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Review of Dell Vostro 1000

Posted Sep 10, 2007 Todd Gold

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A couple of years ago a middle weight business laptop would have cost you over a grand. Today less than 500 dollars will snag you an Athlon dual core powered Vostro 1000, sporting a 15.4 inch wide-screen display and some quality touches like a mylar sealed keyboard and magnesium alloy chassis. Laptopical's Todd Gold offers his opinion on this discount offering from Dell.

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Full review of Dell Vostro 1000

I own two laptops. My favorite is a 17-inch core 2 duo Macbook Pro, the other, I like to call it my backup laptop, is a Toshiba Satellite P10 with a Pentium 4 processor I bought back in 2003. I use the Toshiba on the road, its battered blue lid and weathered chassis far less attractive to thieves than my shiny Apple Macbook. That stays parked safely on my desk at home, connected to an external keyboard, mouse and 24 inch monitor.

A few months back the two fans on my Satellite P10 began whirring loudly, the notebook began overheating and switching itself off. I've cleaned out the heatsink and fans but the problem is persistent. So I decided to start hunting for a cheap backup laptop as a replacement, and Dell's new Vostro line, particularly the Vostro 1000 caught my thrifty eye.

Vostro means YOUR in Italian, and for $499 it's not expensive to make the Vostro 1000 "Your" laptop. The Dell Vostro 1000 is being billed as a bargain priced business notebook. The 6.26 lb black magnesium alloy chassis appears very solid. A thoughtful feature is the mylar sealed keyboard. This will be a crumb and spill safety net for road warriors eating baguettes and drinking at wireless coffee shops while they work.

What's under the bonnet? Well for less than 500 bucks you get an Athlon 64 bit X2 AMD processor, a 15.4 inch Widescreen WXGA (1280x800) widescreen, 512MB of RAM (1GB for another $50), and a 60GB hard drive (up to 120 GB available for extra $70). Wireless comes in the form of a Dell 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi card. For our UK readers a laptop with similar specs is available for the discount sum of £239.

If you're still unsure about Vista, you can always ask Dell to install your Vostro with good old Windows XP. Or if you're an open source fan why not experiment by installing a Linux operating system? Dell have preinstalled Ubuntu on their Inspiron 1420 N to a chorus of approval from Linux aficionados. However, just because Ubuntu runs smoothly on the Inspiron doesn't mean it is guaranteed to work on this Dell. Indeed, I have heard whispers of wireless compatibility issues with Ubuntu on the Vostro 100. Not to worry though, it appears Gentoo Linux works fine on the 1000, check out Tuxmobil for the installation guide.

As for me, all the files on my Toshiba are backed up, and I'm ready to swap them over to a new notebook. If/when the P10 succumbs to the dreaded blue screen of death, the Vostro 1000 is definitely being considered.

Dell Vostro 1000 Technical Specifications

  • Processor 1.9GHz AMD Athlon 64 Mobile TK57, 667Mhz FSB
  • Memory 2GB 667 MHz DDR2
  • Harddrive 120GB 5,400rpm SATA
  • OS Windows Vista Business
  • Weight 6.26 pounds (2.84 kg)
  • Screen 15.4 inches
  • Screen resolution 1280x800
  • Graphic Card ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 IGP
  • Battery Life 1-2 hours

Pros

  • Bargain priced
  • Solid build
  • Respectable performance

Cons

  • Non-descript design
  • Short battery life

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Comments

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  • By: Paul Jan 30, 2010 7:48 AM

    Brilliant piece of kit. Purchased the Vostro 1000 about 3 years ago and it hasnt let me down once in that time. If I get to purchase another computer in the future it will definately be a Dell.

    Did install a Linux OS a few months ago but had difficulty getting my mobile broadband dongle to work. Very tiresome OS so I reverted back to the Vista OS.

    Would like to install the Windows XP OS but dont want to go to that expense and find it wont install...A Dell XP Operating System, borrowed from a friend refused to install!

    Keep up the good work Dell.

  • By: a Jan 29, 2010 6:56 AM

    a

  • By: vera_van Dec 27, 2009 12:42 PM

    i have had my vostro 1000 since january 2008. after going thru 3 keyboards (under warranty first year), and then adding my own 3g ram. the 111 g memory is sufficient...my problem now is that i have only half a screen, been that way for about 6 months... no longer under warranty and dell wont even answer emails... so i am stuck with my $1800 special vostro (ha) that has only half use!!!! i DO NOT recommend dell for anything!

  • By: Jacob Williamson Dec 11, 2009 12:55 AM

    I work on computers for a living, so when I buy a computer I am looking for one that is inexpensive that I can upgrade. I bought the Dell Vostro 1000 because I am a "Dell man". This laptop came with a 120GB 5400RPM HDD, 2GB of RAM, and Windows Vista. I was very disappointed that this computer was extremely slow with Vista. I installed Windows XP on the computer and it was much faster but I can't stand XP. I bought a 7200RPM 320GB HDD and a new super fast, high capacity battery for the system. After installing the upgrades this computer is a super fast system that will compete with any system out there. I also purchased and installed Windows 7 Ultimate and Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 and for under $900.00 I have the "Ultimate Business Machine. If one knows where to look, they can find the HDD and battery for around $110.00 for the pair. The software is pretty expensive though (Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 over $500.00 and Windows 7 Ultimate $199.99-$219.99)

  • By: luisr Nov 10, 2009 3:26 PM

    A Vostro 1000 has been in my family for almost 2 years, first my wife used it, now my daughter. It is not pretty but the black matte finish swallows everything without making it look bad. We installed a very nice colorful skin, so now everybody pays attention to it. A little heavy because of 9-cell battery but it offers more than 4 hours of work (almost 6 hours when new). Windows Vista Basic is frustrating, plan to change it for Windows 7 soon.

  • By: tamesha Sep 26, 2009 9:02 PM

    i have a vostro 1000 and the battery dont lost long it lost for 5 min and its very slow with window vista

  • By: vanessam Sep 19, 2009 5:12 AM

    Home Basic and installed Linux Mint Celena. With Celena it took a bit of work to get 1280x800 from the ATI video and to get the Broadcom-based wifi card to work. My wife's needs are basic (web browsing, email, word processing an spreadsheets) and she loves her Vostro. online degrees | college degree | masters degree

  • By: Raphael Sariman Aug 24, 2009 10:44 AM

    Can I upgrade my dell vostro 1000 from 120Gb to 300Gb? Please I need some answers

  • By: juanjo Aug 08, 2009 8:06 PM

    LIAR!!! my battery runs over 4 hours

    at middle high light but who need the whole bright

  • By: juanjo Aug 08, 2009 8:06 PM

    LIAR!!! my battery runs over 4 hours

    at middle high light but who need the whole bright

  • By: sarah Jul 21, 2009 11:02 PM

    i own a dell vostro 1000 laptop battery , it's run well except the original battery , since i buy a replacement battery from http://www.discount-laptopbattery.com/dell-vostro-1000.htm , now it excellent nearly .

  • By: m fa3z 5 Jul 01, 2009 3:48 AM

    I owned Vostro 1000 for almost a year now, n it's really reliable, with Mobile AMD Sempron 3600+, it can works as efficient as Intel Core(tm) processor. I usually works on Adobe's applications and DVD games. Overall, it really suits me.

  • By: mohamed abozaid Feb 15, 2009 11:47 PM

    well i have vostro with the amd athlon x2 64 and it's pretty cool ... installed windows seven on it and it's working like magic the only think i'd mention on amd processors that they consume much power that the battary doesn't last more than an hour if you are copying stuff or working in heavy progs .. not gaming i mean progs like adobe progs ..etc ... but in major it's a big nice one specially when on ac power :D ... in total it's great just if you are gonna use it more on the battary you might wanna use an intel based processor .. cuz it saves power more efficiently ...

  • By: anna Jan 22, 2009 8:35 AM

    this is my question...if i buy a vostro 1000, will i have room to add in an extra hard drive? if someone could let me know that wold be great! thanks!!!!

  • By: V1000Lvr Dec 20, 2008 8:26 AM

    About a year ago I bought a refurbished Vostro 1000 for my wife. Less than $350 shipped, Sempron 1.8?GHz, 1.5GB RAM (I added 1GB from oempcworld.com) and a 60GB HD. I blew away Vista Home Basic and installed Linux Mint Celena. With Celena it took a bit of work to get 1280x800 from the ATI video and to get the Broadcom-based wifi card to work. My wife's needs are basic (web browsing, email, word processing an spreadsheets) and she loves her Vostro.

    I liked the 1000 so much that I got one for myself a few months ago. I wanted a little higher-end system and with free shipping and free HD and battery upgrades my new system was a better deal than comparable refurbs at the time: $499 got me an Athlon 1.8GHz 64-bit CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HD and a six-cell battery. I replaced Vista Home Basic with Linux Mint (4, then 5, and I just installed 6), and with Mint 6 I got the right display resolution from the first Live-CD boot, and the built-in wifi drivers worked with the installed wireless card without needing to install Windows drivers. Compiz effects work great, btw. Like my wife, I love my Vostro.

    I just noticed that Dell has phased out the 1000 from their Vostro line. I prefer the more, well, retro look of the 1000 to the cheaper-looking and more curvy new "A" Series Vostros. There are still some 1000s on the outlet site: outlet.dell.com.

  • By: haydn smith Sep 30, 2008 11:13 PM

    are the prices in US dollars?or what

  • By: ahmed Sep 08, 2008 4:51 AM

    is good

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