Adding to this, recently my Adamo started to literally fall apart. The bottom aluminum panel separated from the top shell and was hanging down. Eventually I figured out that the bottom is fastened to the top via three recessed sliders that lock in hooks machined into the bottom panel. If you put a thin screwdriver or pin into these slots you can shove the slider over and (un)fasten the hooks and the whole panel comes off.

The design flaw appears to be that you only have to slide these sliders, not, say, push and slide them. Therefore vibration and handling seems to have encouraged them to move -- first one on the right side of my Adamo and then on the bottom.

I have refastened these and will monitor how often they come loose.

I have one in black. I've had 1st and 2nd get Air as well. My comments:

PRO
- Good build quality; seems pretty sturdy
- Nice keyboard with backlighting (I prefer this keyboard over the Air)
- WAN (missing in the Air)
- eSATA, 3 USB ports
- Reasonable thermal management ad fan noise (esp compared to 1st gen Air)
- Runs Windows 7 well
- External BluRay slot drive works well (from Sony)
- Appears to have better WiFi range than my Air
- Not festooned with crazy Microsoft, Intel and other logos
- I like the colors (black and whitish) better than aluminum (I colorwared one of my Airs)
- Looks slick with clean lines but not too loud

CON
- Picks up fingerprints and everything else, like having a glass table
- Underpowered; throw in another CPU or something
- Trackpad is flaky, especially for scrolling
- Bit heavy for size
- Fussy software installation for BluRay drive
- Dell control software is fussy, poor UI, poor integration with Windows, unclear how to override
- Gesture support on trackpad is poorly supported and clunky
- Ambient adaptive light sensor seems poorly calibrated
- Too expensive

How can they say a throw of 3 inches when it seems to clearly be more like 3 feet under the table?

It is also almost scene by scene replicated by the new musical heading to Broadway.

I upgrade my laptop between once and twice a year, running two laptops at any given time. In the past I have used Sony, IBM, Apple, Toshiba and a handful of more exotic Japanese makes, almost all in the very light category. I ordered my m1330 early. It's an OK laptop but could use many improvements:

POWER

1. Ditch the weird power connector. Good idea that it doesn't twist, but non-standard.

2. Make the AC side of the adapter cord have a 2 prong adapter instead of 3 prong. It's a pain when traveling. I order a Japanese AC plug side to avoid this.

3. Smaller power brick with a dimmer LED. Lights up the room at night.

4. Secondary battery swappable with slot drive.


FORM FACTOR

5. Thinner bottom half of case. It's fat not skinny!

6. Top half of case opens wider, nearly flat.

7. Change right side controls, e.g. radio control. They are too small and too easy to change by accident.

8. A real dock to allow quick plug and unplug of my many peripherals.

9. Backlit logo. Not the current Dell one, but something cool. Or if it isn't worth backlighting then drop the logo altogether.

10. Carbon fiber case, thin, light and elegant.


STORAGE

11. 128 GB SDD.

12. Swappable slot drive also allows HD-DVD and Blu-ray; see #4.


I/O DEVICES

13. Larger touchpad. Given the edge scrolling areas the center is too small to do much maneuvering.

14. Find a thinner high resolution camera to allow it to be integrated with LED backlit display.

15. Provide face tracking software with high-res camera.

16. Integrate a microphone array.

17. It's 2007, provide Gigabit Ethernet!

18. DisplayPort in addition to HDMI.

19. How about somebody doing a high quality digital volume control WHEEL. Nothing beats a wheel for changing volume quickly. Heck, look what iPod and mice did with a wheel that's not even easy to spin (the newer spinnable Logitech wheels are exceptional.)


KEYBOARD

20. Better feel a la IBM.

21. Backlit keys with sensor, or keyboard light.


DISPLAY

22. Higher resolution, at least 1440 across.

23. Higher maximum brightness.

24. Ability to turn the high end graphics card on and off like Sony has for power management.


SOFTWARE

25. Allow changing Dell Media Direct settings without going to Windows.

26. Offer Vista 64 and XP 64 (with all drivers)

A Bluetooth is better than green teeth...

Oh, I can taste my MPx!

Engadget, a freakishly awesome site...

Halo!

The other reason the idea that Apple will enforce patents on Microsoft is irrelevant: Microsoft and Apple signed a comprehensive patent cross licensing agreement. They each can use each other's patents freely without paying a license.

This is what people should focus on in the patent debate: large companies can cross license each other, leaving only the smaller and very innovative companies "out in the cold." Large companies already get a free pass in an "old boys' club."

Most of the lobby strength against patents in D.C. are large tech companies who want an even better deal at the expense of universities, inventors, and small companies.