I'm no enemy of cuteness. And I'm no enemy to Hello Kitty. How could anyone hate Hello Kitty? She's adorable: an anthropomorphic cat with blank, staring eyes and a cute pink bow on her head who has forged a multi-billion dollar empire based upon people's pathological obsession with saying hello to her. There is nothing wrong with slapping Hello Kitty on laptops and cell phones: consumer electronics can be cute too. But there's a point where cuteness becomes cretinous, and that's exactly the point where you're willing to pay nearly a grand and a half for what amounts to a Hello Kitty sticker affixed to a wimpy, wheezy, ugly and underpowered laptop.

Coming in May, the Epson and Sanrio are teaming up to release the Endeavor NJ2100: a pearl white machine sporting a 15.4-inch WXGA display, a 1.86GHz Intel Celeron processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, an 80GB hard drive, a 3-in-1 multicard reader, gigabit Ethernet / WiFi and Windows Vista Home. Battery life? Who needs it! You'll practically be able to hold your breath longer: it's being specced at one hour. The street price is an astonishing ¥147,000 (roughly $1,409).

Yeesh. That's a hell of a premium to pay for a crappy laptop with a fifty-cent sticker slapped on the back. For group home man-children only.

Epson, Sanrio team up for two more Hello Kitty laptop designs [Engadget]