Dell Adamo Goes Head-To-Head With MacBook Air
Dell hinted at the Adamo at CES in Las Vegas earlier this year but played coy when it came to giving technical specifications or a release date. On Tuesday, Dell said the Adamo will be available for shipment to 24 countries on March 26.
Dell hopes the Adamo, which is Latin for "to fall in love with," provides a viable alternative to Apple's MacBook Air. The Adamo will start at $1,999—not exactly chump change. Still, for the market it is aimed at the price is competitive; the MacBook Air starts at $1,799.
Dell is banking on the design of the Adamo to be appealing enough to consumers that they can get past the initial sticker shock. Early details put the luxury notebook at 0.65 inches thick, about one-tenth of an inch thinner than the MacBook Air, and with a 13.4-inch glass screen. While the glass screen may give the Adamo a unique look, it also adds weight, with the notebook tipping the scales at about 4 pounds.
Granted, 4 pounds for a 13.4-inch notebook isn't exactly bloated, but the Adamo does weigh about 1 pound more than the MacBook Air. The extra tenth of an inch is aimed at moving to a 16:9 aspect ratio for screens. Meanwhile, the Macbook Air's 13.3-inch screen is consistent with the 16:10 aspect ratio currently being used.
The Dell Adamo is equipped with a 1.2GHz Intel Core Duo U9300 with Centrino technology. Draft-wireless N and Bluetooth 2.1 provide connectivity for users on the move. The Adamo includes 2 GB of DDR3 dual channel memory but can be customized up to 4 GB. Dell also claims that the notebook will get 5 hours of life out of a battery charge. The notebook sports two USB ports, one USB/eSATA combo port and an RJ-45 port. The Adamo comes preloaded with Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1. Solid state drives are also part of the package, proving that the Adamo is doing everything it can to capture the current trends in computing. In addition, customers will be able to choose the color they want for the chassis— pearl or onyx—which is milled from a single piece of aluminum.