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Dell's super-thin, super-secret new Adamo

By Andy Patrizio on September 11, 2009 2:20 PM

Timing is everything. I say that as an investor with a track record of buying high and selling low, and now it looks like Dell learning the same thing. The latest in its Adamo family of ultra-thin notebooks is really, really thin. As in 9.99mm thick. That's 0.40 inches for us in the States.

Dell thought it would be cute to announce the new super-skinny laptop on September 9. Get it? A 9.99mm thick Adamo XPS notebook on 9/9/09. Sure, it's corny but it might have worked if something else super-skinny hadn't sucked all the oxygen out of the room, for that was the day Steve Jobs returned to the stage he enjoys so much to introduce new iPods.

While waiting outside the Yerba Buena Arts Center before the show, I was in the area where they had all the reporters corralled, and you could hear idle chatter among them about a new, super-thin new Adamo, and it would be dismissed almost as quickly as it was brought up.

To quote Richard B. Riddick in the film Pitch Black: "Extremely. Bad. Timing."

Dell didn't divulge any details on the Adamo, just a side profile showing its thin profile. At 9.99mm, it's thinner than the 17.4mm MacBook Air and even the iPhone, although the Air tapers from the thickest point to the thinnest area, by the keyboard. The Adamo is the same thickness all the way through.

Those who have seen the Adamo say it's a working prototype that weighs less than two pounds and has a 13-inch screen. Dell would only say the laptop is a concept design, similar to the kinds of concept cars Detroit has made over the years. What that means is we may not get this laptop as conceived now. They have not given specs or a release date for this device.

There was speculation it would be Atom-based, since cooling a standard processor in a design that thin, even the ultra-low voltage (ULV) designs. With a 13-inch screen, it's not likely to be Atom-based. Dell already had to axe a large-screened Atom netbook because it couldn't get support to promote it.

It will likely use one of Intel's ULV processor or perhaps a 32nm Arrandale, due next year. How it will get a battery with any appreciable lifespan in a 0.40 inch design remains to be seen. Making it afford will be another challenge. The current Adamo is $1,999, a pricey proposition, and this won't likely be any cheaper.

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