Adamo by Dell.
So, Dell have officially announced their ultra-slim-line laptop, the “adamo” and duly proclaimed it the “pinnacle of craftmanship”. Most other folk are just going for “MacBook Air-alike”.
And it’s not hard to see why. It’s a contender for thinnest laptop in the world, has a solid aluminium chassis, a backlit keyboard, 13-inch “edge-to-edge” glass screen, no optical drive, a reasonably underwhelming tech spec, some nice packaging and all the model/serial numbers and FCC legal jargon specially etched into the underside. It’s also rather expensive, with a starting price of £1650.
It’s a good effort and certainly one of the best-looking Dell notebooks i’ve ever seen (not difficult really) but it’s let down in too many places. I like the uniform-depth, brushed-metal body with it’s rounded corners but that odd ledge behind the screen hinges ruins the design. With that ugly, strange hump i think the only angle that the machine as a whole looks any good is side-on with the lid closed. Likewise, the “pearl” (silver) case looks much nicer than the “onyx” (black) version but is spoilt by that horrendous ring-work pattern on the lid. It also has a very stupid name. I do, however, love the curved keys – though it’d be interesting to see how they feel in use.
Perhaps the most notable thing about the adamo though is that the hideous hump (or part of it) is magnetic and thus detachable. Sadly there’s nothing special behind it. Nope, the sole purpose of this little party piece is apparently just to hide the Microsoft Windows Certificate of Authenticity label. Tremendous.
If you want to know more about adamo, CNet has the first “Hands-on” Review…