New Dell Vostro lineup

My Vostro 1220 screen could be described similarly, but I'll give it a higher general rating I think....same with viewing angles, but I would expect the 3700 to be at least as good or slightly better. It's good enough for me any use, incl gaming.

 

So everyone knows, there is a shortage with two colors on the 3400. Not sure about any other model at the moment:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...n&link_number=13397920&oc=bqpk345a&s=bsd&fb=1

Lucerne Red 10 days
Brisbane Bronze 10 days

Aberdeen Silver None

Guess we can see which ones are popular...

I just had to redo my order cause of an issues, and now it looks like it won't ship till 4/30 This stinks...

 

Do you mind if I ask a few questions regarding the build quality?

From my understanding, the lid as well as the sides are aluminum. How is the quality of the material? Is it sturdy? When you press down on the lid, does it yield easily? For example, on Macbook Pro 13-in unibody model, if you press down on the lid (near the center with the Apple logo), it bends easily and distorts the screen underneath. Do you feel that the paint will chip easy?

How would you describe the plastic that they use for the rest of the laptop? It appears to be a matte plastic but how is it? Is it similar to Thinkpad quality plastic? Is it sturdy? Does the laptop yield?

Sorry for the many questions! The lack of reviews has made me itchy.

 

I can give you only a general impression from a few hours ago, I have already left my office (it's almost 1 am in the morning in Austria )
Build quality looks to be solid, but the details are neither especially good nor especially bad. The keyboard seems to bend quite a little bit. I am not sure about the materials, if they are very durable or not.
My impression was, it's a totally standard office notebook. It looks business, but I would not use in rough conditions. It just in the middle between the cheap and cheap-looking plastic notebooks sold by supermarkets here in Austria and some of the more robust notebooks I have worked on in the past years.
It's difficult for me to compare the Vostro 3700 with the build quality of vintage Thinkpads. Some years ago I worked on 3 or 4 Thinkpads, they came with greatly varying build quality.

But without doubt, compared to my own Precison M6400, the Precision feels more sturdy. The Precision is much heavier, too.
For a 17" notebook, the Vostro feels rather light.

Is it durable? Will the paint chip easy? I have no idea. It's definitely not the kind of notebook you should be buying for style and beauty
But then, I am not the kind of man you should be asking these details. I do not care much about the appearance of my notebooks, usually within some months they end up rather "battle-stained" and "scarred" by 14-hour-workdays, constant movement and carrying around, getting "worked on" by my kids or acting (with closed lid) as a tablet for all kind of cables, electronic stuff and coffee mugs ...

 

Would also mind commenting on the screen quality as well as the noise levels? Thanks!

 

I'd also like to know the quality of the keyboard for the 3700 - is it sturdy, does it make a lot of noise when typing?

 

I know that you do not need to give a company name if your buying a laptop for home use and you also don't need to give your bussiness tax number if you don't want to. Basicly these 2 facts give the opportunity for ordinary consumers withouth any company to buy bussines laptops (some sort of backdoor).

But, if you (as a consumer) will buy such a laptop (in Belgium) you must select that you must pay taxes (+ 21%). If you have a company and have a tax number I think you will be obliged to give it IF you want to buy the laptop without paying the taxes.

Hope this helps, but someone who actualy has a company should make some adds to my reply.

 

Thanks for the reply, Im not from belgium tho' lol... anyone from uk want to comment? Basically i want to save on the VAT and i know certain companies who are VAT registered can claim their VAT back. What i wanted to know was can i just insert the number or do they have to order it and pay for it through their accounts?

Ta

 

Keyboard on the 3700 is decent and not too noisy.
Keyboard is back-lit. Cursor keys are smaller dann other keys, but no big issue.

 

Update: Screen quality on the 3700 is okay. After booting the notebook today, there seem to be three additional levels of screen brightness. Display is non-glare, display is bright, colours are slightly less vibrant than on my old Precision M6400. Colours are very dependent on the view angle.
Overall, the screen feels a little "cold", white colors are slightly blueish. In total, screen is okay and for a notebook of DELL's "notebook economy class" actually quite good.