New Dell Vostro lineup

The reviews aren't out yet (except for the 3700).

Still, even if they were, it would probably be interesting to wait for the Lenovo v460 to go out before deciding. It is due anytime soon. They should offer switchable graphics.

I had gathered the specs for the v460 here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5704893&postcount=22

 

Hi,

This heavily depends on the cooling solution of that laptop. Depending on usage, I'd expect values between 45°C (light use) and 70°C (heavy use like video encoding). These values apply to my Vostro 1500, and I don't expect very different figures for these newer machines. I expect 14" system having somewhat higher temps.

According to Dell Germany website, the 3500 ships with a 6 cell 56 Wh battery. Same should apply to the 3400 also, which isn't offered here, yet. The 3300 comes with 4 cell 40 Wh. Assuming the figures in the diagram above are correct, then you can expect a battery life of ~2.5 hours with the 6 cell battery, light usage assumed.

Michael

 

That seems like really low battery life. I know the Thinkpad t410 i5 processor gets about 4-4.5 hours on moderate usage, 6cell

 

Lol 2.5 hours of battery life with a 6 cell? I dare not ask how long the 4 cell battery will last then. Whats the point of a laptop if it can't work 3-4+ hours? I expected more, especially from bussines models for people on the move. I hope this information is not true

 

A 56 W-hr battery should be good for about 6 hours light usage unless there's a dedicated GPU that leaks power. The CPU only needs around 3W on idle, HDD about 1W, dim display = 2W, other components = 2W so total idle power consumption ~8W.

John

 

Strange thing I've noticed on the UK site when configuring the 3700 - an incompatibility error pops up when I choose Win7 Pro x64, asking me to get at least 6GB RAM! Now the funny thing is, the config only has options for as high as 4GB. So essentially I can't get a x64 Win7 even if I want to!

 

Classic Dell.

 

Hi,

I'd consider these values as very optimistic.
On noteboocheck.de I read a review of the Studio 1558 with i5 520, Intel GMA and 56 Wh battery. According to them, this laptop had a battery life of 290 minutes in (nearly) idle mode. Minimum power consumption was reported as 12.3 W. In real world application (surfing with WLAN, display brightness set to 13/15), the battery lasted 2:50 hours.
Source: http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Dell-Studio-1558-Notebook.24437.0.html (German language, sorry).

They also reviewed a Studio 1558 with i5 520, ATi 4570 and 9 cell 85 Wh battery:
Idle: 6:47 hours, "Real world": 4:02 hours*
Source: http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Dell-Studio-1558-HD4570-Notebook.25129.0.html (German language, sorry).


Michael

* interestingly the same battery life as my two years old Vostro 1500 with T7250, 8600M GT and 85 Wh battery if Battery Bar does not lie to me

 

I'm basing my observations on the idle power consumptions for my E6400 and E4300 which both have Intel graphics and LED backlit screens. Bigger screens will need more backlight power while web-browsing via wireless will use more power (particularly if you have any animated Flash running on any web pages). Bluetooth can also cause an increase in the power consumption. It's quite easy for the 8W to increase to 12W or more.

John

 

Is there any definitive word that the 3700's screen is higher resolution than the stated 768? It still says that on their site.