Hello Kitty Laptop

Japan's cutest cat in glittering crystal decorates NEC Corp.'s new pink laptop in the Japanese electronics maker's latest effort to woo working women.

The La Vie G Hello Kitty model, available for $1,650 by Internet order only in Japan, went on sale Wednesday, and has gotten off to a good start, company spokesman Shinya Hashizume said Thursday, while declining to give numbers.

The laptop, developed in collaboration with Sanrio Co., the Tokyo-based company behind Hello Kitty, uses 299 Swarovski crystals to depict four hearts and the bubbly feline head wearing a pink bow and crown.

NEC is hoping to sell several hundred of the Hello Kitty laptops in the next few months, targeting the summertime when Japanese workers receive their twice-a-year bonuses, Hashizume said.

The laptop, which comes with the Windows Vista operating system, 100-gigabyte hard disk drive and 1 gigabyte of memory, is being advertised as a laptop that's "dazzling and gorgeous like a jewelry box."

Hello Kitty has been popular for years with children and young women, but the cat has begun to appear on electronic gadgets, guitars and expensive jewelry.

There's even a Hello Kitty Barbie, who wears a belt, necklace and jacket with the image of the celebrity mouthless cat.