It appears that the computer industry is emulating the apparel industry, and trying to make your choice of a new laptop or netbook a fashion statement by offering a wide variety of case colors and patterns. Dell, Sony, and now Samsung have all jumped on the fashionable case design bandwagon.
Yesterday, Samsung announced that its popular N150 netbook will now be available in Flamingo Pink, Caribbean Yellow, and Bermuda Blue. These tropical choices come at a premium of $10 over the current price tag of $329 - pretty reasonable for a netbook with a 1.66 GHz Intel processor, plenty of hard drive and seven hours battery life.
Sony has offered fashion choices in case design for quite some time, and even organizes them into "Collections", such as the Signature Spring 2010 Collection. Colors such as Crystal Rain White, Glossy Carbon Fiber, and Caribbean Green form part of this collection, arrayed in a Dior-like manner on the company website.
Not to be outdone, Dell offers its popular Studio model laptop in five colors with a selection of over 200 designs to choose from.
When mobile phones crossed the chasm from the realm of working professionals to teens, they morphed into fully personalizable fashion statements as well as being functional phones. It appears that laptops and netbooks are following suit, as more and more young teens use them for surfing, Facebooking, and just about everything besides homework (although some homework gets done...)
One advantage of this new trend is that there will be no more mistaking your machine for someone else's at Starbucks - it will be distinctive, and truly yours.
