Is Dell's overseas Inspiron 13 an answer to Apple's MacBook Pro?

Dell's Inspiron 13 is a fairly ho-hum, inexpensive laptop in the United States, starting at $499 and otherwise playing its cards straight.

But a redesigned version spotted by Engadget in Singapore (of all places) might be an indication of things to come.

In addition to revamped style, the Singapore Inspiron 13 offers beefed up specs such as a thinner and lighter profile, a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 graphics, an LED-backlit 1366 x 768 display, HDMI/VGA out, an ExpressCard/34 slot, and 1394.

With a little exchange rate magic, the system retails for less than $1,000 USD -- lots more than an Inspiron 13 in the U.S., but right at the Apple MacBook pricing point (and, incidentally, Dell's Studio XPS lineup).

Here's an image of the current USA Inspiron 13 to compare to the Singapore version at the top of this post:

Will we ever see this design stateside? Who knows. But in my humble opinion, it's time to shoehorn a little more of that Adamo style into Dell's cheaper laptop models -- beyond screening laptop lids with graphics -- stat.