Dell Adamo XPS Ultra Thin Notebook Coming

Dell Adamo XPS Ultra Thin Notebook Coming

Dell today put up a teaser site for its upcoming Adamo XPS notebook, which is advertised to be 9.99 mm (0.40 inches) thin. There is no information on specifications, pricing, or a release date at this time.

Dell Teaser Site

 

Ohh..This looks very *interesting*.

Looking forward to more information. I like the XPS line.


Cin...

 

That seems extremely thin. Looks interesting though.

 

I hope it has a CD drive. I hope it has more than one USB port. I hope it has a removable battery.

...

Actually, I'll just sum this up a little better. I hope it is better than the Macbook Air. That would make an awesome ultraportable.

 

Teaser for a 9.99mm thick notebook goes up on 9/9/09.

I wonder how long they were sitting on the announcement.

 

The better not be an atom and if they must be an atom better be a dual core atom N430 with good hd support.

 

Interesting, looks like they abandoned the square edges (and cooling holes).

 

In case anyone needs a benchmark, 9.99mm is a little less than the thickness of a pinky.

 

It's also, I believe, thinner than the iPhones. Highly likely that this will be using an Atom, since such a thin profile really constricts what freedom Dell has to implement some sort of cooling system.

 

My mouth is watering, if only because I'm really interested in how they engineered this kind of product.

 

Dell Adamo with normal features/specs but super thin body: 2 grand

Dell Adamo XPS with normal features/specs but super duper thin body: priceless

This thing will probably be a bomb. I'm already calling it a bust for being too expensive and lacking anything worthy of the cost besides the fact that its thickness lined up with a fancy launch date (9/9/9... Dell joins a movie, and just about every other company out there in this regard).

Those hoping for higher end specs are probably going to get nothing better than an Atom or CULV (and I highly doubt they can cool one of those in that chassis). The XPS name does mandate some sort of graphically intense or multimedia oriented feature though, so perhaps a 9400m and an HD screen (a la the Studio 14z's 900p).

I don't see why the craze is to make these laptops thinner and thinner. I personally would like to see them make more compact models better performers/more efficient/more affordable than see them make a notebook paper thin with specs that make it nothing more than an expensive paperweight.

 

Half the thickness of a MB Air?!

 

For the record, the Dell XPS branding originated as an acronym: eXtreme Performance System. I'm not sure how Dell plans to keep that true for the Adamo (its thicker cousins are already widely frowned upon for being as relatively weak as they are), but hopefully they will at least manage to avoid making it any less powerful than the current Adamo models.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking - it seems strange to label a form-over-performance machine with "XPS" - I think Dell's using it more like a label to indicate a more expensive "higher class" model compared to other Dell offerings.

 

is 9/9/9 the actual launch date for this xps system?

 

Well Dell XPS started being turned into a premium brand rather than a performance brand. It was quite a while ago, a 13" that was rather small... Just forgot the model #.

I'm starting to worry how they manage to fit ports on there. A USB port is 7.5mm thick already. Not to mention the power adapter (a wireless charge pad would be way cool).

 

The XPS notebooks I can recall of late all had some notable advantage to other systems...
Back on the old M1210 they were putting Core Duos and a lightweight discrete Geforce 7400 in a 12 incher...
XPS M1330 had the 8400m GS (discrete graphics were unheard of on ultraportables before this)
XPS M1530 had 8600 GT
SXPS 13 has the 9500m, the SXPS 16 has the ATI 4670 (previously 3670)

Then again, there were duds like the 14 inch M140 which lacked any dedicated options. Lets not bring up the M2010 fiasco...

Who knows, maybe Dell will break some ground and surprise us with this Adamo... 9400m I would be surprised, Intel 4500 and I'll be disappointed.

 

and lets lets pray not for GMA 950

 

I think it was a brief *sneak peak* or more or less...essential Dell *tease*
Some good spec's...moderately priced, would be nice..not $2K....

Cin...

 

I wouldn't be surprised... Sony is planning on releasing an Atom/CULV 11 inch netbook, and this Adamo always seemed like a rebranded Sony machine to me... Dell makes its bones by giving budget features/performance and a few nicer options on the side, but even these are usually competitive in pricing at least.

The first Adamo with nothing but style going for it and its $2k price tag was a Sony move.

 

Actually the XPS M140 was probably the first consumer Dell notebooks to push close to 8 hour battery life. That was an awesome machine in my book.

 

As others have said, the XPS brand has become a 'premium' brand name for Dell; they've been introducing it across both notebook and desktop lines as such. As for the Adamo XPS, it's neat.



(i have seen one).

 

if it has good spec. and battery for sub 2000 price, I am so buying it! Though I am not sure how would notebook that thin fill...

 

It's thin, I'll give it that. However, is it just a concept, or a full on notebook? I read somewhere (Engadget?) that it was just a concept, implying that it won't go into full-scale series production.

Specwise I call Atom, Ion/9400M (if they decide to make use of Dell's XPS performance tradition - otherwise, expect GMA 500), soldered in RAM/SSD, etc. Based on the picture, it's around 325-335mm wide. Sounds like a 13.4" widescreen to me, with a fair amount of bezel - like the MSI X-Slim 340, but even thinner. Its going to be a terrible notebook - literally cutting edge designs like this, the MacBook Air, the Sony X505/X-Series - expensive, impractical, they always are, but they're also incredibly amazing from an engineering standpoint. I can't wait.

 

Wow that's paper thin in notebook terms. Hope they smack inside it a discrete GPU as an option.

 

This computer will not have any regular ports (ie usb, hmdi, vga etc) Everything will be done via adapters. It will have a CULV. It will have passive cooling so the body of the computer will work as a heatsink (similar to MBA). It may have the 9400m. It is thinner than your cell phone. Also it may have the soldered RAM type. So no upgrading.

 

Holy crap! 0.4 inches thick? That's basically nothing! Almost invisible in my book.
I hope the monitor wont be small... I got something against small monitors.

 

Dell has really got some good engineers/designers working for them right now.
A lot of blogs seem to be predicting that this notebook will have a CULV processor. In a 9mm notebook it will be amazing if Dell can pull that off.

With Arrandale ULV processors expected around Q1 in 2010, these laptops will soon be updated in a couple of months if they do go the ULV route.

Still no word really on the screen size though or weight.
Dell should just come out with the specs already lol.

I hope that this notebook will have decent battery life.

 

Altough it is good engineering, this computer is so pointless. Since the body is probably gona be made from aluminium, it will be heavier than 2lbs. On a cell phone thin is good since you are putting it in your pocket and donlt want to have a big bump in your pocket. Ok, some may want that look but not most. Laptop will go into a bag. Doesn;t matter if it is 10mm or 20mm since the height is not the deal breaker for most netbooks.

 

Aluminum is actually a fairly light metal. The 17" MBP, for example, is among the lightest in it's class, and is made from aluminum.

But the bad thing about aluminum is that it is soft. Bump hard into something, and you've got a dent forever.

 

Ultra-thin? Get real, we're not talking about menstrual pads here lol. Going thinner than a Macbook Air is redundant in my book. The thing's going to be slower than the competition, it's possibly not going to be as upgradeable... what the heck is the point? Oh, because it's more fashionable? Pff.

 

So the Macbook Air is the defacto standard of how thin a thin notebook should be? Lets face it, a macbook air is as thin as it is for fashion as well.

 

9.99-7.5= 2.49 MM. Yeah there's enough space there. Maybe they can even make it charge over USB Just plug in a power supply into any USB port and wham! it charges, only hopefully with no wham.

 

it's a fashion notebook. Like the Air. It's not meant to be utilitarian like other notebooks.

 

MidnightSun mentioned that this was thinner than an iPhone. What if it uses an ARM processor? Dell released a cellphone (presumably with an ARM processor) in China ( http://gizmodo.com/5334773/dell-android-phone-is-real-if-you-happen-to-live-in-china); maybe it decided an ARM was good enough for a notebook. I'll be impressed if the Adamo XPS contains any processor better than an ARM, especially if it's an Intel ULV or CULV. In fact, I'm already impressed.

 

That's true. But the fact still stands: the Air is a perfect combination between outstanding thickness and great functionality. Anything thinner and the manufacturer needs to produce a laptop with limited hardware.

 

I disagree.

Perfect combination?
And no one else can make a laptop that is a little thinner, even if marginally, with more hardware functionality? Technology will move forward and even over time the Macbook Air itself will get thinner, even if marginally.

Maybe, just maybe, your bias is showing? I do not think those are facts at all, just personal opinion.

 

Actually I agree with him. With the exception of ports, the Air has the best components I know of for a thin notebook. Regular Core 2 instead of ULV/CULV. Good integrated graphics. Good performance.

 

This looks interesting.

 

will still don't know the spec...

 

How do you expect for technology to advance if you don't push the envelope? Technology doesn't advance by standing still.

An ARM processor is powerful for a phone, but not for a netbook nor a notebook. I would say the Atom would be the min that Dell would go.

Whats easier to carry? A giant beachball or a netbook? I'm sure the beachball is much lighter, but is harder to carry around.

See where I'm going with this? Portability is determined by both weight and form factor.

 

Your point would be well taken, MrX, but the problem is a normal notebook isnt a beach ball. This notebook just shaved some of the foam off the top of a glass of beer. Its still a glass of beer (i.e. its still going to take up the same amount of space on a desk as any other 13 incher), except its lighter and thinner.

The importance of thickness, to me, is not a linear curve. It gets less and less meaningful after a certain point. For me, ~1 inch is that bright line, where anything less I go 'eh, who cares'. If its 1 cm thin but still weighs as much as a notebook that is 2 cm thin, then its not worth the time of day.

 

Actually the MBA is using the intel LV SL cpu, and the first gen had the intel x3100 gpu. It only since the gen 2(rev.b) they added the ION gpu. But yeah the LV is faster the ULV, but it also produces more heat as the MBA, and even Lenovo U110(same specs as first gen MBA in a 11in form factor) users know.

 

I see what you mean.

For me personally although aluminum may be heavier than plastics. I'd still go aluminum.

 

by the looks of it, this computer will have a SSD drive and no fan. I HOPE! fingers crossed XX

so its not just about style.

 

It will have a SSD, but also a fan... plus a $3000+ base price...

 

How do you know? DO you happen to have a link?

 

No fan? what the heck.

I don't see how it would cool itself sufficiently then, if it was sportin any kind of powerful cpu.

 

Thats why we are all suspecting it to be a flop. Its going to be that thin, theres no way it will be able to support the kind of hardware that earns the 'XPS' title. It seems to me like its going to be a hyped up ultra thin with the same performance capabilities as a cheaper Timeline.

Oh, but its XPS, so it must be good. Amirite?

 

Under-powered, Over-hyped, and Over-priced.