Dell laptops spotted at Best Buy on December 22

In doing some last-minute Christmas shopping this weekend, I was quite surprised to find three Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) laptop computer systems on display at a local Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) location. The Inspiron 1420 and 1421 looked like they had just been unboxed and put on display. No pricing or specification information was on display yet, which was the first clue.

Add that to Dell systems not being located on Best Buy's website and one has to wonder how these found their way to Best Buy shelves so quickly. After all, the power consumer electronics retailer and the comeback PC manufacturer just announced a partnership two weeks ago. Did Dell think that it could somehow boost last-minute Christmas laptop sales by having a few laptops on display?

It's odd to see a major retail partnership announced and almost immediately followed by having new products on shelves -- and especially at the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer. One thing these newer Dell laptop systems had going for them -- they were all finished in a very bright silver color -- in stark contrast to the charcoal and black of most consumer-level laptop PCs being displayed.

Which competitive laptop PC systems were shoved aside for the display of these Dell systems? Hard to say, since there were HP laptop systems not two feet from these new Dell systems. When these are properly displayed and priced, I'll be digging into whether Dell can really compete on the retail shelf when it comes to price (remember, laptop PCs are commodities to most retailer consumers). After just having configured a Dell Inspiron 1420 with the exact options of a HP Pavilion laptop (comparable processors, 14.1" screen, hard drive size and RAM size) available from Best Buy today, Dell's comparable offering -- direct from the Dell website -- was priced over $230 more. That won't fly in the consumer's mind, right? Stay tuned early next year as this becomes more closely watched.