Eight colors in Dell's new laptop range

Dell today launched its brand new range of consumer laptops--Inspiron portables come in two widescreen flavors--15.4in and 17in--and eight colors.

Dell today launched its brand new range of consumer laptops. The Dell Inspiron range of portables comes in two widescreen flavors -- 15.4in and 17in -- and eight colors. The eight different chassis tones range from shocking pink, through bright yellow to black.

Dell launched the Inspiron notebooks with a 'fashion show' event in Marbella, Spain. And while the color schemes are certainly arresting, the brightly colored chassis did seem to pick up smudgy fingerprints when we handled them.

Pitched firmly at the consumer, digital-media market, the Dell Inspiron's color scheme is pitched at consumers who want a computer as a media center, workstation and fashion accessory. Although whether anyone would wish to walk around with a laptop that weighs almost 6.6 pounds is difficult to say.

One option for Dell Inspiron purchasers is built-in mobile broadband via Virgin. Users can choose a hard drive of up to 250GB for the Inspiron notebook PCs, which are priced from $1,100. The Dell Inspiron range of laptops includes a choice of Intel Core 2 Duo processors and AMD Turion 64 X2 dual core processors.

802.11g Wi-Fi comes as standard, but Inspiron notebook purchasers can upgrade to draft-N wireless. Users have a choice of Windows Vista Home Basic or Premium. Dell claims an in-use battery life of eight-and-a-half hours for the Inspiron range of laptops.

Each model comes with the option of a Blu-ray Disc drive and biometric fingerprint security. They also include as standard a Wi-Fi scanner, which doesn't require the laptop system to be booted in order to find a wireless connection.

Each Inspiron notebook contains four USB ports and an 8-in-1 media card reader. Optional extras include a 2 megapixel webcam.