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Best Buy offers new Blue Label laptops

Best Buy partnered with Toshiba and HP to develop laptops that respond to customer requests.

Michelle Thatcher Former Senior Associate Editor, Laptops
Tech expert Michelle Thatcher grew up surrounded by gadgets and sustained by Tex-Mex cuisine. Life in two major cities--first Chicago, then San Francisco--broadened her culinary horizons beyond meat and cheese, and she's since enjoyed nearly a decade of wining, dining, and cooking up and down the California coast. Though her gadget lust remains, the practicalities of her small kitchen dictate that single-function geegaws never stay around for long.
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Michelle Thatcher
2 min read

If you visited Best Buy's Web site today, you might have noticed the promo for "Blue Label Laptops" at the bottom of the home page. Click on it and you'll be shown two new laptops, the Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 and the HP Pavilion dv3510nr.

The two products are the first developed under Best Buy's new Blue Label program, in which the retailer polls customers to develop a feature wishlist and then partners with manufacturers to develop products that deliver those features. Of course, the resulting products are then available exclusively at Best Buy.

It's a savvy marketing ploy, for sure, but there seems to be some substance behind it. Take, for example, the key criteria for Blue Label laptops: longer battery life, thin and lightweight design, an illuminated keyboard, and better warranty support. Who doesn't want that? And both the Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 and HP Pavilion dv3510nr offer at least 4 hours of battery life, measure less than 1.5 inches thick, weigh less than 5 pounds, include a backlit keyboard, and come with a two-year warranty plus a full year of antivirus protection at no extra charge. Best Buy sweetens the deal by adding 30 days of support from the Geek Squad.

The 14.1-inch Toshiba Satellite E105 and 13.3-inch HP Pavilion dv3510nr are both offered at $1,199; you can preorder the systems online or pick one up at your local Best Buy sometime this month. And expect to see the Blue Label designation expand into other product categories in the future.