Dell’s Adamo XPS: Incredibly Thin! Unexpectedly Odd!

By  |  Friday, November 6, 2009 at 11:56 am

Dell Adamo XPSOkay, now we know why Dell was being so secretive about its new Adamo XPS laptop: It’s not only remarkably thin (9.99mm) but also uses a design which is unique, as far as I know. The keyboard hinges to the display not at its edge but part way up,so the keyboard is angled upwards. As seen in the photo above, the ports are on the display half of the system rather than the keyboard part. And you swipe your finger across some sort of band to open the case. Very, very unusual.

Most attempts to “improve” laptop design have flopped, but the Adamo is intriguing, at least. It’s kind of hard to figure it out without seeing it in person–which I haven’t done–but reports from those who have are at least guardedly positive, and say the angled keyboard makes for comfy typing.
Props to Dell for trying something different, at least. It has a preview site up with basic specs for the new Adamo; it’ll cost $1799 and be out for the holiday season.

Any guesses as to whether the slanty keyboard will be successful? Can you envision other PC manufacturers plagiarizing the idea, or is this the 2009 equivalent of an IBM butterfly Thinkpad?

 
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5 Comments For This Post

  1. Jim Says:
    November 6th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    Flat keyboards on laptops have always been the bane of laptops, IMHO. I think this is a serious breakthrough. If I were in the market for a laptop, this would be a top choice for the keyboard. Not so much for the ‘thinness’, and certainly not on cost. But I hope the keyboard idea catches on!

  2. Z Says:
    November 6th, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    I can see this angle being odd for, you know, typing on my *lap*.

  3. Tech Says:
    November 7th, 2009 at 7:38 pm

    The slanty keyboard will be a flop.

  4. Ultrathin, Ultraportable And Portable Laptop Says:
    November 19th, 2009 at 5:31 pm

    This pretty little machine seems grossly under powered for the price. With any luck it comes with a free upgrade to Windows 7. I frequently use a free utility called Game B**ster which shuts down non vital background processes while gaming, which I use almost all the time no matter what I’m doing. It seems like this would be a great addition

  5. alex Says:
    December 4th, 2009 at 1:34 pm

    I do not like this keyboard, I think it will be very difficult to use

1 Trackbacks For This Post

  1. New MacBook Airs: Thin, Light, and Utterly Mainstream Says:
    July 20th, 2011 at 5:31 am

    […] Z Series, slick but pricier than an Air. (What was that about an Apple Tax again?)  Or, like Dell’s Adamo, just plain unsuccessful. I hope that the new Airs inspire Apple’s competitors to try […]