Item of the Week is a little late this week, my apologies. This week we will look at the Dell Vostro 1400 laptop that I have been using for about a year or so now. Sure, not the newest laptop, but its a business class laptop that finds a home with me, a personal user, and fits exactly what I was looking for.

The Vostro is a sturdy, mid-range laptop that boasts key performance features where other laptops fall short. Though the 1400 no longer exists with Dell, it is a statement as to the power of the Vostro line and shows how strong a laptop can be and how it can fit the niche of computer power where other laptops simply can’t keep up.

Specs

My personal laptop has these specs(some are optional upgrades):

14.1″ Dell Truelife monitor
80gig hard drive
2 gigs of DDR2 667 ram

Dell Vostro 1400

Intel C2D T5470 @ 1.6ghz
Nvidia 8400m GS

Performance

I was in search of a laptop that had good CPU, RAM, and graphics power, and minimized added cost of the other components. I wanted to spend no more than $1,000 after tax and shipping. The Dell XPS series was waaaay to much money (no laptops for less than $1,300), the Inspiron series lacked graphics upgrades or were to expensive to get the ones you want, Macbooks had good components but were seriously over-priced… and the problems with others went on. It was neigh impossible to find a laptop that balanced the three components I was concerned with and stayed cheap.

While it won’t fulfill the role of a serious game machine, it handles WoW to a resonable extent. The graphics settings are set to medium and I bang in 20 fps on average. Beyond that, I have run it on all manner of basic applications including SSH, web browsing, word processing, programming, graphics design, web design, etc.

I did not opt-in for the high-def monitor resolution and instead stuck with 1280×800… can’t say much else beyond that on the monitor. The truelife monitor has a hell of a glare in strong lighting but in proper lighting it is very chrisp.

Battery life, however, is a bit of a concern. On high performance the battery will only last about an hour and 35 minutes. Bring it down to balanced and you can count on about about two hours and 15 minutes. At power-saver setting, two hours and 35 minutes is common. This is a bit of a disappointment because I need to carry my charger virtually everywhere I go if I plan on using my laptop beyond two hours or so. If I need to use it somewhere and there is no wall outlet, this can become a problem.

The laptop also tends to get hot very easily, even on a desk in proper cooling conditions. The graphics card is either over-heating or the vent design is poor. If any game is being played, it will over-heat quickly and become hot on the desk or in your lap. Overall, it kind of ruins the “laptop” experience when it becomes difficult to have it in your lap.

Price

As far as price is concerned, I paid $700 shipped with a discount from EOCF. This was, of course, a great deal for me because it fit right up my alley for parts and price. The Vostros they sell now are still around this price point at stock and upgrades can keep you around or under $1,000 depending on what upgrades you choose.

Conclusion

Setting aside the low battery-life and the heat problems, this is a very solid laptop. It was designed with a business solution in mind, but fills a consumer niche nicely. Few other laptops had the proper parts for the proper price… few have had them since. While Jon was searching for his laptop, it was difficult to find the proper parts for the proper price that landed in a similar niche as my Vostro 1400.

It’s unfortunate that the 1400 has been discontinued, but I have faith in the other lines of Vostros still being offered. Furthermore, if you can find them on Craigslist or eBay, I suggest looking into them if you can find it locally and have a look at them. They are a strong performer for a low cost.