Dell touts multi-coloured laptops

Winning back consumers continues to be a top priority for Dell

Dell has revamped its line of consumer notebooks, adding features including customisable colours. 

The move is the latest effort in Dell's quest to re-establish itself at the top of the consumer PC market.

Dell will offer a choice of eight colours for the casing on its new line of Inspiron laptops. Choices include Flamingo Pink, Ruby Red and Sunshine Yellow.

The colour choices will also be offered for the XPS 1330, a high-end laptop which also includes an option for a 32GB solid-state hard drive.

Winning back consumers has been a top priority for Dell since the company ousted chief executive Kevin Rollins in favour of founder Michael Dell. 

The company's efforts to retake the number one spot from HP have included such moves as retailing its PCs at Wal-Mart and offering a line of Linux PCs. 

Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group, told vnunet.com that Dell is attempting to move towards the more design-conscious approach made popular by notebooks such as the Sony Vaio. 

"People will follow the attractive products," he explained. "You get a combination of technology [and] customisation, and suddenly Dell starts to look trendy again."

Enderle pointed out that the idea is not exclusive to Dell, and is catching on with companies including Gateway and HP.

"This is another indicator that all the vendors are starting to push design rather than just performance," he said.