Dell Launches 9.9mm Thick Adamo XPS Comments

Hey, and there I thought Apple was exploiting the market with horribly overpriced hardware.

Turns out they are quite competitive? Please discuss below.

Kudos to Dell for being so bold, but I can't help thinking that the unconventional design when open will lead to fewer sales than if they'd been less adventurous. The side on view looks incredibly fragile.

Hmm that screen hinge is silly. A super ultra portable laptop you can't use on your lap? Where do they find the plonkers who design these things?

@ haim

Thanks so much for giving your permission for anyone else to comment. In the comments section. Of a website that isn't yours.

Aaaanyway. I like the design of this. It feels retro to me, I think I'm remembering very old PDAs that did something similar with an angled keyboard when they were opened.. or possibly I'm getting confused with typewriters or something, but either way it appeals.

The price and specifications do not though. I'm not a fan of anything Apple, but I'd certainly go for the older yet still more powerful Air superslim over this if I had to choose between the two.

from what I've seen in unboxing galleries around the net, ethernet is not built into the lappy itself, but there is a USB to Ethernet adapter included in the box

What is there to discuss? Apple was never the only company to release expensive high-end ultralight laptops. Sony and Samsung, among others, have had thin and small premium laptops for years. E.g. here is a review of the 2004 X10: http://www.trustedreviews.com/laptops/review/2004/10/21/Samsung-X10-Plus-Slim-Light-Notebook/p2
Oh and IBM/Lenovo and Toshiba also have premium ultralight laptops. It's not an Apple thing. In fact, before the advent of netbooks, if you wanted a ultraportable laptop, you usually had to spend a sizable amount of money. What Apple did contribute is what they always do; they put a lot of work into the design and into the marketing. Successfully, since every newly released high-end portable is now compared to the MacBook Air.

"...far better than its meek predecessor. An Intel Core 2 Duo (1.4GHz)..."

"...three cell battery lasting just two hours"

"...worse than most netbooks.."

You cannae have your cake and eat it.

Has it ever occurred to one of these Ultra-thin laptop/netbook manufacturer's to add a built-in backlight to the keyboard? I know Alienware have multi-coloured ones. It really wouldn't hurt for something as high-priced as this; as most people that make good use of their laptop/netbook will want to use them in low-light/no-light conditions.

This is really cool!! I want to get one of these...this video Ultra-thin from Intel http://tiny.cc/rDIBw shows how such a laptop is possible....

This is bonkers. No ability to adjust the screen position????!
People are gonna buy this because it 'deploys' with the swipe of a finger and then realise it's actually terrible to use, resulting in bad marketing for Dell; tards!
The Asus implementation would be the better of the 2.

I'd think that most people that make good use of their laptops will be able to use the keyboard without looking at it, making a backlight superfluous. ;)

@morsch: Not really, Laptops like this are compared to the Air because, like the air, they may be putting style over substance. The Ultraportables from sony/lenovo/toshiba etc. are designed for usability first and style second.

It'll be interesting to see how usable the Adamo XPS actually is, I think it might surprise a few people.

@ Hugo

I've just picked up a Vaio X series (http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-x-series). It's rather impressive! Sony consider it a successor to ye olde X505...

a bold if not an incredibily stupid design decision by dell. hp at least had ergonomics in mind with the double-hinged screens on its dragon range. and moving the ethernet port over to the power supply unit for their voodoo range was a clever way of freeing up port space without inconveniecing its users. its just that none of these ideas were implemented or improved on by either hp or its rivals.

Yeah, I lean down quite heavily on the palm rests and I'm not sure that hinge could take it.