Dell Vostro laptops. Where’s the love?

[Dos_Box]

I got a new laptop a couple of months ago. For the past 6 years I have been using a Dell XPS 13 and although it had many, many great features such as size, weight and, for the time, computing ability.

After this six years the dual core (2C/4T) i7 and 8 GB of RAM and it’s 256GB SSD were beginning to feel inadequate and it was beginning to struggle in some tasks.

Not helped by none of the parts being upgradable as everything is soldered to the mainboard as well as a distinct lack of I/O.

 

Fortunately, Dell released a new series of Vostro laptops in early summer with Ryzen mobile CPU’s and a whole raft of great expansion and connectivity options. Not to mention it was only just over £500 (launch offer, now around £570 ex-vat), considerably cheaper than a new XPS. I went for the 5415 model.

What really sold it though was the expansion options. Everything, apart from the cpu (a 6C/12T Ryzen 5500U) is upgradable. RAM (upgraded to 16GB), SSD and Wifi (upgraded to AX WiFi) all easily done in very little time.

Not to mention is also has full sized HDMI, ethernet, 2 x USB A 3.1 and 1x USB C.

I have to admit to being very impressed so far but it does seem the Vostro is one of those machines that doesn’t get the kind of love or coverage that they really deserve. Is anyone else out there using them?

[DavR]

I quite like the Vostro as a teacher or executive laptop, generally a lot slimmer and prettier than the Latitude range, whilst still packing a decent punch.

 

Don't get a chance to buy them often though!

[hardtailstar]

My parents have both got Dell Vostro's, cant remember model but they have been solid for the past 4 years they have had them.

 

Mind you so has my Dell XPS 15. Just irked its not supported for Windows 11!

[3s-gtech]

I have bought a number of Vostro 3001 recently - I was very impressed with them. They were bought direct from Dell as Lenovo orders were slow due to demand, and I knew I could get the Dells within a week. Nice machines and good value. Was happy enought to then order a 2-in-1 from them again recently which is a lovely machine.

[Dos_Box]

I quite like the Vostro as a teacher or executive laptop, generally a lot slimmer and prettier than the Latitude range, whilst still packing a decent punch.

 

Don't get a chance to buy them often though!

 

That was another plus point, they look like the XPS and are quite light. My days of lugging a huge fully specced laptop around with me are well over

I went for the 14" screen over the old XPS's 13" as it was much easier to read as well as it only being 1080p, which prevents you getting the occasional poorly scaled dialogue box to deal with on the very high res XPS screen.

[Cat_Jam148]

We rolled out a dozen or so Vostro 15s a few years ago as a replacement for our ageing teacher laptops and looking back, I wish we would've gone with Lenovo. Had nothing but issues with the Dells, mostly down to build quality - issues with screens failing and charging ports. I also didn't find Dell warranty support to be all that great as we ended up having to purchase replacement parts ourselves even though they were covered under warranty. This was 3 or 4 years ago now so maybe they have improved, but it has left a sour taste and haven't brought or recommended a Dell since.

 

Just my two cents

[StephenPink]

Yeah I bought a bunch of Vostro's as they were on a special offer - wish I'd stuck with Latitudes! Just lots of weird issues, and I think almost all of them have had at least one part replaced under warranty (within a year)... build quality just isn't quite up to the normal Dell level I think. But could have just been unlucky! On paper, they're great, just seem a bit of a let down in person. My experience anyway!

[bald_pig]

I got a new laptop a couple of months ago. For the past 6 years I have been using a Dell XPS 13 and although it had many, many great features such as size, weight and, for the time, computing ability.

After this six years the dual core (2C/4T) i7 and 8 GB of RAM and it’s 256GB SSD were beginning to feel inadequate and it was beginning to struggle in some tasks.

Not helped by none of the parts being upgradable as everything is soldered to the mainboard as well as a distinct lack of I/O.

 

Fortunately, Dell released a new series of Vostro laptops in early summer with Ryzen mobile CPU’s and a whole raft of great expansion and connectivity options. Not to mention it was only just over £500 (launch offer, now around £570 ex-vat), considerably cheaper than a new XPS. I went for the 5415 model.

What really sold it though was the expansion options. Everything, apart from the cpu (a 6C/12T Ryzen 5500U) is upgradable. RAM (upgraded to 16GB), SSD and Wifi (upgraded to AX WiFi) all easily done in very little time.

Not to mention is also has full sized HDMI, ethernet, 2 x USB A 3.1 and 1x USB C.

I have to admit to being very impressed so far but it does seem the Vostro is one of those machines that doesn’t get the kind of love or coverage that they really deserve. Is anyone else out there using them?

 

Last round of desktops I bought were Vostro, and have bought Vostro laptops too. Never had any issues, and you can still apply bios settings while imaging, which makes life a lot easier!

[jmak]

I started my school career in an organisation that was a Dell house. I saved some money by purchasing a few laptops from HP and Lenovo (based on current offers at the time) which turned out to be a false economy. Then I discovered the Dell business outlet website and started buying from there; at the time Latitude models were about half retail price and came with NBD on-site warranty. They don't seem to be nearly such a bargain any more.

 

I started buying all my personal PCs from them - business grade PCs with on-site warranty for less money than Curry's consumer models.

 

Like DosBox, my personal PCs are all 6 or 7 years old. The Latitude models lol a bit pricey now, so I'm interested that the Vostro ones seem ok.

 

Mine you, the last PC I bought was whatever @ICTDirect_Dave had on offer at the time and I'd always have something from him rather than pay full price!

Edited October 21, 2021 by jmak

[TwistedHelixis]

Dell do a range of Vostro laptops, the cheaper ones are not that great but if you go for a slightly more expensive one they are really nice.

[Dos_Box]

Dell do a range of Vostro laptops, the cheaper ones are not that great but if you go for a slightly more expensive one they are really nice.

 

I must admit, the build quality for the new versions is, so far, quite good. Not premium, but not at all bad.

[FN-GM]

We rolled out a dozen or so Vostro 15s a few years ago as a replacement for our ageing teacher laptops and looking back, I wish we would've gone with Lenovo. Had nothing but issues with the Dells, mostly down to build quality - issues with screens failing and charging ports. I also didn't find Dell warranty support to be all that great as we ended up having to purchase replacement parts ourselves even though they were covered under warranty. This was 3 or 4 years ago now so maybe they have improved, but it has left a sour taste and haven't brought or recommended a Dell since.

 

Just my two cents

 

But you’re rolling out a consumer product into an environment that isn’t suitable?

[paulkerton]

But you’re rolling out a consumer product into an environment that isn’t suitable?

Dell Vostro is a SMB device class.

[Cat_Jam148]

But you’re rolling out a consumer product into an environment that isn’t suitable?

 

As mentioned in the above post, it is a business product so I at least expected them to last more than a year...

 

Saying that, i'd think even a consumer device would last over a year.

 

Maybe it was just that batch or particular model for the year - I can't even blame our staff, they're fairly gentle with the devices

Edited October 22, 2021 by Cat_Jam148

[TwistedHelixis]

I also didn't find Dell warranty support to be all that great as we ended up having to purchase replacement parts ourselves even though they were covered under warranty.

We have been using Vostros for years and never had any issues getting parts fixed if needed. We normally get a 4 or 5 year warrenty. I normally contact our account manager at Dell to make any purchases, as you can tweek the order over the offical website builds.