Update: Dell unveils Vostro V131 notebook, claims stellar battery life

Update: The Vostro V131 is now available on Dell's site starting at a price of Rs. 41,990.

Dell seems to have put them selves in a very funny predicament. Their first Vostro V13 was a class act, but it suffered badly with the slow processor and poor battery life. In the next revision, the V130, they fitted a faster Core i3 processor which solved one part of the problem but then again, the battery life took a severe beating. Now, the company has announced a new Vostro 131 that promises a ‘vastly improved’ battery life. How on earth have they managed that you ask? Well, they’ve gone back to a ULV Celeron 847 CPU, which is again, slower than a Core i3. One necessary change which they have implemented is a removable battery so you can swap it out for a larger 9-cell one if you need to. Dell claims 9.5 hours of battery life with the 6-cell battery which to be honest seems exaggerated; I mean most netbooks don’t give you that kind of battery life. While most of the design elements remain the same, they’ve added some extra features as well like WWAN, WiMAX, LTE and an optional SSD for data storage.

Whats next, V132?

Looking at the notebook more closely, we see Dell has used a new chiclet styled keyboard that we saw in the Vostro 3750 recently. The keyboard is generously laid out giving you good spacing between the keys. Two USB 3.0 ports have added for some future proofing. The rest of the notebook retains the same sleek look with an all-aluminium body for durability. The V131 is already available on Dell’s site, however, the pricing is not mentioned so you’ll have to call up their customer care to get a quote. Also, in the Indian version, you only have a choice between a Core i3 and i5, so I guess you can kiss that ‘stellar’ battery life goodbye.