Dell Adamo available for online ordering in the US
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 19th 2009 10:34AM
posted March 19th 2009 10:34AM
In case you missed it, Engadget VIP Club cardholders, the tasteful and elegant Dell Adamo is available for online orders in the US now -- not just those other countries overseas with long names that are hard to pronounce. With model names like Admire (1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB memory, and a 128GB SSD -- starting at $1,999) and later-confirmed Desire (1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB memory, and mobile broadband, also sporting a 128GB SSD -- starting at $2,699) the company's definitely reinforcing the laptop's savoir faire. Options include the "Jet Setter" package (with external DVD-RW) and the "Entrepreneur" (with external 250GB HDD). Available in Pearl and Onyx -- not that the suckers flying coach will be able to tell the difference.
Does engadget even look for news these days?
Both models of the Adamo have been on the dell website for 2 days, for sale. They said yesterday that there was also a 2nd version, as if it was some kind of secret.
Do they do any research what so ever? Effort please.
Give em a break, they've been too busy with their recent iPhone 3.0 update coverage.
Isnt this a little early for april fools? cant wait for dell to say gotcha! its only $1,100
Thank god we have choices in the Windows world. This Adamo steals MacBook Air's record of "Most Expansive Watered Down Laptop" this year.
@Saad Rabia
the last adjective i would ever use to describe a MacBook Air would be "expansive", considering it has only one USB port and absolutely no card slots or ability to upgrade the memory.
aside from picking on the engrish, i must say the $700 exchange for 200MHz, 2GB of memory, and a SIM slot completely puts Apple's high priced upgrade options to shame. then again, all of Dell's factory options are up there with Apple's pricing in all of their product categories.
but the difference is that Macs tend to be a computer people *want* while Dells have always been a computer that people can simply *afford*, making this Adamo garbage laughable at best, shareholder genocide at worst. seems like michael dell is about to find out the hard way that you cant turn a chevrolet into a bmw... you cant shake a bad rep.
perhaps he meant to say "expensive" instead of "expansive"....
cowabunga, carl, he SAID he was "picking on the Engrish". That was his acknowledgement of his joke. Lighten up!
On a more serious note, it's unclear to me whether by putting apple's prices "to shame" he meant dell charged even more, or he thought was charging less, than apple does/would. So now someone can take a shot at me for what _I_ didn't "get".
@Saad Rabia: The Adamo may be the "....MBA...this year", but the VooDoo Envy already beat the MBP in the "overpriced/underpowered" category last year.
In a shootout between the Air, Envy, and Adamo, the Air comes off as down-right affordable, and the best overall features/price/tradeoffs. In a product category where every offering is pretty much deserving of derision, I think Apple at least manages to make the 'least terrible' offering, not that I have any interest in any of these products.
Yeah, the new MacBook Air is a good machine.
The 1st gen version really was a turd, though.
What's next, the Aspire?
This is sexy!
I want one! Kinda odd, though, that this MacBook Air competitor is MORE expensive than it's competition.
This is one of products where if you have to about the price than it's not for you,
Fortunately you can always "downgrade" to the Studio XPS which compete better with their fruit equivalents
But the problem with the Adamo is that the price just doesn't match up with the hardware. It's like $3000 for a diamond-encrusted powerbook G4.
- Michael
http://offbeatmichael.com
What do you expect, portability is as much of price factor as the hardware inside, clearly it's not the compromise for you but like I said that's why they also have the XPS laptops
windows doesn't mean cheap, windows means choice. the retailers have a choice to make it more expensive than any apple product ever seen, but also have the choice to make it cheaper, giving the ultimate choice to the user... if u wanna go for it, do so. if you cant afford it, don't complain.
I'm not complaining; i'm just surprised.
your prices dont scare, ME dell! *adds Desire to cart*
It's niiiiice. However, like most people, I'm not going to pay $2k for a computer, and I'm definitely not going to pay $2k for one that's not nearly as powerful as almost all $1k computers out there, even if the chassis is made out of gold!
Does this thing even output 1080p video satisfactorily? :-\
don't worry, being a dell, the price will drop fast... like it did with the xps1330's
what a truckload of hurt
Excuse me, performance?
But yeah, it's really, really, pretty!
$2000.00 computer, or $300.00 netbook?
Decisions, decisions!
or a $300 netbook's performance for $2000. decisions, decisions.
the adamo should outperform a netbook
They need to add a 64gb option for atleast $200 less
Or a real hard drive for $200 less.
A harddrive would be like $400 less but adamo is too high class for that
exactly. because when i think dell, i immediately think "class".
@ oakie
Your being sarcastic right? Dell takes no pride in their craftsmanship anymore. My boss bought a $1700 latitude e4300 and the damn border around the screen wasnt even seated correctly. For $1700 that simply is not acceptable.
what the hell are they thinking in this economy?
they are not thinking... but there is 'no economy' either.
Dell just wants to go with the current trend of no thinking = no economy
I still don´t get why Dell is releasing the Adamo at such a high price. With this Product ( + better Processor) they would have the chance to steal some serious Market Share from Apple. There a many People out there that buy a macbook/Air because of its Design and not necessarily due to the OS.
But releasing a product that is not as portable as a MBA and not as feature-rich as a MB ( DVD-Drive etc.) at such a high price is just stupid. Typical situation of "stuck in the middle"
So Dell can hope that Paris Hilton picks one up, but I doubt that she wants to be seen with a DELL...
I guess the SSD explains the cost, but for the money, I'd rather get a Voodoo Envy: almost as thin and way lighter.
I really think that the price of this is going to drop just like every other computer that Dell makes. Its just what Dell does, they see how many suckers they can get at full price before they drop it to the reasonable price. Everyone is used to apple where there prices really don't ever change.
Is the Core2Duo MUCH faster than the Centrino? I can't imagine why they would bump down to 1.2Ghz.
Lemme get this straight:
Core 2 Duo = actual processor. To be exact, the one in the Adamo is from the SU series which are ultra-low voltage processors that give off less heat with the tradeoff of lower performance.
Centrino = A branded package. Laptops which qualify for the Centrino brand have a Core 2 processor, an Intel chipset (latest ones being PM45 and GM45), and an Intel WiFi card (Intel Wireless 5100 and 5300 being the current ones)
The battery life on this is shit when compared to the Samsung X360 which does the same thing with 9 hours of battery life... yh yh its not so good looking .. big wow
Id never pay over 2k for a comp..apple or "pc"
The price does NOT include DVD drive which will cost an extra $120 or you can spurge on a blu-ray drive for $350.
I'll wait until they show up on the Dell Outlet. The Inspiron Mini 9, 10, 12's are already there.
Well, let me just whip out my plutonium card...
$2,699? In this economy?
That's not a price, that's a dare!
Seriously, is anybody going to pay that much!?! This whole 'luxury' notebook gimmick is seriously flawed. It's downright insulting that Dell thinks we're both rich AND stupid!
These really are gorgeous, and I bet they are a pleasure to hold. I've never really been a fan of Dell (was a computer technician for 7 years, you can understand why), but they have definitely impressed me with their addition to the netbook world, and now the stylish MBP-threatening Adamo. *golf clap*
For 2699 I'll take the XPS17 with SLI and 1GB of video ram. It may not be as small, it may not look as good, but it will absolutely blow this damn thing out of the water in terms of performance and that's what I'm in it for.
T9300 2.5Ghz
4GB DDR2
Dual 9800GT 1GB total
AGEIA PhysX card
500GB 7200rpm
17" WUXGA
$2599
In my eyes these have gone from pretty to ugly in about three days. I loved but now hate the shelf thing behind the screen. I think this aesthetic will date very quickly.
Please don't compare Apples with Pears: comparing a 17" computer with 13" or with a netbook just doesn't work. Adamo is a clearly a MacBook Air wannabe, but Adamo is heavier (1.8 to 1.4 kg), slower (FSB: 800 MHz to 1066 MHz, even the CPU), slightly bigger and more expensive than the MacBook Air!
shockingly beautiful
If you move your mouse across the screen left or right, the sound follows.
why are people bitching about the price, look at the Apple, everything is overpriced