Notebookcheck

Review Dell Vostro 1000 Notebook

Low Price Vostro. Since last year Dell has equipped its notebooks with AMD processors. The Vostro 1000 belongs to the second generation of these laptops based on Intel's competitor platform, which should be cheaper as a rule. This series, which is also meant for small companies, differs from other representatives of this new range, because it doesn't have a modern case. Actually, it got the one, which was already used for its predecessor.

Case

The Vostro 1000 surprised us right after opening the box. We supposed it looks similar to the Vostro 1500 with the same screen size, which means like a modified Inspiron 1520. However, it turned out that the Vostro 1000 looks like an Inspiron 1501 in black. It is one of the 'low-end' notebooks in Dell's product range.

The dark color is unostentatious. The top case is more or less smooth, whereas the back panel seems rather matte.

The Vostro 1000 looks not very attractive, on the contrary, it appears to be heavy. This notebook actually weighs a lot, so, this impression proves to be true. Actually, it even weighs too much for a proper mobile computer, so, it's rather desk-bound.

The base unit of Vostro 1000 is made of plastic, but, in contrast to other Vostros without any use of magnesium alloy. Typical Dell, it is nevertheless perfectly solid. We didn't notice any weaknesses.

The display cover is made of plastic as well. It doesn't yield. However, it wobbles, if closed. Most new Dell models have this weakness in common. The transport hook is black and not silver, so, it fits nicely to the case.

The hinges are sizable and efficient, but, if one moves this notebook while open, the display wobbles a bit.

Typical Dell most of the interfaces are located at the back side. Furthermore, there aren't many provided.

Dell Vostro 1000 Interfaces
Front Side: No Interfaces
Dell Vostro 1000 Interfaces
Left Side: Fan, Kensington Lock, Optical Drive
Dell Vostro 1000 Interfaces
Right Side: ExpressCard, Audio, Cardreader, 2x USB
Dell Vostro 1000 Interfaces
Back Side: Power Connector, LAN, Modem, 2x USB, VGA, Fan

Input Devices

The keyboard is the same as of the Inspiron 1501.

The size of the keys is satisfying. The right Shift looks really huge.

The keys have an easy stroke, so, one doesn't need to type forcefully. On the other hand, the cushion is quite hard, but, not yet tiresome for the user. We felt that the keyboard is rather quiet.

The touch pad is alright. The pad provides labeled scroll areas. Its buttons are soft, with long, yet not excessively long travel. They are quiet and reliable.

Dell Vostro 1000
Touch pad
Dell Vostro 1000
Keyboard

Display

Dell Vostro 1000
Color Diagram

The reviewed Vostro 1000 was equipped with a matte 15.4" WXGA display. The maximum brightness is alright, as it amounts to 179.8cd/m². The illumination of 75.5% is also not bad. The black level is pretty high (1.1cd/m²), therefore the maximum contrast is only 163:1, which is rather moderate.

         
 148,3
cd/m²		163,8
cd/m²		153,1
cd/m²
 135,7
cd/m²		162,5
cd/m²		139,9
cd/m²
 152,0
cd/m²		179,8
cd/m²		144,7
cd/m²
         
Informations
Maximum: 179,8 cd/m²
Average: 152.8 cd/m²
Illumination: 75 %
Black: 1.2 cd/m²
Contrast: 149:1
Distribution of brightness
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The matte screen is fit for outdoor usage.

Unfortunately, the viewing angles are narrow.The horizontal ones are average, but, the vertical ones are poor.

Dell Vostro 1000 Viewing Angles
Dell Vostro 1000 Viewing Angles
Dell Vostro 1000 Viewing Angles
Dell Vostro 1000 Viewing Angles
Dell Vostro 1000 Viewing Angles
Dell Vostro 1000 Viewing Angles
Dell Vostro 1000 Viewing Angles
Dell Vostro 1000 Viewing Angles
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Performance

The reviewed Vostro 1000 was equipped with the new mobile processor by AMD. It belongs to the latest of the 'Tyler' range, but is called Athlon 64 X2 TK-53 (1.7GHz). It differs from the identically clocked Turion 64 X2 TL-56 by providing only 512kB L2 Cache, which is half the L2 Cache of the Turion X2 TL-56.

The integrated Radeon Xpress 1150 video card is the provided video solution.

The reviewed Vostro 1000 come with a rather slow 80GB Fujitsu hard drive. Its average access time was 23.5ms with is very long.

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3D Mark
3DMark 20014833 points

(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(3)(1)(3)(1)(4)(6)(5)(8)(7)(7)(0)(5)(3)(3)(2)(0)(1)(0)(1)(1)(1)(0)(3)(0)(1)(0)(1)(2)(2)(0)(0)(5)(0)(1)(0)(2)(0)(0)(1)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)
3DMark 031417 points

(0)(0)(2)(1)(4)(2)(8)(12)(7)(8)(2)(2)(3)(2)(3)(4)(3)(2)(0)(2)(0)(0)(1)(1)(1)(1)(0)(2)(0)(0)(0)(2)(0)(5)(1)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)
3DMark 05700 points

(1)(1)(2)(7)(4)(12)(12)(14)(3)(1)(5)(3)(2)(1)(1)(0)(1)(1)(1)(0)(1)(0)(3)(4)(1)(3)(2)(3)(1)(1)(1)(1)(2)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)
3DMark 06
 1280x1024		219 points

(0)(0)(0)(0)(2)(1)(0)(0)(0)(1)(3)(0)(1)(1)(1)(0)(1)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)
Help
in comparison
Zepto Notus A12 (min)
107 
...
Toshiba Portégé R500-12P U7700, Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
151 
Acer Extensa 5220 540, Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
177 
Dell Vostro 1000 TK-53, Radeon Xpress 1150
219 
HP Compaq 6720s T7250, Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
387 
Lenovo 3000 N200 0769BBG/TY2BBGE T2330, Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
419 
...
Alienware M17 (max)
13699 
PC Mark
PCMark 044333 points

(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(2)(1)(0)(0)(2)(0)(1)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)
PCMark 052618 points

(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(2)(0)(0)(1)(0)(1)(0)(1)(2)(2)(1)(1)(2)(1)(2)(4)(1)(6)(1)(1)(2)(1)(7)(2)(2)(5)(3)(4)(1)(1)(0)(2)(1)(1)(2)(2)(6)(3)(2)(3)(2)(1)(1)(2)(0)(2)(1)(4)(0)(2)(1)(1)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)
Help
in comparison
Dialogue Flybook A33i (min)
963 
...
HP nx6325 TL-52, Radeon Xpress 200M
4101 
Alienware Aurora m9700 ML-44, GeForce Go 7900 GS SLI
4263 
Dell Vostro 1000 TK-53, Radeon Xpress 1150
4333 
Lenovo X60s L2400, Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
4344 
Toshiba Portégé M400 T2300, Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
4384 
...
Samsung X60 Pro Boxxer (max)
7376 

HD Tune: 80 GB - 5400 rpm Benchmark

HDD PerformanceTransfer Rate Minimum: 1 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum: 46 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average: 33 MB/sec
Access Time: 23 ms
Burst Rate: 67 MB/sec
CPU Usage: 2 %

Emissions

Loudness

The first Dell's laptop with AMD processor was very quiet. The Vostro 1000  behaves in a similar fashion. In idle mode, when the computer is placed on the desk, the fan paces itself. When working with browser and Internet on the lap, the fan starts to run and whirs constantly (34.3dB) from that moment on. The same noise level is noticeable during work with load.

Loudness

Idle 32,2 / 32,2 / 32,3 dB
HDD 32,3 dB
DVD 36,5 / dB
Load 34,3 / 34,3 dB
 
 30 dB
silent		40 dB
audible		50 dB
loud
Key: min: , med: , max:     (15 cm distance)

Temperature

The Vostro 1000's case gets warmer the same way its predecessor, the Inspiron 1501, does. The bottom side gets considerably warm, exceeding 44°C. On the contrary, the top side stays always cold.

         
 32 °C34,9 °C36,3 °C
 29,3 °C32,5 °C34,5 °C
 28,8 °C32 °C32,2 °C
         
 
         
 44,2 °C41 °C34,1 °C
 43,6 °C41,6 °C28,5 °C
 29,0 °C28,1 °C29,1 °C
         
Maximum: 36,3 °C
Average: 32.1 °C		 Maximum: 44,2 °C
Average: 35.2 °C
Room Temperature 22,5 °C

Speakers

The speakers are enough for providing some sort of sound, but we don't recommend putting them on maximum volume. In this case the high tones turn into rasping wheeze.

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Battery Runtime

Because the reviewed notebook was only equipped with a 4-cell (29Whr) battery, the battery runtime proved to be very short. It ranges from 40 minutes under full load to a little more than a hour-and-a-half with emphasis on energy saving (with minimum brightness of the screen one can comfortably work in a room).

So, if one looks toward mobility, it's better to order battery with higher capacity (53Whr or 85Whr).

Battery runtime

Idle (without WLAN, min brightness)1h 41min
(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(2)(2)(2)(4)(2)(4)(3)(4)(2)(2)(9)(4)(2)(5)(7)(7)(6)(1)(6)(2)(4)(3)(1)(5)(0)(0)(4)(6)(1)(0)(3)(1)(1)(0)(0)(1)(0)(3)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)
DVD0h 46min 
(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(3)(3)(3)(10)(8)(4)(16)(3)(12)(5)(3)(4)(3)(1)(2)(0)(0)(1)(1)(3)(1)(0)(1)(0)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)
Load (maximum brightness)0h 37min 
(0)(0)(0)(0)(3)(7)(13)(22)(25)(13)(13)(4)(7)(1)(2)(1)(0)(0)(0)(3)(0)(0)(0)(0)(1)(0)(1)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)

Current consumption

Idle 18,6 / 21 / 25 Watt
Load