Dell's much awaited new notebook called Adamo is out. The company has launched the ultra-portable sleek notebook for road warriors that like a fashionable yet powerful machine. "We wanted something that is thin, elegant and offers quality that beat competitors," John New, Dell's executive for consumer marketing told.
The Adamo is a beautifully designed notebook computer that in its basic model comes with a 1.2 GHz Intel Core2Duo processor, 2 GB memory and 128GB solid state drive. It also offers two USB ports, one USB/eSATA port and a display port. But all of that carries a stiff price tag. The basic version of the Adamo will cost $2000, while a more expensive model costs $2700.
The Adamo has brought more buzz to Dell recently than any of its other products. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January Dell showed a prototype of the machine. The company hired a model to show off the notebook, but did not turn it on, offer any specifications or allow anyone to touch it.
Still it was enough to get bloggers excited about the product. During a hands-on session with the product, New explained to how Dell has pulled out all the stops when it comes to design. The Adamo's scalloped keys on the keyboard make touch typing easier and the sleek polished finish gives it a nice glow, says New.
The notebook also comes with a gloss screen, which can throw off some users because of the reflections in a brightly lit room. The Adamo will be available in two colors: a black onyx and a white Pearl. But unlike Apple's Macbook Air presented with a dramatic flourish by stuffing it into an office manila envelope, Dell's Adamo is a tad bigger.
The Macbook Air is 12.8 inches wide, 8.94 inches deep and has a thicknes of 0.16 to 0.76 inches. In comparison, the Adamo will be 13.03 inches wide, 9.5 inches deep and a uniform 0.65 inches thick. Rather than Apple's Macbook Air, the Adamo is closer to HP's Voodoo Envy 13.3-inch screen laptop in its styling.
What's surprising about the Adamo though is that the laptop is not as light as I had expected. The Adamo weighs four pounds compared to the Macbook Air's three pounds and that extra heft does make itself felt. The idea with the Adamo was not to make the light laptop possible as it was to offer one that would give users the right balance between weight, design and technical specs, says New.
"If it is just about weight, we have ultra thin 2-pounds laptops from the Latitude line," he says. "But we wanted something that would have full size ports and options such as external Blu-ray drive." What's also interesting about Adamo is how Dell is trying to position it as a lifestyle product.
The Adamo comes with some very nice clear plastic box-like packaging. Optional accessories include covers designed by Tumi, a very stylish laptop tote for women and a more rugged laptop bag for me. Dell says there's more to come under the Adamo brand. "The Adamo brand is new to us," says New, "and it is just the first product that will be in this line."