RSSBest Buy launches collectively customized 'Blue Label' laptops
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published October 9, 2008, 3:45 PM
How would you describe your 'ideal laptop'? Starting with new Toshiba and HP models, Best Buy is now offering an exclusive line of CE products -- based on people's answers to questions like these -- under its new 'Blue Label" program.
Retail giant Best Buy has rolled out new Toshiba and HP laptops as the first results of Blue Label, a new effort to work with computer vendors on building products that directly reflect consumers' wishes.
Geared to second- and third-time laptop buyers, the two new notebooks were created in response to the answers people gave when asked to describe their "ideal laptop."
Under questioning by Best Buy, consumers said they wanted a machine with longer battery life, a thin and lightweight design, a better screen size, an illuminated keyboard, and improved warranty support.
The first two notebooks in Best Buy's Blue Label series -- the HP Pavilion dv3510nr and Toshiba Satellite E-105-S1402 -- are each outfitted with backlit keypads and exterior designs. Each is less than 1.5 inches thick, weighing in at under five pounds.
More precisely, at 4.6 pounds, the Pavilion is less than 1.4-inches thick. Equipped with a 13.3-inch LED screen, it provides up to four hours of battery life from a single charge.
The Satellite is a little heavier, at 4.9 pounds. But the Satellite has a longer battery life of 5.5 hours, and a bigger screen size of 14.1-inches. The Satellite is thinner, too, at 1.2-inches.
Each laptop is priced at $1,199. By purchasing either one, you get a two-year warranty at no additional charge, along with 30 days of free support from Best Buy's Geek Squad. The laptops were expected in be available in Best Buy stores this week.
As a retailer, Best Buy's program can't be directly equated with the old individual build-to-order model pioneered by Dell and Gateway for desktop PCs. In a more collective sense, though, Best Buy's customers have helped the retailer and the two computer makers create a specification for the production of custom laptops. This level of customer focus is something which Circuit City -- the closest rival in an increasingly Best Buy-dominated field -- is still struggling hard to reach.
During a conference call with financial analysts last month, Circuit City Executive VP and CFO Bruce H. Besanko said that his company will now put more emphasis on "improving the customer experience," in the wake of a $162.7 million loss for the second fiscal quarter (according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha).
Furthermore, the fact that the Blue Label products will be sold exclusively by Best Buy should give the giant yet another competitive advantage in fending off Circuit City and other smaller retailers. In a statement, Best Buy said it will expand Blue Label beyond laptops to other product categories in the future, while continuing to "incorporate customer feedback into the design process."
If they had surveyed me, I would have added "free" to the list. :) I'm kinda surprised that apparently no one said that. Or maybe someone did jokingly and it was not recorded.
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|I wonder if there is any choice on OS or you have to take Vista, despite the fact that no one wants it.
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|despite the fact that no one wants it.
Really....go back to Slashdot, will ya?
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|Can you prove that every single person on Earth (including anyone at Microsoft) does not want Vista?
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|And all this coming just in time for nobody to care. Tell me that they'll sell them for $400 (same specs) and I'll be interested.
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|Yeah, well .... they specs still fall WAY behind my Macbook Pro, except on price. Thank you very much, but I'll pay the higher price for the Apple solution WITHOUT the compromise of these 'wannabe' Windows machines.
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|Your such a Fanboy.
If the market research had come back that the consumer wanted a MBP don't you think that BestBuy would have worked with Apple to come up with model based on that? \
Oh.....right....Apple prefers to force overpriced, canned products down the throat of their consumers who are such lemmings in leading the way of being trendy and "fighting the big bad man," that they don't even realize they've been dupped into overpaying for lack of choice and quality by Apples marketing department.
Why would Apple need to work with a retailer, to design a product that is based on market research? I mean they control thier consumers minds so much that they'll do as the mothership tells them to do.
All hail the iPod nation.
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|Let's see:
HP has a LED HD screen and Apple has LED but not HD output
HP has HDMI output and Apple has DVI
HP has Biometric fingerprint reader and Apple doesn't
HP has ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection (saves the content on the HD when dropped) Apple doesn't
HP has LightScribe DVD/CD W/R Apple doesn't
HP's memory is expandable to a total of 8GB Apple only to 4GB
HP has digital media card reader and Apple doesn't
HP has Bluetooth-Enabled and Apple doesn't
HP has 512MB (dedicated)and up to 2302MB total available graphics memory apple has 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
HP has eSata output and Apple doesn't
HP has 2 year warranty with 1 year of telephone support (90 days for Apple), HP includes email and chat support for the life of the computer Apple doesn't
I think I just proved that HP is WAY ahead on price, support and product. And, BTW there are more copies of Vista being sold then OS X.
I bought an IPhone last week and I have had it crash 6 times in the first week. I past my HP WinMobile phone onto my son when I bought the IPhone and I NEVER had a crash with it the entire time I owned it.
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|Wow. Those look pretty good at a reasonable price. I wonder what other products they have coming... A phone with everything would nice.
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|It's "blue label" because you will look blue when you are done with it.
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