Traditionally the company's marketing messages have placed significant emphasis on a personal computer's price as well as its main features, including processor speeds, graphics rendering and capability, disk space and the capacity of the computer's memory. The change in marketing tactics resulted from the slow down of sales in laptops, personal computers and printers as Dell's competitors began to adopt a more aggressive marketing stance in order to increase their overall market share.

Dell recognised that consumers were becoming more and more aware of how their laptop looked, in terms of design and colour and style. Dell also acknowledged that consumers were now spending even more of their recreational time on their laptops, including playing games or watching videos.

Two of Dell's most popular laptop range are the Studio 15 and Inspiron 15.

Studio 15

The marketing behind the new Studio 15 inspires creativity and great connectivity.

The Dell Studio 15 laptop is Hi-def and has 15.6" LED widescreen design, which is multimedia-rich. The laptop is available in a choice of colours and designs, making it easy to personalise to fit your style. With up to Intel® Core™2 Duo processors, it is seen by many as a breakthrough in notebook performance The laptop offers surround sound with sub-woofer and built-in wireless card. Top this off with an optional backlit keyboard, mobile broadband and Blu-ray disc facility and you have a great product.

Inspiron 17

The new Dell Inspiron 17 is a 17.3" widescreen laptop that gives you the everyday features you need, all at a great value. One of the key marketing messages focuses on the entertainment aspects, including 'on the go' capability and HD ready. View your entertainment on the go with the HD, Once again the laptop is available in a wide range of colours allowing great scope for personalising the laptop to suit you.

Gaming laptops

In the gaming market, Dell has received a hugely positive response to its Alienware High Performance Gaming Systems. In particular, marketed as 'ALL POWERFUL - Introducing the new Alienware M17x, the most powerful 17" laptop in the Universe.' the design is dark, exciting and menacing. The laptop offers the ultimate in hi-def mobile gaming and entertainment powerhouse. The M17X has Intel's fastest Quad-Core Extreme mobile processor providing unbelievable performance for gaming and multimedia. The full range can be viewed at Dell's website.

The brainchild of then student Michael Dell in 1984, Dell grew during the 1980s and 1990s to become (for a time) the largest seller of PCs and servers and one of the biggest household names in home computing. In 2008 Dell was knocked off the top spot in computer-sales by thier closest rival in computer manufacturing and supply, Hewlett Packard. The company currently sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals. Dell also sells HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3 players and other electronics built by other manufacturers.