Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc., listens to a Dr. Evil character at Dell's keynote address at the 2007 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, Nevada January 9, 2007.

Dell Inc. announced nine new Inspiron desktops and notebooks and an XPS M1330 notebook, all available in a choice of eight shell colors, media reported Wednesday.

The new Inspiron notebooks cost 749 U.S. dollars for the model 1521 to 999 dollars for the model 1720, with a choice of processors from Intel Corp. or Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD). The Inspiron 1420 comes with an additional choice of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista or the Ubuntu Linux operating system, for 799 dollars.

"The Dell of today is vastly different from the Dell of six months ago or even last week," said Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of Dell's consumer product group. "We're here at Macy's in New York City. That alone is different for Dell, being in a department store or any kind of retail setting at all."

In an effort to bolster its sliding market share and quarterly profits, Dell began selling certain PC models at Wal-Mart retail stores on June 10, marking the first time it had strayed from the direct sales model. Dell rose to prominence by cutting its costs through eliminating retail middlemen and selling its PCs only through its Web site, phone lines and catalogs.

"This is really just a hint of what we're doing to get these exciting new products into customers' hands," Gruzen said. "We have a broader retail strategy and over the coming months we will announce more partnerships, both with Wal-Mart and with other retailers."

Dell emphasized those increased choices with its color options for each PC, including pink, yellow, green, red and blue, as well as standard white and black. An increasing number of PC vendors will soon begin to follow that pattern, trying to differentiate themselves with flashy style and design instead of solely through technical details like processing power, according to a report released this week by Forrester Research Inc.

"The consumer PC industry is entering the Age of Style, a time in which radical form factor innovations, increased aesthetic diversity, and consumer choice and personalization will determine which models, and which PC vendors, win or lose," Forrester analyst J.P. Gownder said.

Source:Xinhua/Agencies