Dell’s Thin and Stylish Adamo Notebook Takes on the MacBook Air

Computer maker Dell has taken the wraps of its new Adamo notebook, which the company is claiming to be the world’s thinnest notebook, measuring just 0.65 inches at its thickest. It’s also the first member of the company’s new high-style Adamo by Dell brand, which Dell hopes will "disrupt people’s perceptions" of personal computing, and incidentally, horn in on Apple’s cache for offering high-style, elegantly designed computers.

"Great design needs to be timeless and evoke emotion in people", said Dell’s senior VP for consumer products Alex Gruzen, in a statement. "While a premium computing experience was assumed for Adamo, the intent was for people to see, touch, and explore Adamo and be rewarded by the select materials and craftsmanship you would expect in a fine watch."

The Adamo notebook features a "unibody" case that’s a single piece of milled aluminum (sound familiar?), a 13.4-inch edge-to-edge glass display, and a scalloped backlit keyboard. The system supposedly offers cool and quiet operation with solid state hard drive options, a full range of wireless connectivity features, and a preliminary battery life estimate of five hours of usage on a single charge. The notebook also features a magnetic cover that conveniently puts required licensing stickers out of sight (but one wonders how long until users misplace the covers). At four pounds, the Adamo also comes in a full pound heavier than Apple’s MacBook Air.

Part of the Adamo’s slim figure and lightweight design comes from Dell externalizing a number of components—just like Apple did with the MacBook Air. Need an DVD or Blu-ray drive? That’s available as an external option. Similarly, Dell is offering additional external hard drive storage.

Under the hood, the Adamo starts out with an Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 processor running at 1.2GHz, 2GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD drive, a 1,366 by 768-pixel 13.4-inch display driven by Intel GS45 integrated graphics, and Windows Vista 64 Bit Home Premium Edition. The unit features two USB 2.0 ports, one combo USB/eSATA port, a DisplayPort output, and Ethernet. The system sports 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 wireless networking. Mobile broadband is available as an option; however, other options are limited to accessories like bags and external drives, rather than faster processors or more storage. There’s no way to rev up this initial Adamo model into more of a computing powerhouse.

Dell is accepting pre-orders for the Adamo notebook today (in "Pearl" and "Onyx"), and will begin shipping units worldwide on March 26; prices start at $1,999. Dell is also promoting the system with a stylish ad campaign featuring images from British photographer Nadav Kander. The Adamo might be easy on the eyes, but at first glance it would seem to be a machine that’s more about style than technological substance, like a bit of a netbook for folks easily influenced by high-fashion photos.

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