I really think Dell dropped the ball with their new line of Inspiron laptops. I think they honestly look ugly. When you view the laptop from the front and you see the middle bottom portion of the laptop, it seems like it has a weird contour. It’s really weird looking. I was reading a comparison between an HP and the Inspiron over at NotebookReview.com and you can easily see the difference between the two.
Now when has that stopped someone from buying something as they prefer form over function? I don’t know but if you watch people the way they buy cars, they don’t immediately go for the Volvo straight away for the safety features now do they?
I think the aesthetics plays a huge role in a buyer’s perspective. I know for a fact that most of the stuff under the hood of the Inspiron is great in many ways (C2D processor, etc.). But their new makeover has me giving the Inspiron second thoughts; although I honestly haven’t a clue who I would invest my money in if I had the opportunity to purchase a new laptop.
I may give their XPS line a try. It’s a tad bit pricier but the look still resembles the older Inspirons that they discontinued.
Why oh why do they play with the looks? Can’t they get some beta testers or leak some pictures or something in order to get some feedback? I think that’s the number one failure for most companies who try to release “new” versions of their products. They don’t test the waters with people before releasing it.
Hi Ryan:
Thanks for your interest and comments on the new Dell notebook designs. We actually do make extensive use of feedback in the design process. We run the color choices through focus groups. We reach out to customers who have agreed to participate in surveys and ask for their thoughts on design aspects. We take feedback and make changes for the next generation of products on any number of details, be it the entire “package” to size of the LCD latch, the position of the USB ports, the feel of the touchpad buttons, etc. For users who include “Style/Design” in their top two purchase criteria, we recommend the XPS line. XPS combines elegant styling with performance features, hence the higher price point. For customers who want to ability to customize the internal technology and features (e.g. AMD or Intel; Integrated graphics or discrete, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile broadband or all three) along with the size / color (14, 15 or 17 inch-display; one of eight colors) we have the truly versatile Inspiron line. We agree with you that aesthetics plays an important role in the purchase of a notebook and rest assured, customers are helping us refine our designs all the time. Keep the feedback coming.