Review Of Dell Vostro 3300 Laptop

Business laptops don't need to be gorgeous to succeed, they just need to work, and work well. But while some companies may be willing to pay the premium for high-end workstations, smaller companies need a more affordable option. Dell's Vostro range provides just that, and its Vostro 3300 is a compact 13.3in business laptop with a healthy dose of processing power.

 

If you're expecting a no-frills budget build then the Vostro 3300 will come as a pleasant surprise. The two-tone silver and black exterior is unusually smart and attractive for a business model, and despite a modest 1.94kg weight, feels reasonably stout.

 

This notebook is targeted towards both Inspiron (mainstream)and Latitude (buisness oriented) notebooks. But then all Dell Vostro notebooks are made like this. The Dell Vostro 3300 is a 13 inch notebook from Dell and you get to choose from Core i5, or i3 processors. This computer is not as slick as Dell Vostro 13 but it is still a good inexpensive alternative to the step up Dell Adamo. This laptop too has a outer body made of metal and it sports the same sexy looks. The price of this device starts from $599 and for this cost, you get two gigs of RAM, 250 GB hard disk for storing data, and Core i3 chip. All this is quite affordable and light weight too. Our only gripe is that the battery life is pretty small and this makes it less than ideal for travelers.

 

Dell Vostro 3300 battery has a two megapixel Webcam above the screen and the image quality is better than what you normally get. The sensitivity of light and recording is also better. There is a small LED light next to the Webcam which glows when you put the camera in the video mode. The manufacturer also throws in some cartoon effects for fun.

 

Dell Vostro 3300 Notebook Technical Specification|

• Windows 7
• 13.3? inch High Definition LED Anti-Glare Display
• Option for Intel Dual Core i3 and i5 Processors
• Mobile Intel HM57 Express Chipset
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
• Up to 6GB DDR3 RAM
• up to 500GB Hard Disk
• 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer
• Wireless LAN| 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth v2.1
• 5-in-1 card reader
• Integrated speaker
• 2.0 MP camera with microphones
• 4-cell Lithium Ion battery
• Weight| 1.81 Kg

 

Dell Vostro 3300 is a 13.3-inch laptop equipped with a 2.26GHz Intel Core i3-350M processor, 2GB Single Channel DDR3 RAM, and 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive. It sports a 13.3-inch High Definition LED Display (1920 x 1080) with Anti-Glare, Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD, 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R, Bluetooth 2.1, Keyboard with Gesture Touchpad, Wireless Network Card 802.11 b/g/n, Integrated 2.0MP Webcam, and 4-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery. The laptop runs on Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit operating system. Needless to say, such a configuration is good enough for our daily use, people are very happy with it.

 

As a 13.3″ laptop, the Vostro 3300 battery is great for business use, especially for businessmen who travel a lot. The Vostro 3300 blends sophisticated design with first-class productivity in an ultra-thin 13.3-inch laptop made just for small business. It’s very convenient to take it anywhere with you, so you won’t miss a thing. And it can handle your daily tasks very quickly.

 

Dell Vostro 3300 has a single speaker and it is put on left side below the notebook. The sound is clear and loud but we won’t recommend playing movies since the speaker is located on the sides. We haven’t seen a notebook with stellar sound quality anyways and if you are going to watch movies on this laptop, you are better off with a separate headphone set.

 

Dell Vostro 3300 may not have a big port collection but it has eSATA. However, it doesnt have HDMI out which is getting quite popular in such laptops. Fortunately the Bluetooth is still there.

 

Similar in design to the Dell Vostro V13, the V3300 is a slim, sleek, and stylish notebook, but is 0.4 inches thicker than the V13 to accommodate an optical drive. With the 4-cell battery, the system measures just 12.8 x 9.0 x 1.1 inches and weighs only 4.2 pounds. The 8-cell battery (a $99 option) lifts the rear of the V3300 by about 1 inch—making it more comfortable to type on while in your lap—and increases the weight to 4.8 pounds. Needless to say, the 4-cell makes it easier to slide the V3300 into a small messenger bag or briefcase.

 

The V3300’s brushed aluminum lid—which comes in Aberdeen Silver, Lucerne Red, or Brisbane Bronze—eschews fingerprints, and the metal wraps around the sides, but not the bottom of the machine. A band of matte plastic on the front lip makes opening the notebook with very little force easy, and it revealed the black matte plastic deck.

 

The Vostro 3300 from Dell comes with a dual-core Intel Core i3 2.26GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM, a 250GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive, a removable 8x DVD-RW disc drive, and integrated 802.11b/g/n networking. The port selection includes three USB 2.0 ports (one is a USB/eSATA combo), a 5-in-1 memory card reader, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. There is also an integrated 2.0 megapixel video camera for Web chatting. The 3300 comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium.

 

With regards to graphics, this model has the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD, which is somewhat limited at best. Don't expect to play any hardcore 3D games on this machine, but it does just fine with standard tasks and non-3D games. Performance with the Vostro 3300 battery was very good, probably above average in our opinion when compared to similar notebooks. There were no slow downs when opening multiple programs, watching DVD movies and playing casual, lightweight games.

 

Again, the built-in keyboard offers the typical Vostro layout. All keys have a comfortable size, whereas the top row providing the function keys is apparently a bit smaller. However, this should not disturb in daily use.

 

The impression of our first typing is positive. We liked the comfortable feel and the good pressure point. Typing somewhat more forcefully, the keyboard slightly gives and possibly clatters.

 

A keyboard with light is said to be available as option. Especially in dim environments this is an advantage.

 

In general the touchpad appears to be the same as used by the bigger colleagues. It offers multi-touch support, a comfortable surface, and a haptically clear border to the palm rests. The touchpad works precisely in our first test.

 

As I stated at the beginning, the configuration I got for the Vostro 3300 is a budget one as I do not need amazing performance or much power to do my everyday work. I got the slowest Core i3 processor available and the integrated Intel graphics. You can get up to a Core i5 2.4GHz processor, Nvidia 310m graphics and 6GB of RAM in the Vostro 3300 if you’re looking for more horse power.

 

Frankly speaking, the Core i3 processor and integrated graphics will be enough for many mobile small business users or students that are just looking to use productivity applications such as Microsoft Office and using the web to get work done. If you’re into gaming, multimedia production and design or tons of multi-tasking then you can certainly benefit from a more powerful configuration. Using the Core i3 and just 2GB of RAM I was satisfied with the performance of the Vostro 3300 for everyday tasks. In addition, HD Video playback using online sites such as Hulu.com or YouTube.com was smooth and flawless thanks to the processing power. While the Core i3 isn’t close to being the most powerful new Intel processor, I think it offers plenty enough power for mainstream users.

 

The port selection is good, with three USB 2.0 ports - two on the right and one on the left. One of the right-side ports is a combo USB/eSATA port. The Dell Vostro 3300 lacks FireWire capability, but that's increasingly less important. A 5-in-1 flash memory card reader is built into the front, next to the audio input and output jacks.

 

Network connectivity was trouble-free in our network environment, which is built around a Netgear WNDR 3700 wireless router. The Dell 3300 battery also comes equipped with a now-familiar gigabit ethernet port. Our test unit lacked wireless broadband capability, but Dell does offer a wireless 3G card as an option.

 

In terms of features, the 3300's only misstep is omitting an HDMI port—you'll have to be satisfied with a VGA port. Meanwhile, most other business laptops, such as the the Lenovo Edge 15 and HP 5310m, have HDMI ports, which can stream both video and audio to a boardroom HDTV. The 3300 has 3 USB ports, one of which doubles as an eSATA connection, for external hard drives. Not that you need it, since this configuration comes with a speedy (7,200 rpm) 500GB hard drive. It also has an internal dual-layer DVD burner—a feature that you won't find on the HP 5310m.

 

The Vostro 3300's performance also seemed good subjectively. We opened the latest version of Google's Chrome browser with 31 active tabs (including a number of flash-heavy sites) and ran Windows Live Writer at the same time. Typing still seemed responsive, and browsing performance was snappy. Documentation is sparse, limited to online help that's not particularly robust.

 

Overall, the Vostro 3300 hits a solid combination of features in a sleek, compact package. Dell has managed to make an ultrathin small-business laptop that's just a little sexy, but also just boring enough not to attract too much attention.

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