Dell Adamo XPS coming 'in time for the holidays' for $1799 (unboxing and hands-on video!)
By Ross Miller 
posted November 5th 2009 12:01PM
posted November 5th 2009 12:01PM
At $1,799, the price isn't as bad as originally thought, but it's still far from great if performance takes any precedence for you over style. Earlier this week, we got to spend some time with the ultra-thin chez Dell's PR firm -- not enough to really get a feel for how it performs, but enough to admire the hardware and enjoy unboxing what we're told is the final retail packaging. We saw an expected launch date listed for this month, but a rep was quick to note the current line is officially "in time for the holidays" -- just in case the company misses Black Friday, of course. Read on for some more impressions and video unboxing / hands-on!
DELL ANNOUNCES ADAMO XPS, A DAZZLING GIFT IDEA FOR STYLE-MINDED THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
Adamo XPS is a stunning laptop whose design provides a unique experience. With the swipe of a finger, the keyboard appears from under the display as the system is open. The feature set challenged engineers to build the latest technology into a compact space, including:
Adamo, derived from the Latin word meaning "to fall in love," is a flagship in a line of products created to disrupt the personal computing space with the combination of new design aesthetics, personalization choices and sought-after technologies.
The Adamo by Dell brand was launched last March with the first Adamo laptop, which combined high-performance technologies in a finely-machined aluminum case only .65-inch thick.
The pencil-thin Adamo XPS weighs just over 3 pounds** and measures 13.39 x 10.71 inches. Dell expects to begin taking orders and shipping the Adamo XPS with Microsoft® Windows® 7 pre-installed in time for the holidays. The Adamo XPS is priced starting at $1799. More information is available at www.adamobydell.com .
The News:
"Our engineers and designers are breaking new ground and throwing away the old rules with the introduction of Adamo XPS," said Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of Dell consumer products. "We think the Adamo XPS will inspire an emotional connection with anyone who sees it."
Links:
www.dell.com
www.adamobydell.com
www.dell.com/home/laptops
www.Flickr.com/photos/dellphotos
*Shared Memory (SDRAM) - (under 4GB) - Significant system memory may be allocated to support graphics, depending on system memory size and other factors.
**Weights vary depending on configuration and manufacturing variability.
- World's Thinnest Laptop is 0.4-inch thin
- Adamo XPS Reinforces Dell's Commitment to Craftsmanship and Design
- Advanced Head-Turning Design Offers Full Feature Set for On-The-Go Computing
Adamo XPS is a stunning laptop whose design provides a unique experience. With the swipe of a finger, the keyboard appears from under the display as the system is open. The feature set challenged engineers to build the latest technology into a compact space, including:
- 4GB* DDR3 800 memory;
- Intel Core 2 Duo (1.4Ghz) ultra-low voltage processor;
- Thin 128GB SSD for faster, cooler, quieter and more durable storage than traditional hard drives;
- A13.4-inch high-definition display.
Adamo, derived from the Latin word meaning "to fall in love," is a flagship in a line of products created to disrupt the personal computing space with the combination of new design aesthetics, personalization choices and sought-after technologies.
The Adamo by Dell brand was launched last March with the first Adamo laptop, which combined high-performance technologies in a finely-machined aluminum case only .65-inch thick.
The pencil-thin Adamo XPS weighs just over 3 pounds** and measures 13.39 x 10.71 inches. Dell expects to begin taking orders and shipping the Adamo XPS with Microsoft® Windows® 7 pre-installed in time for the holidays. The Adamo XPS is priced starting at $1799. More information is available at www.adamobydell.com .
The News:
- Adamo XPS is the thinnest laptop PC ever, at about 0.4-inch thin.
- When opened, the body of the Adamo XPS is raised so the keyboard is angled to enhance cooling.
- Capacitive latching device – one finger swipe opens the latch.
- Built-in location awareness to provide real time local maps to show people where they are.
- Replaceable battery, with optional higher-capacity battery available.
- Full size keyboard with aluminum keycaps; touchpad with gestures.
- Built-in 802.11n wireless.
- High Definition (720p) 13.4-inch WLED display.
- I/O: display port, 2xUSB 2.0, audio, Ethernet (via included dongle).
- Operating system: Windows 7 64-bit edition.
"Our engineers and designers are breaking new ground and throwing away the old rules with the introduction of Adamo XPS," said Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of Dell consumer products. "We think the Adamo XPS will inspire an emotional connection with anyone who sees it."
Links:
www.dell.com
www.adamobydell.com
www.dell.com/home/laptops
www.Flickr.com/photos/dellphotos
*Shared Memory (SDRAM) - (under 4GB) - Significant system memory may be allocated to support graphics, depending on system memory size and other factors.
**Weights vary depending on configuration and manufacturing variability.
For such a sleek device, the box it comes in is rather huge and bulky. It's also quite elaborate, and if it's any consolation for how much you paid, in a second life it might make for a sturdy storage container. We did notice the viewing angle on the screen being somewhat restrictive, and of course with its glass overlay we're constantly looking at ourselves with enough light in the backdrop. Our major concern here is the capacitive touch-sensitive case latch -- it works great in theory, but once the battery's drained, it's stuck closed. That's fine and all, but what happens if there's some technical failure? Is there any fail-safe option in case the lock is on the fritz? Unfortunately Dell didn't have an answer, and we couldn't find any indication of one ourselves. The full chiclet keyboard is very comfortable to use, the touchpad does support Windows 7 gestures, and it is indeed very comfortable in your lap, despite the untraditional hinge placement.
We'll reserve final judgment for when we actually get some quality, at-home time, but we obviously can't say this enough: you won't be buying this for its specs, price tag, or anything other than its unique form factor. This is a quintessential aspirational product, and while Dell wouldn't give any indication of its sales projections, they certainly can't be high. That said, it's an exciting little number, one that the company hints is the first in a series to come, and we're looking forward to hopefully getting more time with it very soon.
See more video at our hub!
Only Macs should have chiclet keyboards. It looks wrong on a dell
Man that hinge is seriously the ugliest one I have ever seen. Barf.
@hungryhungryhippo
Dude, I totally agree with you. That is one FUGLY hinge design. FFFFFFUUUUUGGGGLLLYYYY!
MacBook Air anyone? This thing is too worthless.
I have just received the dell adamo xps, and it is an amazing machine. The keyboard is the best I have ever used, and it is more comfortable on your lap than an ordinary laptop. It is very thin but a bit larger than the usual 13" in depth and length. You would need a 14 or 15" case to fit it. The opening tech works fine, and the machine seems very light. Screen is great and volume and sound quality is better than expected. You could play music and hear it in any part of a large room. Worked with all my external hard drives and my eeepc cd rom drive. Set up took 5 minutes, updating windows about 15 minutes. Only thing, it comes with an HDMI video connector but no vga, and most projectors use vga, so if you use power point for presentations there has to be an adapter. Packaging is nice but a sleeve would have been a nice touch. The power adapter is better than most. I tried facial recognition security and it worked perfectly from the first try. I also tried the location (lets you know about stores and services near you) service and that worked.
It is very quiet also. I would recommend this computer
My issue is that Dell was originally selling these at $1799 as a base price. Now in an apparent attempt to really be greedy, they have raised the price $200. I was interested in shelling out $1799+ tax, but if this is the norm for DELL to just up the price for no apparent reason, then I might as well save some money and go with the Mac Air. I absolutely hate it when companies do this. Now, inside of a single month, they have some customers that paid $1799 and others that paid $1999. The greed kills me and I am an IT director at a fortune 500 company that for 2010 I have budgeted $8M for server infrastructure renewals world wide. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth and doubts about how DELL treats their customers. This type activity will make me look at IBM and HP server infrasture even closer now. What is your opinion?
I do say I am quite disappointed with Dell's very poor attempt at besting Apple's design. For one, they imitated a lot of things about the MacBook Air, from the packaging (the original MacBook Air came in a box that looked similar to what the Adamo XPS comes in), to the keyboard design, to the plug adapter. Why is it that so many companies with so much money cannot come up with laptop designs that seriously "wow" the users. Apple has consistently been that company. Sony also has some good designs. However, the majority of PC companies create very boring designs from Toshiba to HP to Dell.
So what is wrong with the Adamo XPS design? Let me list the ways:
1. In the 2nd video footage around 00:15, and in the 3rd video footage around 00:10 we see the underside of the Adamo XPS. Tell me, do you think it looks pretty? Do the exposed hinges, the numerous ventilator outlets, speaker grille dots, over abundance of screws and millions of seams (which makes the bottom case look like patchwork) look aesthetically pleasing to you? Of course not. Now, you might argue that this is just frivolous criticism because it's only aesthetics after all. Well, don't forget that this particular computer (just as is with the MacBook Air), aesthetics and seamlessness is part of the reason that people buy these machines! So, for this machine, no it is not silly to criticise the very poorly designed aesthetics looks of the laptop.
2. In the third video footage at 00:37, and 00:40, I notice the Intel and Windows logo imprinted on the underside of the keyboard. Why does the PC industry still do no understand that plastering their products with logos does not create for good design tastes and really works to make the computer look very fussy, technical and unapproachable. Also, too many logos becomes like an invasion of one's private space. It's like graffiti invading into one's private sanctuary. And, especially for a computer like the Adamo XPS where aesthetics is a major factor, these plastering of the logos ruin the aesthetics even more. I understand that probably Microsoft and Intel helped to reduce the cost of the computer through a "plaster us with our logos" program, but it's really in poor taste. It's like walking down the street with your new Oakley glasses but you refuse to remove the tag because you want everyone to know it's Oakley. That's tacky.
3. The "high heel" design of the laptop when the keyboard flips down is also in poor design taste. People who study and deal with ergonomics of the workplace have told computer users for years that to reduce the possibility of carpal tunnel syndrome, the best way to type is with your wrists and hands at a neutral position. That means, the angle from wrist to hand is level at 180 degrees and elbow angle around 90 degrees. It is especially important for the wrist to hand angel to be at 180 degrees because there are lot of nerves that runs from the wrist to the hand and by constantly typing at an angle, you get pinched nerves which is who carpal tunnel syndrome arises.
In summary, I am absolutely disappointed in Dell's design. I am not writing a scathing review of the Adamo XPS because of prejudice towards the MacBook Air. I write a scathing review because I am frustrated that there are no other PC makers in the world that can come up with designs that truly wow their computer users. Apple is the ONLY contender in the field and that's a big shame to the computer industry. A big shame because many other companies are just as well resourced financially as Apple and yet they cannot come up with a design to truly compete with Apple.
Compare the MacBook Air with the Adamo XPS, definitely the MacBook Air is miles ahead. In terms of performance, the Adamo XPS currently shines but don't forget that's because the MacBook Air was out much earlier than the Adamo XPS. By the time we have another rendition of the MacBook Air, it is very likely that the technical specs of the MacBook Air will best this current version of the Adamo XPS. Please, companies of the PC world, hire some good industrial design people, user study people, graphics design people for your company and cultivate a culture in your company where user design and experience matters.
Thoroughly disappointed with Dell. I feel like slapping them in the face for designing something so ugly and impractical that causes hand injury.
To extend my item #1 in the above post, I want to ask readers to look at the underside of the MacBook Air and notice how it aesthetically looks just as pleasing from the bottom as it does from the top. For the Dell Adamo XPS, it only looks aesthetically passable from the top. From the bottom, it looks like a poorly quilted patchwork of computer parts.
Again, you might think this is frivolous argument, but it isn't. After all, in both machines, aesthetics is a selling point.
I feel like slapping Dell in the face again. *pow* *pow* for being so stupid. Get into gear and compete PROPERLY!