It almost seemed like a fact of life: if you wanted a corporate laptop you’d have to settle for ugly and boring. Ironically, laptops have become a kind of status symbol – so what does your laptop say about your company? Today, Dell is announcing the new Vostro V13 laptop aimed squarely at the small-medium business segment.

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The Vostro V13 is a sleek ULV, or Ultra-Low-Voltage, laptop weighing in at just 3.5 lbs. (1.59 kg) and just 16.5mm thick (0.65 inches). What is probably most exciting is that this new product borrows borrows design cues from the Dell Adamo with the body using a slick black and silver lightweight aluminum. The V13 will sport a Core 2 Duo ULV processor, 4GB RAM, and likely a standard magnetic HDD. However, just because it’s a thin laptop doesn’t mean you’re compromising on connectivity either. Included are two USB 2.0, VGA, eSATA, Ethernet (presumably Gigabit) ports, 802.11g/n wireless, Bluetooth, and what appears to be one or two ExpressCard expansion slots.

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The price is a sensible $449 USD which should appeal to the CFOs trying to keep their IT costs down. It goes to show that good design doesn’t have to cost a lot.