shipped with the 90W model.