Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show 2009 in Las Vegas, Dell kicked things off with the announcement of a new luxury brand, Adamo, and a new desktop the XPS 625, with performance fueled by AMD's Dragon platform.  It also announced a number of key notebooks to flesh out its large lineup which leads sales in the U.S.

First up is the Dell Inspiron 15, Dell's new answer to consumers seeking a budget laptop.  The notebook features a 15.6" display and a 16:9 aspect ratio (1366 x 768 pixels), handy for playing movies on the go.  The machine weighs approximately 5.8 pounds and is available in blue, black, and red later this month, direct from Dell's website.

The notebooks will be priced at around $600 and will feature Intel's Pentium dual core processor on the low end.  However, you can upgrade this to a Core 2 Duo, with up to 4GB of RAM, and up to 320GB of hard drive space.  An upgrade from Windows Vista Home Basic to Windows Vista Home Premium is also available.  Other new optional features are adding a Blu-ray drive, 1.3-MP webcam, and facial recognition software.  The notebook features a VGA port, 3 USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, and a 7-in-1 flash memory reader.  It lacks HDMI or eSATA connectivity.

Moving from the budget realm to the more costly realm, Dell announced two new XPS studio notebooks, which refresh the series.  Dell announced the new XPS M1640 16" laptop and the XPS M1340 13" models, which are packed with lots of performance in a small package.

The M1640, Dell's first 16" XPS laptop, kicks things off with a technology called RGBLED, which offers one hundred percent of the color gamut (many laptops offer 40 to 60 percent).  The display is 1080p and offers an 8 ms response time, 130-degree viewing angles, and 300 nits of brightness.

The M1640 will feature Intel Core 2 Duo processors, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 graphics (with 512MB of video memory), and up to 4 GB of RAM.  Buyers can pick between three hard drive options:  a 500GB disk drive at 5,400 rpm, a 320GB disk drive at 7,200 rpm, or a 128GB SSD.  All the expected ports are present, with the inclusion of HDMI, DisplayPort, and eSATA connectors.  The notebook features a subwoofer and speakers with 5.1 Dolby Digital output.

The M1340 is lightweight, weighing only 4.9 pounds.  It has Intel Core 2 Duo Processors (a P8400 on the base model), NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics, and otherwise similar options for memory and storage to the M1640.  An upgrade to a discrete NVIDIA GeForce 9500M graphics card is offered.  For users selecting the upgrade, they will be able to easily toggle between the cards, for power savings outside of gaming or other graphically intensive operations.  Users can select between two displays on the M1340 -- a LED-backlit 13.3-inch WXGA panel paired with a 1.3-MP webcam, or a traditional CCFL screen with a sharper 2-MP webcam.

Both the XPS M1340 and M1640 will start at $1,199.  Dell is looking to continue its new focus on design and style by offering glossy black finishes, leather accents, aluminum body work, and backlit keyboards and touchpads on the new models.  While not as colorful as Dell's customizable laptop shells, it has a refined stylish look to it.

All of the new models should be available later this month.