Dell's Best Buy Move Misses Holiday Cheer

"We've heard our customers loud and clear," says Kaufman. "They want to look and feel some of these notebooks before they buy them."

And Dell is ramping up the marketing machine: the company has signed up celebrities including ultimate brawler Chuck Liddell, rapper Ice-T and actor Burt Reynolds for a recently launched promotional campaign.

But given that a partnership with Best Buy was in the works, it seems odd that Dell couldn't get the deal done in time for the holidays -- surely, they have calendars in Texas.

Dell's Kaufman says the Best Buy agreement actually came together earlier than the company had planned. He suggests that Dell will be able to cater to disappointed gift recipients who visit Best Buy stores after the holidays in search of the laptop they never received.

Despite the curious timing, the Best Buy deal underscores Dell's push to redouble its consumer efforts by reaching out to various types of buyers.

The products sold at Best Buy will include the company's high-end XPS line of PCs as well as its Inspiron notebooks, which should carry some decent average selling prices. That will complement the more affordably priced selection at Wal-Mart(WMT) and Dell's sales to small business and home office users through Staples(SPLS).

Shares of Dell were up 1.3%, or 33 cents, at $24.64 in recent trading Thursday.

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