Dell Adamo Unveiled
Today Dell officially confirmed that they will be releasing a new ultrathin laptop called the Adamo. The Adamo is a sleek laptop with an aluminum chassis, with a strikingly similar appearance the HP Voodoo Envy 133. Dell has not revealed any final specifications, and we are unable to discuss what we saw in the current version, but we did get a chance to handle and use the current Adamo prototype.
Dell has been rumored to be working on the Adamo for a while now, and they've been refining the design during that time. Since the launch of Apple's new MacBook lineup, a lot of people have been impressed by the quality of the aluminum construction, and the Adamo we used definitely looks and feels like a high quality notebook. As a side note, we asked about the possibility of using this sort of chassis Dell's other notebooks. Dell indicated that the amount of time and energy required to produce such a chassis is simply too long to do on a mass scale (not to mention the cost), so it will likely remain in smaller volume products. Dell simply ships far too many laptops to be able to produce that many chassis in a timely fashion.
Dell was kind enough to let us take some photographs of the current Adamo prototype; again, keep in mind that things could change slightly before the product actually ships. The current plans are for two base models, one black and the other white/silver. While they both look incredibly stylish, we have to admit that we are partial to the white notebook, since Black has a nasty habit of showing every single fingerprint/smudge, even with a brushed aluminum surface.
While this appears to be an upper end product, Dell has always done exceptionally well in the realm of mass production, so there's a reasonable chance that the Adamo could end up being more affordable than the competition. We hope so, as there's a lot of demand for a light ultrathin notebook that can still pack more power than the current netbooks. Final pricing and details will have to wait until Dell is closer to shipping the Adamo, which should be sometime later this spring.
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Thanatus - Friday, February 27, 2009 - link
It would be interesting to see how this will stack up against the Voodoo Envy, which it appears to be competing with.This looks like superb Industrial Design. Too bad us commoners can't easily enjoy such refinement.
I'll continue drooling in vain.
Anonymous Freak - Monday, January 12, 2009 - link
For those who are curious, here are the ports, from left to right:Ethernet; combo eSATA/USB (Dell has these on some of their newer laptops, and a few "white-box" Quanta laptops have them as well;) USB; USB; DisplayPort.
The combo eSATA/USB port is made so that one side of the center bar has the eSATA pins, and the other side has the USB pins. For each connector, the 'shell' makes contact with all of the other connector's pins; which the system then takes as a signal to ignore that connection. The port is keyed in such a way that you can't plug either connector backwards.
Here's a close-up picture:: http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/images/Notebook/Asus/M...">http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/images/Notebook/Asus/M...
araczynski - Monday, January 12, 2009 - link
sounds like dell's saying: expect to pay a premium for less performance, we want to be like apple.Anonymous Freak - Monday, January 12, 2009 - link
Indeed.He also takes a jab at Apple with his "not worth it for high-volume" crack.
Which is funny since the MacBook is the number one selling individual notebook model from ANYONE. (Yeah, Dell sells more overall, but for a single model, Apple wins.)
Scott66 - Sunday, January 11, 2009 - link
With the way Dell developed the screen, I see why they stuck the ports on the back but this is a mistake. Within a month or two people will have bent USB drives or power connectors because they will tilt the laptop to reach a jump drive and bend whatever is connected back there. Apple learned its lesson a long time back and developed a much better hinge design to allow for side placement of all connectors and ports.AnnonymousCoward - Saturday, January 10, 2009 - link
This thing will probably be way more expensive than their other notebooks, so I'll never buy one. Plus, I don't like 13" since I'd rather have a 10" netbook or a 15.4".Totally - Friday, January 9, 2009 - link
Is this Atom powered or not, that's all i want to know.- Saturday, January 10, 2009 - link
As was already mentioned, this will not be Atom powered. This is a premium ultra-light notebook. As with the MBA, VooDoo Envy and the others in this new premium category, it will most likely use Intel's Small Form Factor (SFF) C2D chips. The prices are for the 1.6Ghz and 1.8Ghz are $284 and $316 in lots of 1000, respectively.kondor999 - Friday, January 9, 2009 - link
I'm much more impressed with the die-cast magnesium chassis of my XPS M1730 than this. The material was so light that I thought it was plastic. It also helps dissipate heat better - but mainly it's just cool.Anyway - just thought I'd mention that Dell does already make a notebook (if you can call the M1730 that) with exotic materials.
sxr7171 - Sunday, January 11, 2009 - link
The Latitude line has been using magnesium alloy in some of the lineup for years. Check the Latitude E4200. Weighs 2.2lbs. Costs $2500.