Dell Adamo -- PCMag

Dell Tips Ship Date, Specs of 'Adamo' Notebook - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

The industry was buzzing back in January when Dell leaked word about an Apple Macbook Air killer. The name Adamo, which means "to fall in love with" in Latin, was whispered numerous times at CES 2009, and several journalists, including myself, had the opportunity to lay their hands on it and take it for a spin.

On Tuesday, Dell finally confirmed the Adamo's ship date – March 26 – and disclosed the luxury laptop's official specifications. Dell also proclaimed the Adamo the world's thinnest, surpassing even the MacBook Air.

Designing the Adamo was like rewarding it with select materials that you would expect to find in a fine watch, according to Dell. It's derived from a single piece of aluminum (sounding awfully similar to Apple's much touted manufacturing technique.)

In short, the Adamo is an absolute sight to behold. All around, it measures 0.65 inches thick, which is about a tenth of an inch thinner than the Macbook Air's thickest part (the Air has a sloping design). Its 4-pound frame, however, is significantly heavier than the Macbook Air's (3 lbs) and the Voodoo Envy 133's (3.5 lbs).

There are two colors available: The silver anodized aluminum version is etched with interconnecting shapes, topped off by a pearl finish. The second, onyx black version, has its lid brushed with aluminum. Matching these designs are a full array of external peripherals and a complete line of TUMI designer bags.

To keep the unit as thin as possible, the Adamo is fitted with a protruding strip that forms the back of the unit. On first glance, it looks like an extended battery, but is actually where most of the ports reside. These ports include a DisplayPort, three USB ports (one of which is an E-SATA combo), and an Ethernet port. Like the Air and the Envy 133, an internal optical drive was completely out of the question, although Dell is offering an external DVD burner or Blu-Ray reader option. Wireless options include 802.11n, Bluetooth, and mobile broadband. Since the Adamo is Dell's premium brand, a 128-GB SSD is the only storage option available.

The Adamo is one of the first to use a 13.4-inch glass screen (the edge-to-edge glass screen is a big reason why the Adamo is heavier than its rivals), and is consistent with the latest movement to 16:9 screen formats. Both the Envy 133 and the Air use 13.3-inch widescreens, which are in line with the 16:10 aspect ratio. The resolution, therefore, is 1,366-by-768, and Dell isn't planning on offering a resolution higher than that. A new scalloped keyboard is also on display, and it features full size keys. The big touchpad, like the Apple laptops, has multi-touch gestures built-in.

The Adamo uses a 1.2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9300, an ultra-low voltage processor designed to keep heat down to a minimum. Likewise, integrated graphics is used instead of a discrete graphics chipset, and 2 GB of DDR-3 memory is included. The non-removeable battery is an 8-cell unit, and is rated for 5+ hours of usage, according to Dell. As listed, this configuration is priced at $1,999. Dell will also have a $2,699 configuration, but hasn't disclosed any details. Stay tuned for a full review on the Adamo.