NVous Unveils Another High-Tech Piece of Art

Personalizing gadgets with Swarovski crystals was very 2005, so companies began offering more color options in 2006, but that wasn't enough to satisfy the geek chic. This year the personalization trend has taken a rather interesting turn as gadget makers hire budding artists to produce original artwork for their wares. Sony enlisted the help of Maya Hayuk to dress up the Sony VAIO FZ series, and Sony Japan called on Hajime Yoshio, Ryuji Otani, and ZAnPon to decorate the NW-A808 Walkman and Sony VAIO.

Microsoft, on the other hand, hired 18 international emerging artists to customize the back of its Zune players. Through Zune Originals, customers have the option of having one of the 27 designs laser-etched onto the back of their new Zune at no extra charge. The company began offering this customization service on the Zune 4 and 8, and just recently extended it to those buying the hard-to-find 80GB Zune.

But attracting customers with original pieces of high-tech art is not reserved for big corporations only. NVousPC commissioned pop painter Romero Britto to custom paint one of its high-end systems currently being exhibited in the artist's Miami Beach gallery. Under the colorful design called "Mia's Jungle" lies a system with a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo chipset, 2GB of RAM, and 160GB hard drive that may someday be available in greater quantities. It's a very unique-looking laptop that's a little too busy for my taste, but I can see this type of artwork appealing to a younger crowd. Pricing is not mentioned on the site which can only mean on thing: we may not be able to afford it.