Small business customer feedback drives Dell Vostro laptop redesign

Dell recently announced its redesigned Vostro laptop line for small businesses, including the new 13.3-inch Vostro 1310 starting at R7 340 (including VAT and freight) and the 15.4-inch Vostro 1510 starting at R7 420 (including VAT and freight).

Products are available today in Europe, Middle East and Africa, followed by North and South America on 1 May, and Asia and Japan on 5 May. The company will also offer a redesigned 17-inch Vostro 1710 laptop in mid-May. For more information, visit www.dell.co.za.

"Listening to customers and acting quickly on their feedback to improve our products and services sets Dell apart," said Ben McDonald, client products brand manager, Dell South Africa. "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," McDonald 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 products 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 software.

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 2012, 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 line-up in the company's history.

Additional small business resources:

* Small Business 360 Mobility In addition to investments in its laptop portfolio, Dell is expanding its services, server and storage offerings to meet the unique needs small and medium businesses.
* Dell's new services portfolio, ProSupport, gives customers the ability to customise and tailor services to fit their technical expertise and business needs.
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