Dell Adamo Review — Macho Outside, Sissy Inside

Odelia Lee writes with a full review of Dell's new Adamo slimtop over at Gizmodo. While it may have an sleek exterior there are definite gaps (both literal and figurative) in their engineering. "The Adamo is both a compliment and an insult to Dell engineering. It's possibly the most beautiful computer Dell has ever manufactured, but I'm not sure that Dell has caught up to competitors in either aesthetics or power. There have been lots of qualitative Adamo reviews out there, but we got the first of the units that will actually ship to customers, so it's time for real benchmarks. As it happens, performance is really what's at stake here."

Re:Apples and Oranges?

[MBCook]

Gizmodo mentions the CPU speed thing, but they also point out the Air is cheaper in it's minimal configuration but still faster than the Adamo.

Re:Adamo from Dell

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Dell Adamo, for when you want to be pretentious, but you can't afford Apple.

Umm...

Dell Adamo:

• 1.2GHz - $1999
• 1.4GHz - $2699

Apple MacBook Air:

• 1.6GHz - $1799
• 1.4GHz - $2499

I'm no math whiz, but...

Re:Article summary nails it

[nsayer]

The only thing in it's favor is the higher max RAM (Apple will probably change that) and the integrated 3G option (I'd expect Apple to change that too).

Why?

I can almost see a case being made for 3 GB of RAM instead of 2 (for folks to run a VM with Windows, perhaps), but if you want higher performing graphics, you're going to see either an increase in weight or a decrease in battery life, neither of which is acceptable in that form factor product.

I suspect that Dell didn't get the memo, which is why theirs is heavier and louder.

Re:Adamo from Dell

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Correction, that last MacBook Air should be the 1.86GHz model.

Re:Adamo from Dell

[Quantos]

The Toshiba Qosmio is a far better buy than the Adamo as well.
2.13 GHz- $1849.00
Nothing special there with the Adamo, we can all find better products than a Dell, at a better price. You just need to look, and work out the arm muscles :)

Re:Hey Mike...

[QuantumRiff]

The parent was referring to when Mr. Dell said that that's what he would do if he was in charge of Apple a few years ago. Since then, they have skyrocketed...

Re:Apples and Oranges?

[UnknowingFool]

The base model Air is a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (SL9300) with a 1066MHz FSB and 6MB cache whereas the base Adamo has a 1.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (SU9300) with a 800 MHz FSB and 3MB cache. At $1799, the Air uses a 120GB SATA and the $1999 Adamo uses a 128GB SSD. The $2699 Adamo ups the CPU to 1.4 GHz and the memory to 4GB but still at 800MHz FSB.

Re:My 2 year old X61 Thinkpad is lighter, faster,

[beelsebob]

Did you miss the bit where you could fit two adamos/airs inside your think pad. The think pad is a thick 14" laptop, these are two *ultra* thin, very light 13" laptops. Where by ultra thin, we mean average 0.46" thick, compared to your thinkpad's average 1.175". And by light, we mean 3lb, not your thinkpad's 5.1lb.

Re:Apples and Oranges?

[Achromatic1978]

I loved how when talking about the "minimum configuration' in respect to the MBA being "better", you only picked those attributes that the MBA was ahead in, and none of those that it was not.

Subtle. I like it.

I didn't see any mention of integrated EvDO. eSATA. I liked the little spin that implies "you can get an SSD with the Adamo, but it'll cost you", neglecting the fact that the Adamo's SSD retails for around $450, whereas the difference in price is $200 + $48 for the MBA's 120GB SATA drive (unless of course you bought it from Apple, who'd probably charge you $200 for it)...