Vostro V13 vs Vostro 3300

I know the Vostro 3300 just came out.

For those who own the V13. Do you miss having HDMI? How's the build quality on the V13? And with the Vostro 3300 out now, the Vostro 3300 would be a better buy, no?

Any differences that I should take note of?

 

No HDMI on the vostro 3300

 

3300 has i3 processor. v13 has a ulv. they shouldn't be compared since they are 2 different types of laptop. i dont know why dell decided to lump them both together as ultraportables.

 

Anyone test out the battery life yet on these things?

V13 a bit lighter in weight but the 3300 comes with optical drive... hmmz

Do both laptops use 2.5" HDD?

 

please note my post above.

v13 uses a ulv so it will definitely have better battery life than the 3300. the 3300, howeve, has a much stronger processor.

 

The battery in the v13 is very small though (32wh) and the reported battery life is bad for an ULV (around 4 hours).

On the other hand, the 3300 ships with a 4-cells 40wh battery by default (and can be fitted with a 8-cells 80wh battery). The 3400 claims 9 hours of battery life out of a 9-cells. In a review, they got 2hours out of the 6cells in the 3700 (playing dvd at full brightness). We probably can expect 3 hours from the 4cells in the 3300 (and twice that from the 8-cells) but let's wait for the reviews.

The v13 still is a thinner and lighter machine but the 3300 gives you an integrated dvd burner, a much better CPU and more connectivity.

Of course, the build quality of the 3300 is unknown for now (especially how good the keyboard is).

 

My experience with Vostros is that they have greate keyboards.

 

I'm guessing the 8 cell battery is heavier than of the 4 cell... right?

 

That is my thought. I just ordered a v13 and was debating about canceling it for the 3300. I decided to stick with the v13 because:

1. The v13 has a ULV CPU, and no optical drive, and a 32Whr battery. 3300 has i3, optical drive,and 40 Whr. I feel the v13. Will win big time with that. Unless of course you get the 8 cell, but that makes the laptop heavier which defeats the whole purpose of a 13" in my view.

2. Specs of the low end 3300 (which is $669 like the high end v13) didn't impress me. Yes you get an i3, but still low RAM and Intel video. So performance is fairly limited. Given that this machine is almost 1lb heavier than the v13 and quite a bit thicker, and probably has worse battery life with the 4 cell, the i3 alone isn't enough to make me consoider it. The high end is very nice, with a real GPU, etc, but it is also a different price point at over $1000.

My conclusion is that if you want an ultraportable secondary machine for travel and "messing around" - basically a sexier netbook with far better performance than a netbook, the v13 is the way to go.

If you want a notebook that will be your primary computer and need good portability, go for the high end 3300. The low end 3300 exists somewhere between the two and isn't the best option to me.

Really this is like comparing the Macbook Air to the MBP 13", if you are familiar with Macs.

 

I think it goes from 1.8 to 2.2lbs with the 8 cell battery. It also sticks down and looks wicked ugly.