Dell's AC Adapter for "Adamo Thirteen" is 45 Watts of bland

You know what's sexy? Ultraportables. You know what usually isn't? Their power adapters. Dell's keeping things way on the conservative side here with this "Adamo Thirteen" 45W AC Adapter -- in fact, we'd say this is the exact same adapter we've gotten with every Dell laptop in the past few years or so, other than the miniscule wattage. The part popped up on Dell's site just recently, and while Dell seems to have pulled to Adamo reference, Google cache still remembers the good times. What is perhaps interesting here is the seeming confirmation of the product name that the laptop will have a 13-inch screen. Not hugely surprising given the competitive landscape here, but we're content to nibble on Adamo info for the time being.

[Thanks, Ryan]

[jakem @ Dec 24th 2008 11:39AM]

If it's a 45 watt charger then there's a good chance it's the same one used on the Latitude XT which is considerably smaller than the standard 65 watt charger.

Why post on this if you're not prepared to do proper research.

[nerdtalker @ Dec 24th 2008 11:50AM]

Exactly. I thought that right as I read the headline. If it really is 45 watts, there likely will be (at least the option of) the super-small 45-watt power supply.

Cmon, why the bashing already? Dell uses those pics of generic power supplies for no reason sometimes. The 45 watt power supply is way smaller than anything I've seen from apple. I use it everyday.

[Nicholas @ Dec 24th 2008 12:31PM]

I had this lovely Fujitsu Tablet PC which slid nicely into a smaller bag. The brick however, along with the cord, took up nearly as much space, albeit not the thin kind.

Somebody needs to teach these peeps about how to design a smaller power wart!

[Jason @ Dec 24th 2008 1:43PM]

"You know what's sexy? Ultraportables. You know what usually isn't? Their power adapters. But what the hell! I'll write an article about it ANYWAY!! HAHAHA!!"

[Jason Litka @ Dec 24th 2008 1:56PM]

Yeah, my Latitude E4200 came with a little slim adapter, about the size of a credit card and slightly more than 3/8" thick.

[JohnTitor @ Dec 24th 2008 4:36PM]

makes sense, when leaks of the support pages of some new dell laptop comes out, they usually have a picture of one of their old inspirons on it

[bootareen @ Dec 24th 2008 4:41PM]

@nerdtalker:

...and the Apple bashers come out.

[kccboy2004 @ Feb 17th 2009 8:26AM]

JUST FOR A BIT OF AN UPDATE ... SINCE THERE HAS BEEN NO RETRACTION OF THIS STUPID POST BY PAUL MILLER...

http://www.engadget.com/photos/dell-adamo-hands-on-1/1272960/

[Haikibutsu @ Dec 24th 2008 11:41AM]

Dell makes good products. But they aren't competing.

Now, I am not talking about the tech audience like we are, in which we know what gigabytes, RAM, and what multiple cores are. I am talking about the not really informed, and sorry to sound sexist, but the younger female audience. They aren't looking for speed. They aren't looking for games. They want pink cellphones, 'chic' PCs, and stuff that looks nice. Most of us can agree, the MacBook Air is sexy as hell, but we know it is overpriced and underpowered, and as a computer, it is a POS.

If Dell wants to overtake the laptop market, they need to work on their aesthetics. An ugly car with good internals isn't going to sell as well as a sexy car with good internals.

Oh, and what does this have to do with the article? The AC adaptor... is a load of generic plug in. I am not saying to emulate MagSafe, but make something that, no matter how miniscule, will have a nice 'Thats snazzy' effect. Sure, I could live without my MagSafe, or the two finger scrolling, but they are nice, aren't they?

Preparing for a low rank...

[yyan @ Dec 24th 2008 4:43PM]

Every girl in my college lectures have told me that my White Mini 9 is sexy/cute as hell. Take that.

[Skyride @ Dec 24th 2008 5:00PM]

Have to agree with you Haikibutsu. I have a vostro 1400 and its a fantastic laptop. But its not the best looking thing in the world I must admit (although my plastering of linux related stickers on the top goes some way for me personally :) ).

I have to say though, If you want to judge it like that then the only people really competing are Apple (**shivers**) and Sony. Although sony's more recent laptops are some of the worst looking pieces of crap i have ever seen. The recent studio laptops are ok, but again very plasticy.

I cannot understand this new obcession OEM's have this not-plastic-looking plastic stuff. I bloody hate it!

[Mr. Coily @ Dec 24th 2008 11:43AM]

Look at the way they coiled the cord! They couldn't even coil it the way they tell you to, they did it all wrong! You're supposed to go around the body of the charger, that's why it's shaped that way! Coil, people, coil!
Please excuse me will I inspect the coil job on my Dell charger...
Merry Christmas from Mr. Coily.

[KarlW @ Dec 24th 2008 11:49AM]

Why do companies do this to try ad get you excited? It doesn't work. Hear that Sony? Microsoft? Dell?

You won't get Apple-like fanboyish devotion from these kind of games. You'll just look pathetic. Even Apple doesn't actively try and promote breeding fanboys (in fact, I remember an interview where Steve said it freaked him out a little - just wait until they pilgrimage to his birth place!). You guys don't want that kind of devotion. You think you do, but you don't.

[Pretol @ Dec 24th 2008 1:29PM]

They do whatever their marketing dept says they should do (as opposed to listening to some douche whining on some engadget forum).

The reason why Apple has such fanboyism is because Apple is a very exclusive company (not because of any reason that you didn't name).

[Ryan Meray @ Dec 24th 2008 11:56AM]

It's sad, but this just shows the short-sightedness of many computer manufacturers. "Let's design ourselves a rockin' notebook that'll put this other hip trendy one on the rocks...and then we'll link it up to the same boring, ugly, too-big AC adapter we've been using for all of our notebooks in the past."

You're the man now, Dell!

[axemt @ Dec 24th 2008 12:20PM]

Well, this could also show how vapid Mac users are that they care more about how their AC adapter look like.

[CleverEndeavor @ Dec 24th 2008 12:28PM]

good job to the comment above me. i was thinking the same thing.

[Pretol @ Dec 24th 2008 1:33PM]

People that care THIS MUCH about POWER ADAPTERS scare me. You meet them at a party, and they talk about a pimple on their ass for hours, and they follow you when you try to leave. It's creepy...

[fred @ Dec 24th 2008 3:01PM]

Well, they dont actually care about the adapter.


It's a matter of trying to go after Dell, and the Adamo as early as possible, like they do with any product or service that will be going up against some Apple product. In this case, they are using the AC adapter plug.

As completely bizarre of a thing to do, it is illustrative of the depths that Apple fanatics will stoop to attack competing devices.

Expect more over the top theatrics the closer we get to the big reveal.

[Lowest Ranked @ Dec 24th 2008 11:56AM]

A Damn 'O 45 watt PS?

[cuhpone @ Dec 24th 2008 11:58AM]

Adamo Eighteen Point Four?

[Jason @ Dec 24th 2008 4:21PM]

Add ammo? 1.804?

[John H. @ Dec 24th 2008 12:04PM]

new?

[John H. @ Dec 24th 2008 12:05PM]

*s?

[huh @ Dec 24th 2008 12:17PM]

Form should follow function. If it's small, does the job well, comes apart rather than pulls your notebook across the room when you trip over it, and is compatible with other notebooks, then it's a great power adaptor.

[Jason @ Dec 24th 2008 4:23PM]

Hmm, my power adapter is capable of plugging in on the same side of the room.

[Ken @ Dec 24th 2008 12:21PM]

The one for the XPS 1330 is small. And looks nothing like the one in the picture.

[IndiaTech @ Dec 24th 2008 2:11PM]

So is their 65 W slim ac / car / air adapter. Slimmer than the original 1330 adapter.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Power/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=310-8814

[Ryan Trevisol @ Dec 24th 2008 12:28PM]

Dell really needs to come up with some sort of magsafe knockoff. I mean seriously. It's 2009 already. My old Inspiron 600m (That stood for 600 MEGAHERTZ PEOPLE!) had the exact SAME adapter plug.

[huh @ Dec 24th 2008 12:51PM]

If it's compatible with other notebooks, that's a good thing.

We had to have both our magsafe adaptors replaced due to fraying and burnage
.

[IndiaTech @ Dec 24th 2008 2:29PM]

600m never had a 600Mhz processor. In fact they didn't even have processors slower than 1GHz. 600m stands 6th gen portables. Like 700m and so on.

[Ryan Trevisol @ Dec 25th 2008 8:24AM]

Okay you're right. I was thinking of my mom's old laptop. What was the one that had a 600 mhz Pentium III. That thing got me through 2 years of college.

[Rod Rye @ Dec 27th 2008 12:13PM]

This quite probably is the adapter from the 600m. They've not changed the photo, but they have most certainly changed the actual adapter used. It is not uncommon for a stockphoto to be used for a yet unreleased product for just about everyone. Not everyone unfortunately is like Apple who ooze marketing out their ears (which quickly gets lapped up off the ground)

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Dec 24th 2008 12:29PM]

You'd think after all this time, power supply makers would put a few usb power ports on the bar itself. I mean get with the times people, we need more spaces to plug all these thingsa dn the power supply bar fits the bill. if you make i want 10%

[Ryan Trevisol @ Dec 24th 2008 12:37PM]

Uh, what? You mean just for charging? Because the last laptop adapter I cared to check was like 18.5v, meaning just to charge it would require another transformer, albeit not a very big one, but still.

Or did you mean you wanted a hub in the power brick? Check out Brando. They'll put a USB hub in anything.

[Charlie W @ Dec 24th 2008 12:37PM]

Since it is often mentioned as a direct competitor to the MacBook Air, I'm surprised that nobody has brought up the Voodoo Envy133 and what this revelation about the Adamo having a more or less standard power supply means.

The Envy133's psu came with the ethernet port built into it because the laptop was too skinny to support it anywhere, and also doubled as a wireless router. I thought that was a very creative and useful idea for a luxury laptop. You're rarely going to be plugging into ethernet without also wanting to plug into power, so its not a huge inconvenience on that end. And then its a huge convenience in that while carrying around something the size of a normal power supply, you're also carrying around a wireless router that you can setup in your hotel room or whatever to create a wireless network for yourself.

So we know that Dell hasn't gotten quite that creative.

[Stephen.4 @ Dec 24th 2008 12:38PM]

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=prov&sku=330-2984&~lt=print&~tab=SpecsTab

I don't need to go to the Google cache page... Its back online?

[Stephen.4 @ Dec 24th 2008 12:39PM]

Actually, it's because i'm on the Canadian site. It's still up there.

[halofan @ Dec 24th 2008 12:53PM]

Apparently the Adamo will have DisplayPort:

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:WyL5AyGfEUAJ:accessories.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx%3Fc%3Dca%26l%3Den%26s%3Dpub%26sku%3D330-2983%26~wsf%3Demailfriendfragment%26~lt%3Dmobile+dell+adamo+displayport+site:dell.com&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[soobin27 @ Dec 24th 2008 1:24PM]

YES, I am in the market for a poorman's Macbook Air indeed.
make it cheap michael dell!

[Leo @ Dec 24th 2008 2:11PM]

Don't worry, you'll get it cheaper, plus better specced :)

[Russell @ Dec 24th 2008 3:16PM]

that's just a stock picture you noobs, it will look nothing like that

[fdg008 @ Dec 24th 2008 7:23PM]

You are correct. It is a For Placement Only (FPO) placeholder image. It shows up for other AC adapter SKUs if you take the time to look around.

Non-article. Non-news. Please Move Along.

[Rus2 @ Dec 24th 2008 4:00PM]

That picture is of a typical 65W adapter not 45W

[Jason @ Dec 24th 2008 4:19PM]

iEye, I can't tell you how pleased I am that you find power adapters sexually attractive. May find true happiness soon, and may it be plugged in.

[bootareen @ Dec 24th 2008 4:49PM]

@axemt:

Lol, vapid? Or it shows that Windows users are so sad that they have to defend a pathetic looking power adapter.

[fred @ Dec 24th 2008 5:24PM]

"Defend"?

It's an AC adapter.

Most people here couldn't care less.


For some reason, you actually do.

[axemt @ Dec 25th 2008 9:12AM]

@ bootareen

And I rest my case :)

[bootareen @ Dec 25th 2008 2:08PM]

@axemt:

I replied, but Engadget's system is so convoluted that it didn't post and I didn't bother afterwards. I don't care about AC adapters either, but I just found it annoying that some commenters mocked how Mac users care about AC adapters when there was no mention of Apple in the article :)

[BrettA @ Dec 24th 2008 8:34PM]

Well, apparently some or many don't care about such a detail, but I appreciate you noting this. My ~7 year-old Dell X200 is close to the size of the E-4200, and when using it in public, people often think it's a current machine and ask about it. The only negative comment I get is about the AC adapter, which is both big and ugly. I'd say that while it's a small detail, it's definitely worth addressing. Thx!