New Dell Vostro V131

@chimpanzee, are you in market looking for a new notebook?
1: i have also read problems with the screen hinges... i always use mine while traveling.. im from philippines and we have bad bumpy roads here.. hinge seems to do well..
2: battery locks.. seems ok.. i have removed my battery only like 3 to 5 times since i got my unit.. but it seems well built.. our battery goes for 8+ hours, i use mine at the office without bringing a charger for now.. hehe im sure soon... my battery life will not be as long

i have not yet seen a toshiba Z835 in person but when that notebook was released... i somehow felt i bought the wrong notebook... the vostro V131's slimness now is... somehow not really slim and somewhat thick for a notebook withouth a dvd drive..

what i dont like in the v131 is the palm rest? i think it is plastic.. when i ordered mine i thought everything was aluminum and magnesium
another thing.... V131 has got one big ... i bought a regular 13.3 notebook sleeve.. and its so tight i broke the zippers.. V131 is slimmer than the usual notebook but its footprint i think is larger..

other than that its really good...

 

i just bought this, so not looking for anything new anymore

i may return it then as it sounds like i may get a lemon.

one of the key reason i get this is what you mention, not taking charger and it can still last a normal day. that to me is more important than comparing absolute weight/size. i thought about mac air but if it cannot last a full day, the charger become parts of the setup(adding weight and size and cumbersome).

 

Using an SSD.

I have used two different 8GB micro SDHC successfully in my V131, using an SD adapter.

Make it an Ivy Bridge CPU and it will be zippyzap upgrade time!

I don't know. Mine isn't loose, but the left hinge now makes clicking noises when I move the screen.

I haven't needed to remove the battery for any reason, so not sure about the hinge.

My "sleep" function is activated by closing the screen.

 

Basically it's the hinge itself that seems to cause the bulk of the wobbling, not the frame nor the lid panel itself. The lid will have about 1.5 inches of very loose travel at any point or direction. After that loose area of movement, the hinges then feel tight and there is a satisfactory weight to the lid movement.

When the lid is closed or when I'm opening/closing the computer, this isn't too big of an issue, but when I am using the computer on an unstable surface like my lap, or being carried, if it gets shaken or moved, then the lid clearly wobbles forward and back because of that inch or so of travel in the hinges. I looked at spare hinges for the same computer and it looks like the outer portion of the hinge (attached to the frame) has a hole for the inner part of the hinge (attached to the lid/screen) the inner part seems smaller than the space it fits in, which seems to cause the wobbling.

I may try get a newer version of the hinges and replace the ones on my computer. My V131 was probably built in the first few months of the production run, so some parts of the computer are pre-production A00, and early production A01-A02. (Around July-August 2011 build). Keep in mind that I use my computer pretty gently and that I have already gone through two sets of hinges. The symptoms seem to get worse with time

 

hi my name is kungfupanda from indonesia...


im thinking of buying either vostro v131 or inspiron 13z (which is available in SEA)...


what ill do is only
firefox multitab
itunes
office
AV scan
youtube

at the same time. no gaming no nothing.


is i3 run smooth enough for it...? or is i5 have better computational ability...?
im not intending to buy the AMD NVIDIA videocard, i think i'd settle with the VGA intel shared.
Does it create a bottleneck on the i5 performance...?

will it fare differently in everyday use performance between i3-2350m and i5-2430m if i only use vga intel shared...?



how is the palmrest temperature in vostro or inspiron... is it warm-ish.. or cool..?


tq..... :beer:

 

Everyone was so helpful before - would someone be able to tell me if their v131 shipped with a "dummy-card" in their SD slot? If so, could they pop it out and tell me if there is a part number stamped into it. Dell just replaced my system, but there isn't a dummy card and I didn't think to check out the old system to see if one was present before boxing it back up! Thanks!

 

Question for those who have had their V131 for 3 months or more. How is it holding up for daily use?

I'm looking for a small and light laptop with reasonable specs, USB 3 preferred, a fast hard drive, gigabit ethernet, and solid build quality. I had originally looked at the v131, but some of the online reviews turned me off regarding construction and the ability to hold up over time. I then looked at some Lenovo models as those are generally considered to be very solid, but they are lacking in features, and are considerably more expensive.

So, for those of you who have had the V131 for awhile, how is it working out? I noticed a few said they were having hinge problems. Is that common? Are there any other gripes you have?

Thanks.

 

It says "GW341." That is the only thing on the card resembling a part number.

 

Exactly what I needed, thanks!

 

My hinges are starting to flex a lot, when I pull on it slowly, I can see the hinge housing stress from the torque of the pull/lift. The hinge itself is solid, but it looks as if the way it is housed may cause for it to flex.

I'm pretty sure this wouldnt cause any long term damage unless the hinges crack or the torque causes the housing to crack.

Tonight I'm going to take apart the laptop and see if there is any screws I can tighten to stop the flex and creaking noise.