December 22nd, 2008
How will Dell's Adamo laptop measure up?
If the rumors are accurate, Dell will soon launch a new laptop to compete with ultra-thin models from Apple, Lenovo and others. So just how thin would this new “Adamo” laptop need to be to lure some of those premium buyers over to Dell? Here’s how the competition measures up:
- Apple MacBook Air: 0.16 to 0.79 inches
- Voodoo Envy 133: 0.70 inches
- Lenovo ThinkPad X301: 0.73 inches
- Toshiba Portege R500: 0.77 inches
- Toshiba Portege R600: 0.79 inches
- Sony VAIO Z series: 1.0 inches
- Amazon Kindle: 0.70 inches
Late last week, a New York Times blog reported that Dell was on the verge of releasing a new notebook that would be “even thinner and lighter than Apple.” Among the evidence: a mysterious adamobydell.com site that reads “coming soon.” Michael Tatelman, Dell’s VP of consumer sales and marketing, also told The Times that company needed some “iconic products” to shake up its image.
Based on the competition, the Adamo will almost certainly measure 0.7 inches or less. But perhaps Dell will really try to shake things up with an aggressively tapered design like that of the MacBook Air. The problem with this approach is that while the MacBook Air doesn’t have an internal DVD drive, several of the Windows competitors do. So it will be interesting to see just how radical Dell is willing to get with this new model.
My guess is that Dell will give it a decent set of features (13.3-inch LED-backlit display, internal DVD) but skip the more esoteric stuff such as SSDs and instead come in at a lower price. Most likely we’ll get the answer at the Consumer Electronics Show in a couple of weeks.
John Morris is a former executive editor at CNET Networks and senior editor at PC Magazine. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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