The Inspiron-like Dell Vostro laptops have been
haunting us for weeks now, but the mystery deepens with this Vostro 2510 that was spotted in a flier. The August 2008 Dell Business flier reads as such: "Coming this month: New! Dell Vostro 2510. Style meets performance." As far as listed specs, we've got an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 160GB hdd, 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GPU, and integrated webcam. Pretty decent specs for the $899 price tag, we gotta say. The URL listed in the photo is indeed for the Vostro lappies, but the 2510 is, as of right now, mysteriously absent.
UPDATE: The Canadian Dell site has some
official Vostro 2510 information and specs. [Thanks, jorvay!]
[Thanks, Dirk]
posted July 31st 2008 10:17AM
260$ more in Canada! Is Dell trying to steal Canadian?
No kidding! I checked the basic build specs just in case, and they are indeed identical. USA: $899, CA: $1159. It must be that extra $260 it takes to ship it all the way over the boarder...
It's up on the American site too.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-vostro-2510?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
And worst of all : Windows Vista only
MacBook Pro at half the price? Looks interesting.
MUCH too thick. It's fairly obvious that Dell's trying to compete with Apple in terms of design as of late. If for some reason Mike Dell or one of his cronies reads this; these laptops NEED to go on a diet. Why do students and frequent travelers flock to Apple? Is it OS X? Yes, for some. But for those who aren't OS X advocates; they like the simple shape, and thin design. They're unobtrusive in hand or in bags; even though the weight is comparable. And believe me, Dell is about the only company that's even CLOSE to Apple in terms of design. They've got a digital monitor output (which, I prefer HDMI to DVI anyway), they've got the slot loading optical drive, they've even got the backlit keys and thinner, more efficient LED screens. The closest thing is the M series, and they're just not in Apple's fashion-foreward design territory yet.
My suggestions
1 - Ditch the VGA. You've already got 1 graphics port. Give users a dongle. Only business users even use the VGA output, and that's for projectors. Most people use theirs for an external display, most of which are DVI or HDMI. What gives?
2 - Tapered design is everywhere, use it. Treo's and smartphones use this to no end, Apple's used it in the Air, and I wouldn't be surprised if their next major revision of notebooks do too.
3 - All one color. It looks less busy, and overall this is how Apple shines.
4 - Magnetic power cord. I don't understand why EVERY laptop doesn't have this.
5 - Drop sensor. Ditto.
Come on Dell, you could be #1!
This is a business laptop, so why would they drop VGA.
I agree with Level 5. I run Windows on a Mac. I got the Mac because it was thinner, lighter, and well-balanced. Lenovo is another option.
Engadget, at least post the model of the GPU in the headline... 256mb of VRAM doesn't mean anything.
"It's got 256mb of video RAM!"
"WHOA!"
"I present to you... the ATI Mobility X700"
"Greeeeeat"
Anyway, does look like a decent laptop for the price, although it may have the faulty GPU in it. Do note that this does come with the BIOS upgrade but this still doesn't mean that your GPU won't fuck up. It just is there to push the notebook out of the warranty period.
btw, the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar now, so this is definitely a ripoff in Canada compared to here if the pricing in that pic is correct... the $1149 CA is = $1170-$1190 US
correction to my previous statement... it's the other way around :) $1.03 CA = $1 US
hahaha I got this flier at work at 7/28/08 and tried to enter their website to see it and also the contest to win that laptop. much to my dismay, I found out that this flier is not valid until 7/31/08 to 08/03/08... No wonder why I can't get in on their site...
just to point it out again, there is no way to FIX the GPUs. all they have done is send out a bios update which cranks up the fan to help alleviate SOME thermal issues. Junk is junk, just a matter of it dieing in 13 months (out of warranty) instead of 11 (under warranty).
You're best bet is not to buy any NVidia chip in the series, so no 8300/8400/8500/8600. NVidia has done a wonderful job avoiding the issue ...don't let them!!
Hmm I think it looks pretty sexy. Am I in a minority here? Sure a white laptop like the Macbooks are nice but you just can't argue with a black/red colour scheme.
It is up on the US site now: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-vostro-2510?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
i hope this doesn't overheat too... http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=m1330+overheat&btnG=Google+Search
The main difference between the 2510 and 1510 is that this has the Intel 965PM chipset (instead of the 965GM) chipset. This qualifies it to carry the "Centrino Pro" and basically carries the "Intel Active Management Technology (AMT)". I saw a couple advertised on www.ndc.co.uk here in UK at a decent price but they went off the site pretty fast, dunno if they sold them or were taken off for other reasons.