Best Buy has just rolled out a series of products under the moniker “Blue Line,” which are “developed directly from customer feedback,” according to a company press release. The first in the series are two laptops; one from Toshiba — the E105 (seen above) — and one from HP – the Pavilion dv3510nr (seen below).
The whole development process basically works by Best Buy asking a group of customers what they want in a particular product and then relaying that information to certain manufacturers. For instance, laptop customers wanted long battery life, thin and light design, an illuminated keyboard, “more optimal screen size,” and a longer-than-average warranty.
So Best Buy and Toshiba cooked up the $1199 E105, which features a backlit keyboard, 5.5 hours of battery life, 1.2-inches thin, and just under five pounds. It’s got a 14.1-inch display at 1280×800 pixels, which I wouldn’t call optimal. Pop that number up to 1400×900 and we’ll talk. It’s got a two-year warranty, which is a nice addition.
Then there’s the HP Pavilion dv3510nr, which is also priced at $1199 and features a backlit keyboard, four-hour battery life, 13.3-inch display, and weighs 4.6 pounds. It, too, has a two-year warranty.
So, yes, it’s a nice gesture by Best Buy to listen to its customers, although there isn’t anything that’s hugely groundbreaking here besides a couple extended life batteries, warranty extensions, and various other incremental upgrades.