Dell opens Design Studio for notebook customization

Dell has announced the opening of the Design Studio, a service for people buying 15- or 17-inch Studio notebooks. The company says it has commissioned over 100 works of original art from a number of different artists, such as Mike Ming, Brittany Waldner and Joseph Amedokpo. These can then be applied to the lid of a system being ordered, at a cost of $75. 52 of the images qualify under (PRODUCT) Red, which donates $20 towards controlling AIDS in Africa.

Dell notes that the art is "tattooed" into each lid, reducing the effect of smudges or fading. Some of the art is also deliberately repetitious however, offering only different color schemes, or different detail from the same work. This reflects the policy it has developed with a number of other notebooks, such as the Inspiron Mini.