Dell has hit a problem with its colourful laptop range.

According to APC magazine, the release of the colourful lap-tops has been slowed by dust contamination in the paint. Customers have been waiting for weeks for the ultra-thin XPS M1330 machines.

Apparently, the paint coatings worked well when Dell was experimenting with pre-production models, but proved problematic when manufacturing volumes were boosted.

Dell says that only the Tuxedo Black colour was meeting the company's quality control standards and the Crimson Red and Pearl White options are causing big problems.

Earlier this month Dell decided it was just too hard to get an acceptable result on its white notebooks and so has stopped taking orders for them.

More here.