Dell Vostro 14 (5480) Laptop: Well Balanced Availability
It so happened that companies usually offer to review their most advanced and, as a result, expensive products. The logic is clear: a person reads about a chic flagship, gets excited from the heat of technical progress and goes to the store to look at the miracle of technology. Well, there it all depends on the talent of the seller and the thickness of the wallet. Maybe the hero of the review will buy, maybe that is easier. But, most likely, will buy. Yes, and the author of the review to write about the flagship is usually more interesting.
Dell Vostro 14 (5480) - the laptop is inexpensive. Even in modern times. It was not without budgetary constraints, but in some respects it can confidently compete with models one and a half to two times more expensive. So, this is one of the few compact devices on which you can play with pleasure. And in terms of battery life, Vostro 14 (5480) is comparable to the MacBook Pro.
')
From the very first seconds of dating, the laptop surprised with its weight. When the courier brought the box, it seemed so easy that I doubted - did you forget to put the device in it? A budget 14-inch laptop has always been a brick kilogram for two and a half, and then the whole box weighs less. Vostro 14 for its price category is really very easy - only one and a half kilograms. And this is taking into account the lid, lined with aluminum, without which the weight would be even lower. Even ultrabooks are harder. The thickness of the Dell laptop is not a record, 18.3 mm in the thickest place. But it is a bit. Carrying the Vostro with you is easy and convenient, and I involuntarily remembered - how many times I confidently stated that in the world of real laptops, mobility and affordable price do not overlap in one device.
The absence of the need to achieve compactness at any cost allowed us to place on the sides three USB 3.0 ports, a full-sized HDMI, a card reader and even a rarity on the current ones - an Ethernet port. I myself have not used it for a hundred years, but I know quite a few people to whom it is very dear. Yes, and in many organizations still do not switch to Wi-Fi. For various reasons - from the laziness of the administrator to the banal lack of a budget for the equipment.
Traditionally for Dell, all connectors are not mounted on top of the board, but are housed in special niches. The most heavily loaded power connector is reinforced with a metal bracket.
We open the laptop - and we see a fingerprint scanner to the left of the touchpad. This really surprised, so surprised. Such a scanner is usually an attribute of expensive corporate models, and here - put in a state employee. However, on the Dell website it is indicated that if the user chooses the Vostro 14 version preloaded with Windows 7 or Ubuntu, the scanner will not work. But there are no problems in the “eight” and “ten”. This method of identification is much more convenient than entering a password and, most importantly, faster.
My copy is officially called flame red, although I would call it rather burgundy. In the nineties would be well combined with jackets of respected people. However, even now such a color looks quite solid (although unusual), and for conservatives there is a graphite-silver version.
The surface around the touchpad is also coated with aluminum. It is good in terms of durability (anodized aluminum is difficult to wipe with wrists, if they are at least slightly softer than sandpaper), but glossy aluminum very well collects prints of everything and everything, so it is useful to get a wipe for cleaning.
The touchpad at first glance also looks aluminum, but it is made of plastic, just the color and texture are very well chosen. It works well, understands gestures, although it will be more comfortable with a mouse. The Dell XPS 13 touchpad is more accurate and sensitive.
The keyboard is comfortable, with a soft quiet course. When printing blindly, retraining is not required - the fingers immediately fall as if on a full-sized one. However, I can not remember a Dell laptop with a bad keyboard - regardless of its size, it always turns out to be very convenient.
The surface of the 14-inch screen is matte. And this is perhaps the best thing on the screen. The point is not even that the resolution of 1366x768 pixels is not enough for such a diagonal: in the end, they put this in last year’s ThinkPads, and no one was particularly indignant. But the matrix itself is very simple. TN + Film, with limited viewing angles (especially vertical), with coarse, slightly "cartoon" color reproduction. Of course you can get used to it. But getting used to it is better, twisting the brightness of the percent by thirty, because at the maximum the screen is quite capable of burning the wall opposite to light, despite the natural barrier in your face.
The screen is the weakest point of this model, and, perhaps, the only sign of its budget positioning. Because everything else is quite on the level.
This Dell Vostro line comes with Intel Core i7 and Fifth Generation Core i5 processors, as well as the fourth Core i3 processor. The latest version is the cheapest, and it just came to me. The processor Core i3 4005U went on sale in the third quarter of 2013, it is made on 22-nanometer technology and its operating frequency is 1.7 GHz. It is not trained to accelerate under load due to budget, but Hyper-Threading was spared and left. The processor can hardly be called very slow, and its price is not lower than that of analogs of the fifth generation. But from the sky of stars is not enough, no.
The amount of RAM is 4 GB. It is installed by the SO-DIMM module, access to which is quite simple, just remove the back cover. So, if the need arises, an upgrade to 8 GB is a matter of five minutes.
Core i3, four gigabytes of memory ... Everything seems to be clear about performance, right? Nothing like this. The Dell Vostro 14 (5480) is a discrete graphics GeForce GT 830M. It, like the processor, is also lacking stars from the sky, which is also due to the small number of pipelines (256) and, especially, 64-bit memory access (it has its own chip, 2 GB capacity). On Full HD with such a body kit it doesn’t turn around, but on 1366x768 the tandem turns out to be surprisingly effective. In my favorite World of Tanks benchmark, the laptop knocks out 40-45 frames per second at medium graphics settings and 30-35 at high. Imagine - absolutely playable "Tanchiki" on a laptop weighing one and a half kilograms? Yes, and quite beautiful looking! Very unusual.
By the way, in games I finally managed to hear the cooling system, which this model is quite powerful, with two turbines with a large diagonal for its class. The rest of the time, the laptop is completely silent. The GPU turbine turns on only under load, for the rest of the time it is idle (and silent).
The playing skills of the Dell Vostro 14 (5480) are supported by the presence of ... a subwoofer on board. No, I'm not joking: in addition to a pair of ordinary speakers, engineers found a place for another, a bass one. He does not force the laptop to jump on the table, and, of course, he loses several to his larger counterparts. But against the background of analogs, the Dell Vostro 14 sounds much more convincing. Sounds serious, what is already there. True, adding a subwoofer made the right speaker move a little closer to the center, which simultaneously moved the center of the stereo base. But, in all honesty, I noticed this only after I disassembled the laptop and studied its device.
It looks like a bass speaker. For comparison - the bottom right is a regular speaker.
The description of the Dell Vostro 14 (5480) mysteriously says that it uses a conventional hard disk and a small SSD to speed up the work. Actually, drive one is the Seagate ST500LM000. It belongs to the third-generation Seagate hybrid drives, and in addition to the usual 500 GB HDD with a spindle speed of 5400 revolutions per minute, it also contains an 8 GB flash drive. Does it affect performance? At linear velocity, obviously, no. But since the disk keeps track of what data the user uses most often, he quickly drags the operating system files to the flash. Therefore, loading from scratch and switching on after sleep happen quickly, almost like with an SSD. But miracles, of course, do not happen, and if you want to get the full performance of the solid-state drive, you have to buy it. The hard disk also changes very easily, but pay attention to the replacement thickness - it should not exceed 7 mm.
There are no complaints about the Wi-Fi adapter, the proven Intel Dual Band Wireless-N 7265 does not spoil the grooves. In both ranges. There is also support for Bluetooth, you can connect mice, headphones and other useful devices.
The capacity of the battery does not seem to be a record one, 51.2 Wh. And when I read in the description that the laptop was working for her for 10 and a half hours, I didn’t really believe it. In vain. The actual work time was more than 9 hours in my normal mode, when Facebook and Twitter are open in the browser, mail in Outlook is constantly being checked, Word is running - in general, there is a normal creative process. Previously, this longevity was demonstrated only by a 13-inch MacBook Pro on the fourth-generation Core i5, and even that one has already passed a little, because I'm lazy about calibrating the battery.
And then an inexpensive model - and you. Great what else to say. Of course, under good load, like the same “Tanks”, the battery life is three times lower, and the database re-indexing is decent. But the same movie viewing will last at least 9 hours, because in the 4th generation Core processors there is a hardware decoder, and if you don’t choose exotic formats, there will be almost no load on the processor itself. The screen brightness is also useful to slightly twist, but it is worth doing in any case. Its stock is very large.
An important point: unlike Dell’s Ultrabooks, there is no fast charging technology. Therefore, to fully restore the battery will take about three hours.
Total
From the point of view of Dell, the Dell Vostro 14 (5480) is not just a budget model, but an entry-level business notebook. Actually, from there, and aluminum trim, and a fingerprint scanner.
It can be ordered with any modern operating system, including Ubuntu. Also, connoisseurs can choose the version with a touch screen, which is a bit heavier (really a little, just 100 g).
And about the prices. Even now, after the well-known events with the ruble exchange rate, the price of the model I tested starts at around 33,500 rubles. But that's not all. In the DSelect.ru store, the Dell Vostro 14 with Ubuntu on board and without the GeForce costs only 31,800 rubles . By all indications, with the old rate of the ruble, the price of the question would have been twenty thousand ...
Quite a lot of 14-inch laptops are on sale, but Dell’s offer is truly unique. Analogs either do not have discrete graphics, or the battery is not so capacious, or the weight is significantly greater. Well, or the price is completely different.
Joy young specialist
In fact, the laptop has one weak point - the screen. But in this price category they are the same for everyone, there's nothing you can do. And if we want to save (well, we do not want, but are forced), we will have to choose between screen quality and performance. You can find a tablet with an IPS-matrix, but the processor there will be Celeron level - with all the consequences.
Of course, I sincerely wish to be able to easily and naturally buy a Dell XPS 13, or one of his classmates. But in the budget segment, Dell Vostro 14 (5480) looks very decent.
If you need something light, not slow and at a humane price, be sure to explore all the options on the market. But I think I guess what you will stop at.
Dell Vostro 14 (5480) - the laptop is inexpensive. Even in modern times. It was not without budgetary constraints, but in some respects it can confidently compete with models one and a half to two times more expensive. So, this is one of the few compact devices on which you can play with pleasure. And in terms of battery life, Vostro 14 (5480) is comparable to the MacBook Pro.
')
From the very first seconds of dating, the laptop surprised with its weight. When the courier brought the box, it seemed so easy that I doubted - did you forget to put the device in it? A budget 14-inch laptop has always been a brick kilogram for two and a half, and then the whole box weighs less. Vostro 14 for its price category is really very easy - only one and a half kilograms. And this is taking into account the lid, lined with aluminum, without which the weight would be even lower. Even ultrabooks are harder. The thickness of the Dell laptop is not a record, 18.3 mm in the thickest place. But it is a bit. Carrying the Vostro with you is easy and convenient, and I involuntarily remembered - how many times I confidently stated that in the world of real laptops, mobility and affordable price do not overlap in one device.
The absence of the need to achieve compactness at any cost allowed us to place on the sides three USB 3.0 ports, a full-sized HDMI, a card reader and even a rarity on the current ones - an Ethernet port. I myself have not used it for a hundred years, but I know quite a few people to whom it is very dear. Yes, and in many organizations still do not switch to Wi-Fi. For various reasons - from the laziness of the administrator to the banal lack of a budget for the equipment.
Traditionally for Dell, all connectors are not mounted on top of the board, but are housed in special niches. The most heavily loaded power connector is reinforced with a metal bracket.
We open the laptop - and we see a fingerprint scanner to the left of the touchpad. This really surprised, so surprised. Such a scanner is usually an attribute of expensive corporate models, and here - put in a state employee. However, on the Dell website it is indicated that if the user chooses the Vostro 14 version preloaded with Windows 7 or Ubuntu, the scanner will not work. But there are no problems in the “eight” and “ten”. This method of identification is much more convenient than entering a password and, most importantly, faster.
My copy is officially called flame red, although I would call it rather burgundy. In the nineties would be well combined with jackets of respected people. However, even now such a color looks quite solid (although unusual), and for conservatives there is a graphite-silver version.
The surface around the touchpad is also coated with aluminum. It is good in terms of durability (anodized aluminum is difficult to wipe with wrists, if they are at least slightly softer than sandpaper), but glossy aluminum very well collects prints of everything and everything, so it is useful to get a wipe for cleaning.
The touchpad at first glance also looks aluminum, but it is made of plastic, just the color and texture are very well chosen. It works well, understands gestures, although it will be more comfortable with a mouse. The Dell XPS 13 touchpad is more accurate and sensitive.
The keyboard is comfortable, with a soft quiet course. When printing blindly, retraining is not required - the fingers immediately fall as if on a full-sized one. However, I can not remember a Dell laptop with a bad keyboard - regardless of its size, it always turns out to be very convenient.
The surface of the 14-inch screen is matte. And this is perhaps the best thing on the screen. The point is not even that the resolution of 1366x768 pixels is not enough for such a diagonal: in the end, they put this in last year’s ThinkPads, and no one was particularly indignant. But the matrix itself is very simple. TN + Film, with limited viewing angles (especially vertical), with coarse, slightly "cartoon" color reproduction. Of course you can get used to it. But getting used to it is better, twisting the brightness of the percent by thirty, because at the maximum the screen is quite capable of burning the wall opposite to light, despite the natural barrier in your face.
The screen is the weakest point of this model, and, perhaps, the only sign of its budget positioning. Because everything else is quite on the level.
This Dell Vostro line comes with Intel Core i7 and Fifth Generation Core i5 processors, as well as the fourth Core i3 processor. The latest version is the cheapest, and it just came to me. The processor Core i3 4005U went on sale in the third quarter of 2013, it is made on 22-nanometer technology and its operating frequency is 1.7 GHz. It is not trained to accelerate under load due to budget, but Hyper-Threading was spared and left. The processor can hardly be called very slow, and its price is not lower than that of analogs of the fifth generation. But from the sky of stars is not enough, no.
The amount of RAM is 4 GB. It is installed by the SO-DIMM module, access to which is quite simple, just remove the back cover. So, if the need arises, an upgrade to 8 GB is a matter of five minutes.
Core i3, four gigabytes of memory ... Everything seems to be clear about performance, right? Nothing like this. The Dell Vostro 14 (5480) is a discrete graphics GeForce GT 830M. It, like the processor, is also lacking stars from the sky, which is also due to the small number of pipelines (256) and, especially, 64-bit memory access (it has its own chip, 2 GB capacity). On Full HD with such a body kit it doesn’t turn around, but on 1366x768 the tandem turns out to be surprisingly effective. In my favorite World of Tanks benchmark, the laptop knocks out 40-45 frames per second at medium graphics settings and 30-35 at high. Imagine - absolutely playable "Tanchiki" on a laptop weighing one and a half kilograms? Yes, and quite beautiful looking! Very unusual.
By the way, in games I finally managed to hear the cooling system, which this model is quite powerful, with two turbines with a large diagonal for its class. The rest of the time, the laptop is completely silent. The GPU turbine turns on only under load, for the rest of the time it is idle (and silent).
The playing skills of the Dell Vostro 14 (5480) are supported by the presence of ... a subwoofer on board. No, I'm not joking: in addition to a pair of ordinary speakers, engineers found a place for another, a bass one. He does not force the laptop to jump on the table, and, of course, he loses several to his larger counterparts. But against the background of analogs, the Dell Vostro 14 sounds much more convincing. Sounds serious, what is already there. True, adding a subwoofer made the right speaker move a little closer to the center, which simultaneously moved the center of the stereo base. But, in all honesty, I noticed this only after I disassembled the laptop and studied its device.
It looks like a bass speaker. For comparison - the bottom right is a regular speaker.
The description of the Dell Vostro 14 (5480) mysteriously says that it uses a conventional hard disk and a small SSD to speed up the work. Actually, drive one is the Seagate ST500LM000. It belongs to the third-generation Seagate hybrid drives, and in addition to the usual 500 GB HDD with a spindle speed of 5400 revolutions per minute, it also contains an 8 GB flash drive. Does it affect performance? At linear velocity, obviously, no. But since the disk keeps track of what data the user uses most often, he quickly drags the operating system files to the flash. Therefore, loading from scratch and switching on after sleep happen quickly, almost like with an SSD. But miracles, of course, do not happen, and if you want to get the full performance of the solid-state drive, you have to buy it. The hard disk also changes very easily, but pay attention to the replacement thickness - it should not exceed 7 mm.
There are no complaints about the Wi-Fi adapter, the proven Intel Dual Band Wireless-N 7265 does not spoil the grooves. In both ranges. There is also support for Bluetooth, you can connect mice, headphones and other useful devices.
The capacity of the battery does not seem to be a record one, 51.2 Wh. And when I read in the description that the laptop was working for her for 10 and a half hours, I didn’t really believe it. In vain. The actual work time was more than 9 hours in my normal mode, when Facebook and Twitter are open in the browser, mail in Outlook is constantly being checked, Word is running - in general, there is a normal creative process. Previously, this longevity was demonstrated only by a 13-inch MacBook Pro on the fourth-generation Core i5, and even that one has already passed a little, because I'm lazy about calibrating the battery.
And then an inexpensive model - and you. Great what else to say. Of course, under good load, like the same “Tanks”, the battery life is three times lower, and the database re-indexing is decent. But the same movie viewing will last at least 9 hours, because in the 4th generation Core processors there is a hardware decoder, and if you don’t choose exotic formats, there will be almost no load on the processor itself. The screen brightness is also useful to slightly twist, but it is worth doing in any case. Its stock is very large.
An important point: unlike Dell’s Ultrabooks, there is no fast charging technology. Therefore, to fully restore the battery will take about three hours.
Total
From the point of view of Dell, the Dell Vostro 14 (5480) is not just a budget model, but an entry-level business notebook. Actually, from there, and aluminum trim, and a fingerprint scanner.
It can be ordered with any modern operating system, including Ubuntu. Also, connoisseurs can choose the version with a touch screen, which is a bit heavier (really a little, just 100 g).
And about the prices. Even now, after the well-known events with the ruble exchange rate, the price of the model I tested starts at around 33,500 rubles. But that's not all. In the DSelect.ru store, the Dell Vostro 14 with Ubuntu on board and without the GeForce costs only 31,800 rubles . By all indications, with the old rate of the ruble, the price of the question would have been twenty thousand ...
Quite a lot of 14-inch laptops are on sale, but Dell’s offer is truly unique. Analogs either do not have discrete graphics, or the battery is not so capacious, or the weight is significantly greater. Well, or the price is completely different.
Joy young specialist
In fact, the laptop has one weak point - the screen. But in this price category they are the same for everyone, there's nothing you can do. And if we want to save (well, we do not want, but are forced), we will have to choose between screen quality and performance. You can find a tablet with an IPS-matrix, but the processor there will be Celeron level - with all the consequences.
Of course, I sincerely wish to be able to easily and naturally buy a Dell XPS 13, or one of his classmates. But in the budget segment, Dell Vostro 14 (5480) looks very decent.
If you need something light, not slow and at a humane price, be sure to explore all the options on the market. But I think I guess what you will stop at.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/368659/
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