Small business customer feedback drives Dell Vostro laptop redesign

Products are available today in Europe, Middle East and Africa, followed by North and South America 1st May, and Asia and Japan 5th May.

The company will also offer a redesigned 17-inch Vostro 1710 laptop in mid May.

"Listening to customers and acting quickly on their feedback to improve our products and services sets Dell apart," said Sameh El Deeb, Client PC Product Manager, Dell Middle East. "For example, customers told us in a recent global laptop study that data protection and pre-installed security software are, by far, the most important security features.
"They also said they wanted thinner and lighter machines, all at a good price," Sameh El Deeb said. "We paid attention."

The new Vostro laptops deliver the following customer-driven features:
- A sleek design, with slot load optical drive, that is thinner and lighter than previous generation Vostro laptops;
- The display screen of the new Vostro 13.3-inch has 94% the viewing area of the previous 14.1-inch model, yet weighs nearly 20%less;
- Available with no trialware and an Advanced Configuration Service to remove further unwanted software and to partition the hard drive;
- Comes with free of charge services such as Dell Support Centre, Network Assistant or PC TuneUP*; and
- Vostro 1310 and 1510 laptops offer more security features than comparable competitive products¹ with integrated fingerprint readers, Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 helping prevent unauthorised network access and data theft, cable lock slot, and Dell-exclusive, factory-installed McAfee Total Protection for Small Business security software².

Small businesses are increasingly adopting laptops over desktop PCs.

Today, half of PC-owning small businesses in the United States own laptops, and the number is expected to grow to almost 57% by 2012³, with similar laptop penetration in Western Europe and Japan.

To address this shift and provide more choice to customers, Dell plans to expand its laptop portfolio by 50% this year, to deliver the broadest product lineup in the company's history.