The post-COVID laptop market in Nepal has been a disappointing one for the local consumers. Because of the excessive demand and importers struggling to match the supply, the price of an average laptop has shot up. Well, we might have found a decent budget laptop that’s priced quite well. Here, the Dell Vostro 14 3400 is available at a really attractive price in Nepal. And it might just be the one you’re looking for.

Dell Vostro 14 3400 Overview:

Design

Starting with the design, this laptop sports a classic budget laptop look. That’s not to say that the Vostro 14 3400 looks cheap, absolutely not. It has a sleek design with chamfered edges to give an inviting look. The matte-like finish further adds to the beauty of this budget brilliance.

To keep the weight of the machine as minimum as possible, Dell has used a mixture of plastic and metal to build this device. As a result, it weighs just 1.58 kg and is therefore pretty comfortable to carry around. Pair this with the minimal 45W AC adapter, you’ll have no trouble taking it places.

Display

Getting to the display, the Vostro 14 3400 sports a 2-sided narrow bezels design. However, the top and bottom bezels are significantly larger, especially the latter. But I guess expecting a clean-cut design on a budget laptop is still a far-fetched idea for now.

Anyway, it’s a 14” FHD screen so contents should look sharp enough for everyday tasks. Dell hasn’t specified brightness nits or color space of this laptop and simply, vaguely puts it as “more brightness and vivid color”. Considering its inexpensive stature, I won’t be surprised if it struggles with visibility under an outdoor setting.

In terms of color reproduction, the Vostro 14 3400 will make do for general-purpose computing. This includes web browsing, using Microsoft Office Suite, or other lightweight applications. So, this screen will suffice the target audience’s requirements just fine.

Moving on, a webcam has been an absolute necessity in this Zoom-y world we live in right now. And thankfully, Dell has included a 720p HD camera right on the top frame of the display. I would’ve liked to see a dedicated privacy shutter as well but, ah well.

Performance

Performance is where this laptop shines the brightest. It is powered by the relatively new Intel Tiger Lake Core i5 processor. More specifically, the i5-1135G7. It’s a quad-core CPU with 2.4GHz of base and 4.2GHz of single-core turbo frequency.

We’ve been quite impressed with the Tiger Lake-U silicons from Intel and this is a starter entry in the roster. With this lineup of CPUs, Team Blue is delivering rather splendid performance—especially when it comes to single-core performance.

And we believe this is of utmost importance on a budget laptop. Yes, the i5-1135G7 still lags behind its direct competition from AMD’s Renoir processors with regards to multi-core loads, but that will not translate to much of an actual real-life benefit considering what inexpensive laptops typically go through.

You’ll obviously not be running video editing, rendering, or other applications that are more efficient with more cores here. So, having a solid single-core performance should be your top priority.

Plus, Intel’s integrated Iris Xe graphics is miles ahead of AMD’s Radeon graphics—like wayyy better. Therefore, you’ll be able to play some eSports titles like CS: GO with decent FPS. But remember, this is not a gaming laptop, and be sure to optimize the settings and manage your expectations to shoo the possible disappointment.

Likewise, complementing it all is 8GB of DDR4 RAM (2666MHz) and 256GB of M.2 PCIe NVMe storage. Thanks to the dual drive setup, for additional storage capacity, you can install a hard drive (up to 2TB) or bump the SSD up to 1TB as well.

Battery

On the battery front, the Dell Vostro 14 3400 is fueled by a decent 3-cell 42 Whr battery. The company promises up to 10 hours of endurance but that’s obviously going to fluctuate with how you end up using the device.

But if you’re low on power and in a hurry, there’s a bit of good news. Thanks to the ExpressCharge technology, this laptop can go from 0 to 80% in under an hour.

Keyboard

Here, its island-style keyboard isn’t backlit, unfortunately. So, it might invite slight struggle when using it in a dimly lit environment. Besides this, the keys are well spaced and offer decent key travel. Because of the compact form factor of the Vostro 14 3400, Dell hasn’t been able to include a dedicated Numpad here. But that’s something totally excusable.

Rest of the specs

Dell’s Vostro lineup has been a business-first device from the very beginning. On top of everything I’ve talked about so far, there’s one crucial feature that makes this machine deserving of its heritage. That’s a TPM 2.0 chip. Short for Trusted Platform Module 2.0, this is a hardware-based security solution for your device.

Basically, it stores all the sensitive data like passwords, encryption keys and keeps the machine free from external malicious attacks. Furthermore, TPM 2.0 also verifies if the device has seen unauthorized tampering before boot.

Moving on, you get a dual stereo speaker setup here. Vostro 14 3400 also supports Dell Mobile Connect protocol, thereby letting you transfer files and photos to/from your phone wirelessly. Finally, its port selection is pretty admirable for a productivity-focused laptop too.

Other than the expected presence of USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Type-A ports, it also has an HDMI and 3-in-1 SD card reader.

Dell Vostro 14 3400 Specifications:

• Body: 12.94W x 9.43D x 0.71H-inches, 1.58 kg
• Display: 14-inches IPS panel, 2-sided narrow bezel
• Resolution: FHD (1920×1080) resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio
• Keyboard: Dark grey keyboard (non-backlit)
• Touchpad: Multi-touch supported touchpad
• Processor: Intel Tiger Lake CPU (Core i5-1135G7/ Core i7-1165G7)
• RAM: up to 8GB DDR4 RAM @2666MHz
• Storage: up to 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
• Graphics: Intel Irix Xe (integrated)
• Audio: 2x2W stereo speaker setup
• Battery: 3-cell 42 Watt-hours Li-Ion battery, ExpressCharge
• Power Supply: 45W AC adapter
• Webcam: 720p HD camera
• Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.0
• I/O ports: 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x LAN (RJ45), 1x 3.5mm mic/headphone jack combo, 1x 3-in-1 SD card reader (SD, XC, HC), 1x wedge-shaped lock slot

Dell Vostro 14 3400 Price in Nepal and Availability

The price of Dell Vostro 14 3400 in Nepal starts at NPR 79,999 for the base Core i5 variant. You can configure the laptop to include a Core i7-1165G7, 8GB RAM, and 512GB SSD and it will cost you NPR 108,990. You can buy Dell Vostro 14 3400 in Nepal from trusted sellers like ITTI, LDS, and Zozo Hub.

• Check out our review of the HP Envy x360 13 (2020).