I’m not often wowed by a computer’s design, probably because most of them appear to be designed by people with no sense of style and class whatsoever. The only (relatively) recent examples of decent design that I personally find to have a “wow factor” are Apple’s MacBook Air and the PowerMac Cube from the same company. Yesterday, however, I was wowed again by a product from a company you wouldn’t expect it from: Dell.
After lots of teasers and leaked information, Dell finally took the wraps off its new ultraportable, the Dell Adamo. It’s thinner than the MacBook Air, carved out of a solid block of aluminium (like Apple’s new notebooks), has an edge-to-edge glass display, and a design unlike anything you have ever seen before. Dell really out-Appled Apple with this one, exactly because it didn’t try to copy Apple. The Adamo is the start of a new line of Dell computers under the Adamo by Dell brand.
The Adama Adamo comes in two designs, a silver model (‘pearl’) and a black one (‘onyx’). You have to admit, this is some seriously beautiful stuff:
The Adamo has a 13.4″ 1366×768 (720p) display, an Intel Core 2 Duo at either 1.2ghz or 1.4Ghz, Centrino chipset, 2 or 4GB of DDR3 RAM. The Adamo only comes with a 128GB solid state drive; you can’t opt for a traditional hard drive. It obviously doesn’t come with an optical drive, but Dell does offer similarly styled external hard drives at 250 and 500GB, as well as DVD-RW and Blu Ray drives. It comes with all the wireless stuff, as well as an option for mobile 3G broadband access. Port-wise, it comes with an ethernet port, two USB ports, a combo eSATA/USB port, DisplayPort, and a headphone jack. Oh, and it runs Vista.
With a starting price of 1999 USD or 1899 EUR, the Adamo doesn’t come cheap. Comparisons with the MacBook Air are inevitable, so let’s get them out of the way: the Air has a better processor (Core 2 Duo at either 1.6 or 1.86Ghz) and a much better graphics chipset (the Air has the NVIDIA 9400M, while the Adamo has a Centrino IGP). The Air is also slightly lighter, but the Adamo is thinner and has a better resolution and a 30 minutes longer battery life. Price-wise, the Adamo is actually more expensive than the MacBook Air (1799 USD/1699 EUR vs 1999 USD/1899 EUR), but note that the even the base 1.2Ghz Adamo model comes with the 128GB SSD – an option which raises the price of the MacBook Air to 2499 USD/2299 EUR.
Still, the MacBook Air seems like better value, but the Adamo is much more distinctive and original, and at these price points, that’s a plus.
The specs are virtually identical to Apple’s MacBook Air; Dell has a SSD, Apple has a faster processor… I would have to say that with all else being equal, I would go with Apple one – will cost me $200 less…
With that being said, it is really nice hardware – too bad it is saddled with Windows and all the problems that come with it. Their attempt to compete with Apple is stupid because their basic precept Dell has is that people purchase Mac’s based purely on looks. It is a false precept because the people I know have Mac’s because they had so much problems with Windows and thus they were looking for an alternative.
I’ll purchase this device the day when Dell creates their own operating system which is equal to that of Mac OS X in terms of quality in all areas; until the do that, they’re just another vendor selling over priced flashy laptops that offering no differentiation over other OEM’s besides the look of the hardware.
Selling a computer is the sum of all its parts; if the only thing that differentiates your computer from someone else is looks – then quite frankly, the looks have negligible impact on productivity given that I don’t see many people staring at turned off computer all day – they use the computer; the operation of the computer is of importance, not the looks.
Edited 2009-03-18 20:59 UTC
I couldn’t agree with you more.
In the past I’ve admired some of the Vaio designs. I also spent a lot of money putting together a gaming tower PC. Nothing left me feeling all that satisfied.
In the end I settled on a Macbook. It wasn’t so much the hardware specs or the design, nice as it is. It was the simplicity and responsiveness of OSX that convinced me.
Having used OSX for a couple of years now I can’t really imagine switching back to Windows for home use.
You’re right; if one focused in one one aspect of each laptop – then I’m sure you could admire it for just that. For me, the MacBook gives me the benefits of an operating system that just works without any problems, its not a matter of ‘find the driver’ – where I have to find a second computer to download a network driver to then load onto that computer to then be able to download the rest of the updates and drivers.
Its the culmination each individual positive aspect; some people like the piece meal approach and hey, I’m not going to rain on their parade but I’ve come to the point where I have stopped caring and stopped fixating on one aspect of the hardware and now just want something that works.
really depend on the target though, most OSNews reader aren’t in the target range. I think it more a laptop for businness people, that look for an expensive good enough looking laptop and that is compatible with the lastest trojan.
Of course you can install linux on both laptop, and personally I’m not a fan of Dell ( more a fujitsu fan ), but people have choice and are free to make a stupid one.
There are people here who are quite happy to pay for a Apple Air; the problem with this, it is just yet another PC laptop loaded with Windows with a nice skin. What makes it different enough to justify the high price? heck, my old man has more than enough to purchase something like that but would never do so because there is no reason for it – instead he bought a Dell 13.3 inch laptop for NZ$1800 online.
The battery life is average, the performance is below what I’d expect, and worse, like I said, you’re laden with Windows with all its quirks, so even if you do have wonderful hardware, it will be the operating system that will dictate whether the over all experience for the end user is pleasant or painful.
Meh, I’ve given up on Linux – lets assume for a second that Mac OS X could run on generic PC hardware – I’d run it on a Thinkpad
Its a terrible price for DELL. Especially in Canada! The dell adamo costs 2499$ WOW! The Mac Air setup with the SSD costs 2524$ 25$ more!
For the 25$ I’ll get the faster laptop. Considering that people complained about the performance of the Air. I can only imagine the DELL to be worst.
I wonder what the performance difference of a 1.2 Centrino vs Atom is? At that price I can get half a dozen of Netbooks.
I’d be very surprise to see Dell sell any of these at this price in Canada.
I’ll opt for a MacBook if I want a small portable laptop. Its only 0.5 lbs more than the ADAMO with a far better CPU / Videocard and includes a “Free” DVDRom
Guess Dell is trying to “Overprice” stuff like Apple?
Apple has the largest cache of SSD on-hand. What made you think DELL is financially solvent enough to undercut Apple?
At 1/5th the market value of Apple, DELL’s days of being a chop shop on the cheap are over.
The SSD is debatable, what kind of SSD are they using?
You can buy at tigerdirect Corsair 128 ssd for 330 us. And Apple charges 500$ for it. Which is typical for most companies to over charge for parts. Why doesn’t Dell have an option with no SSD?
Besides (SSD a side), the entire PC itself “SEEMS” to be underpowered for the price value. Slower Process, Slower Memory 800, and Slower Video.
I’d still say that that’s a freaking high price for such a small piece of hardware. Specs aren’t really impressive in my opinion and I don’t think it’s worth the money.
I second that. It’s ridicolous price for that H/W. And that’s valid for Apple too.
In such hard situation for most people, I’m not sure it’s a bold move, expecially when the most active segment is the netbook one (which I wouldn’t buy either, but that’s another story…).
As usual we in Europe get ripped off, because according to Google 1999 U.S. dollars are 1 524.90655 Euros.
It actually happens sometimes, that things that cost X USD in America cost X Euro in Europe (the same number but in Euros)! Are we Europeans all supposed to be richer than the people in the US? Well if that’s so, who has my money??
Just for the record:
1899 Euros = 2 489.3991 U.S. dollars
.
Edited 2009-03-18 22:02 UTC
Apples and Dells.
The US price is excluding taxes, the EU one includes taxes.
The Dell is the a very good Linux machine (KMS etc work great with Intel hardware .. I still prefer AMD, though.)
In Germany you can always tell the Dell people that you don’t want MS Software and you will get a small discount.
Oh, ic.
Taxes! Look at the taxes. US prices are always quoted without sales tax included. EU prices are (almost) always quoted with sales tax included. Given that sales tax in europes is 15-25% the difference isn’t as big as you’re trying to make it out to be.
No sales tax here in Alaska unless you live in a borough which does have tax.
I think Oregon also doesn’t charge sales tax. I don’t live in a place which sucks.
Sorry, but it’s a laptop like any other. And it even looks like they copied a lot from apple.
If i ever have too much money i will let my laptop be designed by H.R. Giger. That wil be a really good looking (and possible unusable) laptop.
>> Intel GMX 4500 <<
it’s like putting a lada motor in a porsche or ferrari …
What I don’t get is Dell is a far biiger and much higher number vendor then Apple to Intel and they let Apple have all the exclusive and first release.
the CPU is alto pathetic, they’re basically 2 years behind on tech with this.
The CPU is OK, same as Lenovo’s X300/301. However, it’s a pound HEAVIER than the MBA and more than double the weight of most netbooks.
For less money you can find a Lenovo X300 with higher screen res (1440×900) an SSD, an optical drive, and a pound lighter. Oh, and the X300 runs Linux well.
Crazy.
Honestly, I’d rather have a $500CDN Dell Mini 12 netbook running Ubuntu than this.
Edited 2009-03-19 00:21 UTC
“Dell really out-Appled Apple with this one, exactly because it didn’t try to copy Apple. ”
How? I can’t see why. What i see is just a ripp off of the design trend at Apple. Aluminum, backlit keyboard, design style, etc…. Even though, they managed to come up with a poorly looking laptop with rough edges, strange overall design with the top of the laptop being separated into the screen part and the rest of the laptop, awkward external patterns.
“It’s thinner than the MacBook Air, carved out of a solid block of aluminium (like Apple’s new notebooks),”
No it is not really thinner than a Macbook Air, because the Macbook Air thickness is not constant. The Adamo is 0.65 inch thick, the MacBook Air is 0.16-0.76 inch thick. Overall, the MBA is therefore thinner.
Dell tries to surf on the last Apple’s laptop trend with a unibody design as it now suddenly claims that it uses the same technic with Adamo. And this is strange that you say it “carved out of a solid block of aluminium (like Apple’s new notebooks)”, but few words later you claim that Dell is not copying Apple! It clearly does!!!!
“The Air is also slightly lighter, but the Adamo is thinner ”
No see above.
“has a better resolution”
Humm!!!! The Adamo has a resolution of 1366×768, the MBA has a resolution of 1280×800, what makes you think that the Adamo configuration is better? You refer to 720p, but the 720p is nothing more than a resolution of 1280×720, hence the MBA is also 720p. However the Adam’s screen is slightly bigger 13.4 inch vs 13.3 inch for the MBA.
“30 minutes longer battery life”
Is this really an argument for the Adamo given that it has much slower processor and much slower graphics than the MBA? Moreover, even the faster MBA will manage better battery life than the Adamo in real world test, as Vista has a poor energy management system compared to OS X.
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3435&p=13
” but the Adamo is much more distinctive and original, and at these price points, that’s a plus.”
More distinctive and original in what? Because Dell removed the windows sticker to hide it somewhere else? Or maybe because Dell sells you poor performance at a premium price? Or maybe because Dell just tries to be an Apple “wanabe” in computer design?
I recommend Dell just to keep selling their usual poorly designed computers and not go to places where they can’t be competitive. With Adamo Dell proves that it does not have any original idea, what we got is simply a design/concept ripp off of the MBA with some awkward design decisions. And the all package ends up being overpriced compared to a MBA which offers far better performance and building quality.
What Dell is trying to do here?
Other notes:
– The external drive looks identical to what Apple proposes with its MBA. Nice work Dell.
– The video commercial is awfully ridiculous. Why is this women smiling stupidly in front of their computer? Here also, Dell tries to copy how Apple does its video commercial to introduce its new products, with people involved in the project talking about it, but the result is quite pathetic.
Edited 2009-03-19 03:17 UTC
I have to ask. In what math is 0.76 a smaller number than 0.65??? Thickness is always measured at the thickest point. So the MacBook Air is 0.76 inches thick, and the Adamo is 0.65 inches thick. So, the Adamo IS thinner.
Both the MacBook Air and the Adamo are too limited to be useful for people such as executives, sales, and engineering. For people who do nothing but documents, then they both would work fine.
Claiming its not thinner because the EDGE is only 0.16 inch thin is silly. The Air tapers in the space of an inch to 0.76 inches. For all purposes its .76 inches. The taper is just there to create the illusion of incredible thinness.
If you compare the taper say on a Dell XPS 13 you will see that it has a constant taper that runs the length of the notebook.
1.2ghz, poor graphics card, Vista, dell crapware, dell support, high price, brilliant.
I think I am going to wait a few months and get a ARM based netbook that can actually hand HD video.
But hey, it looks pretty.
I’ve had two Dell laptops (the Inspiron 1505/6400 and the Latitude XT). The Inspiron’s cheapo case squeaked and flexed each time I picked it up, and the Latitude XT has too many bugs to list (STILL unresolved). The cheapest construction and worst quality I’ve seen since Acer.
I’m looking for a new laptop. But, there seems to be an inverse relationship between Dell’s quality and looks. There is no question in my mind that I will avoid this Dell.
Look on the support forums for Dell — they are rip-off merchants par excellence. I just spent two hours trying to work-around my father’s 962 all-in-one printer, that decided out of the blue that its two ink cartridges were incompatible, and now refuses to print. Whilst searching, I found many other users who have been ripped off by Dell’s obsolesence engineering. Don’t touch ’em.
1.2 GHz
Vista on an SSD
FAIL.
You have to admit, this is some seriously beautiful stuff
It’s a pure matter of taste, and I really don’t know what’s so exciting about it. Also, there have been similar designed machines before.
For me personally, it’s not “wow”, it’s more “rolleyes”…
Edited 2009-03-19 12:39 UTC
Am I the only one that things it’s rather ugly looking?
All I see here are mac fans trying to bring down Dell. Well I will tell you what. Apples are crap. I have had 4 of them in my lifetime, would never own one again. As for the Adamo, lets hope they can keep them out of the shop, the few people I know that have the MacBook air have had so many problems. (waits for the “I have a MacBook Air and I dont have any problems!!” arguments) So you can keep your Mac, I just finished ordering my Adamo and I will let you know how Linux works on it….
If I’d had to choose between a macbook air or this one: I for one would go with this one. At least it’s got 2 usb ports (definitely a plus), it’s got a flat underground, and it’s got an SSD-drive by default.
The processing power is less, that’s true, but I don’t need more than 1.2 GHz. Editing documents and surfing the web is all a MacBook Air or Dell Adamo is made for.
Most people would not need the beauty as a feature to pay for, and to pay for dearly.
I would pay 500$ more for a laptop if it would have instant On/Off; 500$ more if it has 10 hours of playback time; 500$ if it has a bright screen that will be readable under the sunlight; 500$ more if it is rugged or water proof; 500$ if it has 2nd HDD for RIAD1 or for automatic backup of drive 1; 500$ if it has 5 years onsite warranty on hardware; 500$ if it has no BIOS anymore; 500$ if ….
Dell wants to rip money quickly right now from customers to correct its financial problems (68$/share to just 8$)(or market capital 70 Billion to 16 Billion), rather than really innovating somethings good like Apple or IBM do.
Once Dell get the market share they want, they will start dropping all of those nice looking laptops and switching back to commodity laptops (500$ disposables)
Current Dell(Inspiron or Vostro) or HP(Dv line) laptop motherboards are refurbished and they tend to die within the first 1-2 years.
Computer quality and novel features are the things that attracts me and others