Many people have contacted me and asked about pink laptops under $500, so I thought we’d do a little overview of which companies offer them, and what you can get for under $500. First out is Dell, who do have quite a few in that price range, and on a few, you’re even able to add some upgrades and still stay within budget.

Here’s the list:

Inspiron Mini 10 (1012) – $299.99 and up
This mini laptop comes in several different configurations, ranging in price from $299.99 to $449.99, but not all are offered in pink. The ones that do cost between $309.99 and $409.99, but you have to add $40 to the price for pink, so the price range for pink Mini 10s is really 349.99 to $449.99.

On a few of them, you also have the option to select a different look from Dell’s Design Studio for $85.00 extra, so if you want a “swirly pink” instead of the standard solid one, you’ll end up with a base price of $434.99 – $494.99. How about other upgrades? There are none (for hardware).

Inspiron 11z – $349.99
Same thing for this one – it starts at $349.99, with an additional $40 for pink resulting in a price of $389.99. But if you want to spend up to $500, you can add a few performance-boosters without going over budget. For an extra $75, you can either upgrade the processor from a Celeron to a Pentium, or the hard drive from a 5,400 rpm 160GB SATA to a 5,400 rpm 320GB SATA, putting you at a price of $464.99. If you prefer to add more RAM, you can almost stay within budget. If you keep the Celeron processor and 160GB HD and instead upgrade from 2 to 4GB or RAM, you end up at $509.99.

Inspiron 15 (1545) – $379.99
This midsize laptop starts at $379.99 + $40 for pink = $419.99. There are a few upgrades that will keep the price under $500: upgrading the RAM from 2 to 3GB is an extra $45.00 (=$464.99); upgrading the hard drive from 250 to 320GB is $25 (=$444.99), and 500GB is $45 (=$489.99). You could also upgrade the battery to a 6-cell for $40 extra (=$459.99).

Inspiron 14 – $449.99
Starting out at $449.00 with an additional $40 for pink (=$489.99), the price for this laptop does not leave a whole lot of room for upgrades, so you’d have to stay with the basic configuration on this one

Inspiron 15R – $449.99
One of the newest laptops from Dell (read our review in the “Dell’s Latest Pink Laptop – The Inspiron R” post), the 15R is priced exactly like as the 14 – $449.99 + $40 for pink = $489.99, so no room for upgrades.

Inspiron 17 (1750) – $449.99
Same thing here – $489.99 in pink.

So these last three are exactly the same price, but how do they differ? Here are the specs:

Processor – Inspiron 14 & 17: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4500 (2.3GHz/800MHz FSB/1MB cache)
Processor – Inspiron 15R: 2010 Intel Pentium P6000 1.86GHz (2 Threads, 3M cache)

Operating System – All 3: Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit

Graphics -14: Intel GMA 4500MHD
Graphics -15R: Standard Intel HD Graphics
Graphics -17: Intel GMA X4500HD

RAM – 14 & 17: 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
RAM – 15R: 2GB Shared Single Channel DDR3

Hard drive – All 3: 250GB SATA, 5400rpm

Battery – 14 & 17: 4-cell Li-Ion
Battery – 15R: 6-cell Li-Ion

Screen – 14: 14.0″ High Definition (720p) LED Display
Screen – 15R: 15.6″ High Definition (720p) LED Display
Screen – 17: 17.3″ HD+ WLED

Size – 14: 13.3×9.4×1″
Size – 15R: 14.8×10.31×1.25″
Size – 17: 16.4×10.9×1.2″

Weight – 14: 4.96 lbs
Weight – 15R: 5.83 lbs
Weight – 17: 6.8 lbs

Gone are the days when computers only came in dull gray or black. These days, we can all match our computer to our outfit with the addition of colorful laptops. Pink laptops in particular are quickly gaining popularity among women (and even a few men). It comes as no surprise; who wouldn’t rather be showing off a shiny pink laptop computer at their local cafe rather than the run-of-the-mill black or gray one.

So who sells pink laptops? Many of the large computer companies – Dell, Samsung, Asus, Sony to name a few – now offer them in various shades of pink.

This past spring, Dell added several color options to their sleek, high-performance XPS M1330 and M1530. The addition of color was a good idea; they have proven incredibly popular and everyone from customers to reviewers raves about them. The XPS M1330 received 37 awards in 2007; PC World named it their “Winner of Best Buy” and it got “Winner of the A-List” from PC Authority.

What if you have your eye on a particular laptop and it (gasp) is not offered in pink? (hello, Apple fans!) No worries, there are companies that will customize the color for you. Gen-X-PC for example will match any PMS (Pantone) or Hex color and you get a choice of 4 different finishes – solid, metallic, pearl or color shift. They can also add a custom design if you want your notebook to stand out even more.

Colorware, Inc. takes it a step further and offers customized color on a variety of devices in addition to laptops, such as mice, iPods, iPhones, Blackberries, gaming consoles and even HDTV screens! You can buy your laptop (or iPod, iPhone, etc.) directly from them or send in one you already own for customization.

For the most splurge-worthy design, the Tulip Ego laptop made by the Dutch company Ego Lifestyle gets my vote. With rounded corners and a chrome handle that makes it look more like a purse than a computer, it is absolutely stunning. And the colors! Wow! It comes in a ton of designer fabrics and finishes (which can be changed whenever you want) that make you want to throw caution to the wind and slap down that credit card. Just check out the fuchsia “Goddess” and the pale pink “Zephyr” from their Exotic collection, or “Destiny” from the Design collection. Prices range from $5,000 for the basic leather design, to over $300,000 for the diamond-encrusted edition…

Whether you decide to buy one of these new stylish pink laptops or customize the one you already own, you can be sure that your notebook will make you stand out from the crowd.