Lately Dell has gone a little artist crazy with new colors and art for many of their models, so it’s not very shocking to see the Inspiron Mini 9 and 12 get into the action. There are five patterns by artist Tristan Eaton, with the same stuff you are familiar with under the hood. These painted Minis will run you an extra $50 over the base price of the regular models, $349 for the Mini 9 and $549 for the Mini 12. I’m sure you can’t contain your excitement.

Dell has a computer for every need and more than one type of computer user can see benefit from the new Intel Core i7 CPUs. The benefit to gamers of a fast CPU is obvious so it makes sense to see the i7 CPU in a gaming rig. However, Dell is also putting the processor into computers not aimed at gamers.

Dell announced a new Studio XPS PC that uses the new Core i7 processors with pricing starting at only $949. At that price you can be the CPU used is the low-end Core i7, but it should still offer good performance.

The PC gaming world is all aflutter over the new Intel platform introduced this week that includes the Intel Core i7 CPU and X58 chipset. Many manufacturers are rolling out gaming and non-gaming machines using the platform.

Dell has announced a XPS gaming rig and a pair of Alienware machines that use the new Intel technology. The two Alienware machines are the Area-51 X-58 and the Area-51 ALX X-58. The Dell machine is the XPS 730x. The two Alienware machines can be optioned with RAID configurations and up to 12GB of RAM.

Dell’s Inspiron Mini 12 is now available in the US as of today. The sleek notebook will aim for it’s market share against the Asus Eee PC S101, in a two notebook’s enter one notebook leaves kind of Thunderdome fight. Both feature 12″ screens and have that same sleek look. You can choose from two versions: A $549 model powered by an Intel Atom 1.33GHz processor, with 1GB RAM, a 40GB hard drive and Windows Vista Home Basic. If you need more power, the faster 1.6GHz processor with a 60GB hard drive and 6-cell battery is your other option.

Those familiar with the different offerings from various electronics makers in the (PRODUCT) RED line will know that the idea behind the products is to get consumers to buy the items and the maker of the gear donates money to help fight AIDS in Africa. Typically the product themselves are differentiated by red color.

Dell has introduced some new (PRODUCT) RED laptops that use artwork rather than simply being red. The laptops in question are run of the mill Dell Studio 15 and 17 machines. Prices for the rigs start at $649 for the Studio 15 and $799 for the Studio 17.

Dell just released two more wide-aspect LCD displays, the 22″ S2209W and the 23″ S2309W. Both reduce the 16:9 aspect ratio without compromising resolution. Shared features on these guys include, Full 1080p resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 5ms pixel response time, DVI with HDCP encryption support and VGA support. The S2209W runs on a lower-cost twisted nematic panel and the S2309W doesn’t. The Dell S2209W will cost you $239, while the S2309W is a bit more expensive at $299.

Dell wants a piece of the smartphone market and is geared up to release their own, the Pharos Traveller 117 and 127. The info comes from a leak on their website. These phones will be manufactured by Inventec and feature a 2-megapixel camera as well as a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling.

The Traveller 127 will feature a QWERTY keyboard while the 117 will be a touchscreen device. Both models will feature fast connectivity at 7.2Mbps HSDPA networks, assisted GPS capabilities and Windows Mobile 6.1 with the Microsoft Office Mobile suite. The Dell Pharos Traveller series will feature a talktime of four hours, and 200 hours of standby. Obviously prices are unknown at this date.

While it seems that many users are trading in their desktops for powerful laptops, Dell releases a new range of OptiPlex machines, with the OptiPlex 960 sporting a front grill that helps keep everything running cool within. Under the hood it features the latest Intel hardware that is said to be 43% more power efficient compared to the previous generation. Prices for these desktops start at $892 upwards. Some basic specs include an Intel Core 2 Duo 3GHz processor, 1GB RAM, an 80GB hard drive and Intel’s GMA 4500 graphics chipset. Dell is also rolling out a thin-client desktop, the OptiPlex 760 that runs on an Intel Celeron 2GHz processor, for a lower price starting at $630.

Dell just officially announced a new member of the Inspiron Mini family, the Inspiron Mini 12. This is either a 1.3GHz Atom Z520 or 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor, up to an 80GB drive, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth / WiFi, Windows Vista Home Basic, Webcam and a 12-inch, 1280 x 800 display. The whole deal weighs just 2.72-pounds and is less than one inch thick. Don’t get too excited just yet. It’s Japan-only for the moment, but late next month it will land in the States with a starting price under $600. At that price with it’s performance, it may just be able to snag sales from the Envy 133 and MacBook Air.

When customizing your PC at Dell, you can now click on a $19 option called “Iron Man movie with bonus content?” Say what? We love Iron Man, but surely it’s full of evil DRM. It’s what Dell’s Global Consumer Group Director is calling Dell’s “slow immersion into content as a major piece of the puzzle in terms of what consumers want from a PC.”

The flick can be had on the Inspiron, Studio, or XPS laptop or desktop, playable on that machine or your choice of Windows Media Extender. Dell will soon offer more movie preloads and eventually a whole iTunes type of download store. The move is a gutsy one and could let them get to customers first, before Apple. Customers getting movies when they purchase their PC should give them an advantage.

If you have ever worked with your laptop on an airplane, bus or in another crowded area you have probably glanced up to see someone nearby looking at whatever you are working on. This may not be a big deal if you are sitting at Starbucks writing, we all know you have to be seen writing to be a writer. However, if you are working on something confidential, nosey people can be a big problem.

Dell has addressed this problem for users of its Latitude E6400 notebook. Dell has announced that it is now offering software with the notebooks that reduces the viewing angles of the screen to keep people from the side from being able to read what is on the screen.

After the success of the Studio Hybrid mini PC, Dell today launched two new entries to the Studio line of desktops. The Studio Desktop and slimmer Studio Slim Desktop. Starting at $549, systems start out with 2.53GHz Core2Duo processors, 2GB of RAM and integrated graphics, but include HDMI out and are ready for Blu-ray. You have to hand it to Dell, at 4 inches tall on its side, a Studio Slim isn’t going to annoy you. You can order one today, but systems are listed as shipping only in early October.

Dell Studio’s 15″ and 17″ laptops have been worked over with Mike Ming’s abstract art, with new designs like “Red Swirl,” “Seaweed,” and “Sunburst,”. They previously released “Bunch O Surfers” and “Sea Sky.” Each piece of artwork is all about the vibrancy of individual colors and brushstrokes. They hope it will make a fashion statement in an otherwise boring world of somewhat plain devices. In other words, your laptop will be louder, colorwise. They are priced from $799 and up, depending on configuration.

Text chatting with friends and family around the world is a nice way to stay in touch, without racking up huge phone bills doing it. Typing isn’t as enjoyable as talking for most people and if you can actually see your friends or family when talking to them it is even better.

Yesterday Dell announced a new Studio series of notebooks and the notebooks are also bundled with a new video chat application called Dell Video Chat that is powered by SightSpeed. As you might guess from the name the application allows you to talk to people and see their faces as you talk using your Internet connection and a webcam.

At the All Things D conference, Gizmodo’s Brian Lam ran into Michael Dell and learned about a new prototype laptop that, until then was all very hush hush. It’s got a bright red candy shell, with the body being similar to an Asus Eee PC.

So those in the market for an Eee PC might want to sit back and wait a bit as it’s about to enter the sub-$500 mini-laptop world. It’s just pics at the moment, but specs will be coming soon. The pics do reveal three USB ports, a card reader, VGA out, and Ethernet.