Dell Brings Dock, Color to New Laptops

Lonnie Lazar ()

dell_dock_sm.jpg

Dell is launching a new mid-range line of portable computers called Studio Laptops with a Mac-like “Dock” designed to give Vista users an illusion of the OS X experience.

Studio Laptops’ desktop GUI takes Windows’ traditional application icon layout and organizes it into a “Dock” similar to the one familiar to Mac users, though questions remain as to whether users will be able to customize the Dock layout and place it on either side or at the bottom of the desktop.

In an additional concession to the proposition that Apple may be winning the OS war, Dell will offer cases in seven colors, a significant change to the company’s predominantly industrial look.

DON'T MISS
Dell VP Says: Have it Steve Jobs’ Way or Your Way

Gizmodo has nice before and after screenshots of the desktop.

9 comments »

About the author

Lonnie Lazar

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)| Read more posts by .

Posted in Desktop Pictures, News, Quickies |

  • JCK

    Yuck. Looks disgusting!

  • C Rolls

    What do they plan to call this line? The InspironXPSGLX-83589XXXL? If there’s one thing that irks me about PC marketing is that they never think of the consumer’s experience (For example, I doubt many consumers could even think of the name of their PC model).

    Haven’t they tried selling cases in different colors recently? I guess they keep forgetting that color is just one element of overall design.

    As for the dock feature, I’m not surprised. It only took them like 7 years to get it.

  • http://differentcomputers.com different computers

    can’t polish a turd.

  • http://cultofmac.com Lonnie Lazar

    Dell is calling the line “Studio” and they come in 15″ and 17″ flavors.

  • http://www.direct2dell.com Lionel Menchaca

    Lonnie:

    Thanks for blogging about it. We’ve been shipping colors on Consumer laptops for about a year. We’re adding more color options with the Studio Line.

    The dock.. no question it was a good idea. Kudos to Apple for that.

    Thanks,

    Lionel Menchaca
    http://www.direct2dell.com

  • Fr. Ignatius

    It looks like someone at Dell saw RocketDock (a free software program) and is using a similar idea for their computers. I am a Mac, but whenever I have to setup a PC, I usually include RocketDock. It makes things more intuitive (like a Mac).

  • http://biblebasics.wordpress.com mlc

    already done: http://rocketdock.com/

    free download of the “best software ever written” apparently.

  • http://www.gearsandwidgets.com/ phoenix

    Yeah – I’m gonna go with the folks who see the uncanny parallel between this and RocketDock. Frankly, since RocketDock is free, its likely that Dell just snagged a copy and started adding it to its OEM images.

  • bob

    Actually, it’s similar to Stardock’s Objectdock (which is free), because Stardock developed the software for Dell.