Dell's ReGeneration "sustainable computing" competition released its five finalists last week (on Earth Day, if you must know), and reactions are mixed.

With more than 500 entrants from an unspecified number of countries, and an exhaustive list of competition requirements, chances are good that submissions ranged from hard-science to blue-sky, and that maybe some of them didn't look like they were designed by Apple, but you wouldn't really guess it by looking at the finalists.

There's some clever ideation in the featured designs, and the promising concepts of modular recycling and thin-client systems as ways of reducing consumption pop up a couple of times, and for that we applaud both the applicants and the judges. Polling some wonky engineer friends and looking through the frequently exasperated comments, though, it appears that much of what was selected is either too far-fetched to be meaningful (Power Flower PC, anyone?) or little more than a nicely rendered take on a long-established technology.

In any case, the winning design is a matter of public vote, so if you have an opinion, let Dell know, and us too.