When Dell launched its new Vostro line, it got some people confused. After all, with Inspiron taking care of the consumer market and the Latitude series catering to the business crowd, where does this leave the Vostro lineup?

In a nutshell, Vostro machines are for those who do not care for the entertainment features of consumer systems while eschewing the additional support (and premium price) of business portables. The latest addition to the series is the 12.1-inch Vostro 1200 which continues the tradition of nondescript design and low cost. Starting at S$1,599 (US$1,051.97), the Vostro is highly configurable with options ranging from low-end Celeron processors to Core 2 Duo chips, as well as fingerprint sensor and integrated Webcam. The optical drive is integrated into the chassis and the DVD/CDRW combo drive can be replaced with a DVD writer. We like the fact that it comes with a Draft-N wireless card as standard and that the warranty can be upgraded to a full three-year CompleteCover coverage.

However, its low cost of ownership comes at a price. At 1.9kg with the smaller four-cell battery and a thickness of 36.3mm, it is not one of the most portable 12.1-inch machines around. Moreover, the Core 2 Duo-equipped Acer TravelMate 6292, which costs only S$200 (US$131.58) more, has many of the optional features of the Vostro 1200 (like Bluetooth and Webcam) as part of the standard configuration. Hence ,the Vostro's only edge lies in its strong warranty options.