Dell Vostro 13 5390 2018, Core i7-8565U, 8GB, 256GB SSD, MX250, Grey

Featherweight champion with a featherweight brain. Buy it only if you need the lightest laptop possible and nothing else matters.

The MX250 discrete GPU is the surprise here. It lands right in the middle of the pack for graphics, which is honestly better than we expected from a 2GB card in a 0.57kg body. But the CPU is a different story. The i7-8565U sits near the bottom of our database, and 8GB of LPDDR3 at 2133MHz is one of the weakest RAM configs we've seen. The 256GB NVMe SSD is also on the small side. For basic office work and light photo editing it'll chug along, but don't expect to run anything demanding without feeling the age.

Stacked against something like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 or Lenovo Legion 5i, the Vostro gets absolutely demolished on performance. Those machines have modern CPUs, way more RAM, and GPUs that can actually game. But they're also twice the weight or more. The MacBook Pro M4 Max is in a completely different universe for power, but it's also a different price bracket entirely. If you want a light business laptop, the Vostro competes more with older ThinkPads or LG Grams, and even then it falls behind on RAM and ports.

At $1,058 USD, this is a tough sell. You can get a modern ultrabook with a current-gen CPU, 16GB of RAM, and double the storage for around the same price. The only reason to consider this is if you absolutely need the lightest possible laptop and don't care about performance. For everyone else, this is overpriced for what you get.

The Dell Vostro 13 5390 is a weird little machine. It's absurdly light at 0.57kg, which puts it in the top 1% of compact laptops we've tracked, but that portability comes with some serious compromises. The 8th gen i7 and MX250 GPU were fine in 2019, but in today's market this thing feels like a time capsule. The one thing to know: you're buying a featherweight chassis with aging internals, and that trade-off only makes sense if weight is your absolute top priority.

If you need any real performance, this isn't it. Go get a modern ultrabook with 16GB of RAM and a current-gen CPU instead. If you want to game, look at the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 or Lenovo Legion 5i. The Vostro is only for people who prioritize weight above literally everything else.

Skip it unless you find one used for under $400. The 0.57kg weight is genuinely impressive, but the 8GB RAM ceiling, weak CPU, and tiny SSD make this a frustrating daily driver in 2024. There are better ways to get a light laptop without sacrificing this much performance.