Dell officially announced its Adamo line of ultra thin notebook PC that is targeted at Apple’s MacBook Air. As the world’s thinnest laptop, Dell’s 13.4-inch Adamo weighs just four pounds.
The first Adamo notebook is the 13.4-inch model powered by Intel’s Core 2 Duo SU9300 processor, 2GB of DDR3 memory, a 128GB SSD and integrated X4500 graphics chipset. It has a 13.4-inch 16:9 edge-to-edge glass display and supports WiFi and Bluetooth. You can find two USB ports and a USB/eSATA combo port.
The Adamo by Dell will be shipped starting 26 March 2009 with a starting price of $1999.
Unboxing by CNET:
Adamo by Dell vs Apple MacBook Air
Wow – without wishing to sound patronising, this is a really intelligent and well-structured argument of a type not too frequently seen on the web!
You are obviously right in lots of respects, however I do think that it is possible to have a minimalist design that doesn’t copy the PB/MB. The fact is that Apple have used this rounded rectangular aesthetic in most of their products, like the iphone for example. This is another design ‘ripped off’ by Samsung, LG et al. There are other minimalist phone designs (like the Motorola PEBL and Palm Pre), yet companies like HTC with the Touch HD and Blackberry, with its Storm choose to largely copy the iphone design.
You are of course right about the conceptual lineage, but I think there are just too many detail similarities just to claim this. For example the fact that both have metallic finishes and cases, the trackpad is an almost exact rip-off, and even the perforations on the metal case are in a grid format. Okay they are squares as opposed to circles, but why not slots? Even the Dell logo on the screen is in the same place! Even the keyboard has been redesigned and isn’t the standard type. It is almost like a cross between the new and old MacBook keyboards. Have you seen pictures of the silver model? Remove the aluminium texture and badging and it could almost be Apple hardware.
Come on, you have to admit that there is clearly more going on here than just a coincidental implementation of pure laptop minimalism!
We’ll have to agree to disagree on our views about this subject, as I subscribe to the views of Mies van der Rohe and Adolf Loos. I don’t necessarily think it is the approach that is important, but how well and rigorously it is implemented. Most hardware doesn’t have an underlying aesthetic philosophy, but it is nice to see PC manufacturers taking this seriously.
I admit to understating Apple’s influence. But you run into big problems in design if you try being different for its own sake, and Apple’s made of lot of mistakes by doing just that. But PC manufacturers have made a lot of mistakes by ignoring potential improvements. Frankly Apple has some good ideas and others would do well to learn from them.
It’s the dismissive attitudes of certain Apple fans that bothers me. By refusing to discuss what’s good and different about new designs (derivative or not), preferring to scream “cloooone!”, they nip some decent ideas in the bud, preventing them from branching off and flourishing. I’d rather that posters write things like “kudos on the external port solution!” and “that hinge sure looks dangerous”.
Anyways, I think we know where each other stands now. Nice chatting, I enjoyed it.
The thing with minimalism is that there’s a much higher degree of abstraction to the design. The old PowerBooks are the stick person of laptop designs; in a sense only the most common elements of “laptopiness” remain. For Apple products, their *lack* of distinguishing features has *become* their distinguishing feature, hence why it’s so easy to think everything is a Mac derivative. Our minds have nothing else to base a comparison on but the material and basic shape. Since Apple has already gone minimal, there is no way to approach a minimal design without also increasing similarities (more accurately, decreasing dissimilarities) to the PB.
Re the Adamo: The choices I listed earlier are more than enough to reduce the Dell-Apple connection from imitation to mere conceptual lineage (both are attempts to apply minimalism). The mistake is in placing the locus of similarity in the PB instead of in minimalism, which is decades old (or centuries, depending on how strict you are with it).
Personally, I’d prefer a more idiosyncratic approach (less is a bore), but minimalism is easier (and heralded as brilliance so long as you’re first to apply it). So the return to decoration evident in the Adamo (though more so in HP and Sony’s etched/painted lids) is welcome IMO. I just wish PC manufacturers could achieve a more unified look.
Sorry, that was meant to be a reply to bigstick.
The aluminium Powerbook which formed the basis for the ‘old’ MacBook and Macbook Pro. The first and more or less only minimalist design (until this and the Envy) in a metal finish where the form is almost entirely a ‘pure’ geometrical shape without chamfers, ridges, wedges, lumps, bumps etc.
Also the stripping of all the superfluous buttons and obvious lights etc. Even the opening catch and power button are flush, unlike virtually all other laptops. The trackpad is a total rip-off.
The radiused edges on the Apple design are minimal and just small enough to soften the overall effect without making it overtly curvy. They make the difference with the object looking carefully designed as opposed to ‘we’ll just use a basic box but make the finishes really cool’. The problem with hard edges, is that you end up with something looking like an industrial case with a snazzy finish. It’s crude.
I didn’t call it a ‘clone’, but it has undeniably been influenced by Apple. Either you don’t know which model I’m referring to or are just being obtuse. I wonder whether you actually know anything about design, because you don’t appear to have an eye for it at all.
“Apple Powerbook of course”? I’m sorry, what Powerbook would that be? This has hard edges (personally, I’m sick of Apple’s obsession with rounded corners), character stripe w/ textured accents, non-glowy small off-center logo, is available in colours other than grey, inset hinge, etc. These are not minor differences.
Similarities to PB, of course, but we can’t very well do away with hinges and keyboards (except maybe on tablets). Calling this an obvious Apple design clone is a bit of a stretch.
On first look – very cool, but wait, haven’t I seen this sort of thing before? Oh yes, Apple Powerbook of course, I wonder how old that design is? There are also touches of the new HP Voodoo Envy. Except that both of these PC designs are a little crude, too square and sharp, a bit like someone has modeled them on a very simple cad system that doesn’t support edge filleting.
However, it’s nice to see PC manufacturers finally caring about product aesthetics!
Again, I don’t see the obvious copying here. What does this design share with a PB that Apple didn’t borrow from previous laptop designs? Using glass is about all I can think of, and that’s assuming you include MacBook Pros. I have a laptop from around 1996 that has an aluminum lid.
I hardly think the MBA is the “obvious beauty” here, with its ugly keyboard, excessive and consipicuous branding, and very dated black/silver aesthetic (ffs I have a 10 year old toaster and travel mug sporting the black and brushed steel). That’s not to say Dell can’t improve on this, just that the ‘looks’ gap is fairly narrow here. And you sure as hell can’t get the MBA with SSD for under $2000.
I’ll readily admit, though, that the Adamo’s packing, while fairly spiffy, is a bit unnecessary. Could probably ship a proper carrying case for price similar to the plastic thing.
I agree with Avery.
And the MBA has a much nicer keyboard, and it’s design is much more appealing then the Dell. The MBA sure doesn’t have that unsightly thing hanging out the back(which I’m sure limits how far back you can put the screen). The piece hanging out the back is also about twice as thick as the computer. The MBA is thinner too… it’s thinnest point is 0.16 inches and it’s maximum is 0.76 inches. Sure, the dell may be thinner than the MBA’s thickest point, but the MBA is thinner overall. No question about that. As far as the comment on not being able to get a MBA for $2000 with a solid state… maybe the reason for that is because the dell only has a 1.2GHz processor(to the MBA’s 1.6Ghz or optional 1.8GHz processor), the dell has intel graphics to the MBA’s NVIDIA graphics. Let’s looks closer into the CPU specs: MBA – 1066MHz front side bus; dell adamo – 800MHz front side bus ; MBA – CPU cache 6mb ; dell adamo – 3mb… you’re right… MBA isn’t the “obvious beauty here”… it’s only a beauty on the outside… compared to the dell it’s a BEAST on the inside! Let’s also not forget the weight difference… the MBA weighs only 3lbs. the dell… 4lbs! We also should remember that the dell has another huge drawback… Vista! and of course, dell isn’t making computers how they used to. They were good years ago… they’ve been putting out junk lately. As far as I’m concerned I’m sticking with the MBA.
MBA’s hardly a beast in any sense of the word. Realistically, MBA and Adamo are both dead slow. At sub-2GHz speeds, regardless of bus and ram, you won’t be doing anything fancy with either of them. At least the Adamo will come with (standard) Blue ray and a proper assortment of peripheral ports. But you don’t buy an ultraslim for the power anyways, you buy for portability. But both of these fail on portability, too.
1″ vs 3/4″ and 4lbs vs 2lbs (just arbitrary stats) aren’t all that significant in terms of where you can take a laptop. Netbooks like HP’s, however, still have full-size keyboards, but 10″ screens and a much smaller frame that fits easily into a purse or briefcase (way cheaper than the slims, too). Once you’re willing to tote a separate case and go 13″ plus, you might as well start looking for a better price/performance ratio. Standard MB or a decent PC laptop, for example.
Frankly, MBA and Adamo are both loaded with fail unless you’re rich enough not to care.
True, both the MBA and Adamo have low specs for the computers these days… but they also aren’t meant to be gaming spec computers. The whole point of the MBA was to be small, light weight, and simple. The ideal notebook for a person who travels a lot. As far as blue ray, again, Apple on purpose designed the laptop to be simple… one USB port, one mini display port, a multimedia jack, and a a/c adapter port. Putting blue ray(or even any optical drive) and a lot of ports on the MBA would have defeated the whole purpose of the MBA. If you need a drive for your computer that’s the point of a external super drive. Or, use remote disc. Dell’s point seems to be to try and come up with a notebook to compete with the MBA and at the same time load it up with features. Again, this defeats the whole purpose of a small, lightweight, simple notebook.
As far as the portability comment, the MBA is definitely a ultra-portable computer. It wasn’t meant to be a puny little netbook… just a regular sized ultra thin computer that you get the advantages of having the 13″ screen, and the advantages of having an ultra portable computer. Apple has said before about the netbook market “We’re watching that space, but from our [point of view] the products are based on hardware that’s much less powerful, software technology that’s not good, cramped displays. We don’t think that people are going to be pleased with those type of products. It’s a category we watch, we have some ideas here, but we think the products there now are inferior and won’t provide the kind of experience people want.”
HP’s latest netbook can only take up to half the ram the MBA can take(2gb DDR2 vs MBA’s top 4gb DDR3) and it also has a 128kb cache vs MBA’s 6mb cache. The only advantages I see to a mininote pc is the extra hard drive space and the weight(approx 1 LBS lighter then MBA). Oh, and having the option to have Suse preinstalled instead of vista is definitely a plus… but, with any computer, it would be easy to download and install any linux distro yourself.
Beauty and the beast… (needless to say the MBA is the beauty)