Keen to expand its footprint in the consumer segment, Dell intends to add notebooks that are visually appealing, thinner, lighter, and extend impeccable customer service levels.

It was recurring customer feedback that drove Dell to beautify its laptops and adopt switchable lids for its new Inspiron line of notebooks. The company will launch 10 switchable lids — specifically designed by Dell Design Studio keeping Indian preferences in mind. “These lids are not like computer covers, which make notebooks look bulky. They integrate as laptop front, seamlessly,” says Mahesh Bhalla, executive director and general manager (Consumer & SMB), Dell India. Style aside, the new models will sport Intel’s latest Core i3, i5, and i7 processors, a 13-hour battery life, up to 8GB of memory and will also have Intel Wireless Display that allows to stream video to an HDTV wirelessly.

As per Gartner data, Dell had cornered a 16.7 per cent market share for first quarter of 2011, ahead of HP at 12.1 per cent and Acer at 11.9 per cent. While commercial and SMB business continues to be the backbone of Dell — in company’s fiscal first quarter revenue improved 1 per cent to $15 billion on the strength of its commercial enterprise business — its consumer segment revenue was $3 billion, down 7 per cent, as demand was lower than expected. Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner agrees, “There was a slump in consumer demand in the first quarter, so the market did not grow as expected. Enterprise and small and midsize business (SMB) buying helped the market to achieve growth.” Dell’s revenue from BRIC countries grew 18 per cent, with India up 28 per cent and China up 22 per cent.

Realising that Apple Macbook Air and Sony Vaio series of laptops were redefining notebook thickness, Dell has decided to compete with its XPS 15z laptop. The company claims it is “the thinnest 15-inch PC” and the first in a series of new thin and ultra-powerful products from Dell to come this year. “With the XPS 15z, we want to appeal to mobile professionals, students and small-business owners who are looking for easy-to-carry laptops,” says Bhalla. Besides its slim exterior, the XPS 15z includes NVIDIA discrete graphics with Optimus technology that automatically switches to power-saving integrated graphics under reduced workloads, helping the battery last longer on coast-to-coast flights.

. But consumers aren’t exactly screaming for its products. Dell currently offers just one tablet, the Streak 7, which runs on an aging version of the Android operating system (version 2.2).