Dell Adamo Unveiled and Hands-On, Just $1999 for the Stylish Thin Wonder

Dell teased us with a brief showing of their new Adamo laptop line at this year's CES, but after that first peek, we were all left hanging with only a mysterious website to satiate our curiosity. Today, Dell has finally officially announced the Adamo notebook line, which they call a "luxury brand notebook designed for the luxury conscious consumer." We got to play with the Adamo at a recent press preview meeting, and can confirm that this beauty is indeed luxurious -- easily worthy of envy. We have a ton of Adamo unboxing and close-up photos after the jump, but here are the technical details that you care about:

• Adamo's launch models are 13.4" inches (screen resolution is 1366x768) , priced at $1999 for a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo U9300 with integrated Intel X4500 video, 2 GB of DDR3 RAM, and 128GB SSD running a custom skinned Vista 64-bit. Dell has also custom skinned the Bios to match the Adamo aesthetic.
• External hard drives (up to 500GB) and Blu-Ray drives are also available, both of which match Adamo's styling.
• Dell told us that Battery life rated at 4 hours, even though the press release states 5+.
• Physically, the Adamo measures only .65" thick (thinner than the Voodoo Envy), and weighs in at 4 pounds. Aside from the Dell and Adamo logos, the notebook's rigid surface --made from aircraft grade aluminum -- bears no other unsightly marks or stickers. Even the Windows authenticity sticker is hidden in a magnetic cover in the back.
• Built-in ports include 2 USB (with power share, so you can charge devices even when Adamo is off), one eSATA/USB combo port, Display Port, RJ-45 (Wireless N is included), and a SIM card slot for mobile broadband. The Adamo has no Express Card slot nor microphone jack, though a tiny mic is embedded to the left of the keyboard.
• The Adamo is now available for preorder, shipping March 24th in Pearl and Onyx colors. A $2700 model is also available in foreign countries, and sports a 1.4GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a built-in 3G wireless card.

Samsung N310 Premium Mini Notebook PC

Samsung Electronics is going to launch its stylish premium mini notebook pc 'N310' in Korea market. Equipped with 10.1-inch LCD screen with a curved-design finish without LCD display frame, the winner of the international design award is powered by Intel Atom processor with 1GB of RAM and 160GB HDD. Supporting 802.11bg wireless LAN, HSDPA and WiBRO, the N310 also comes with a 1.3M webcam, three USB ports, and 3-in-1 multi memory slot.
If you’re looking for long battery life, this mini notebook offers up to five hours and only 1.23kg (included battery pack). The Samsung N310 is available in Turkey Blue and Red Orange, it costs between 900,000(KRW) and 1,000,000(KRW).

Intel to refresh laptop chips Monday

ntel will refresh its lineup of chips for ultraportable LAPTOP on Monday.

The new dual-core processors--targeted at Apple MacBook Air-class laptops--include the 2.53GHz SP9600 priced at $316 with 6MB of cache memory and a thermal envelope rating of 25 watts. Slotted below this chip is the 1.6GHz SU9600 (3MB cache) priced at $289 with a thermal envelope rating of 10 watts.

The lineup also includes a single-core 1.4GHz SU3500 with a thermal envelope of only 5.5 watts. This is priced at $262.

Intel ULV and LV chips due on March 30, 2009:

• SP9600 / 2.53GHz / 6MB cache / 1066MHz FSB / 2 cores / 25W / $316
  
• SL9600 / 2.13GHz / 6MB cache / 1066MHz FSB / 2 cores / 17W / $316
  
• SU9600 / 1.60GHz / 3MB cache / 800MHz FSB / 2 cores / 10W / $289
  
• SU3500 / 1.4GHz / 3MB cache / 800MHz FSB / 1 core / 5.5W / $262
  
• ICP900 / 2.2GHz / 1MB cache / 800MHz FSB / 1 core / 35W / $70
  

Note: ICP900 is a "Celeron" branded chip.

These new chip models being launched Monday are not the rumored "CULV" (consumer ultra low voltage) processors targeted at inexpensive ultra-thin laptops, according to sources close to Intel. Those future chips--which Intel will not necessarily label CULV--are not due to summer, the sources said.

The future ULV processors for inexpensive ultra-thin laptops--similar to the.expected to hit the streets next month--will be priced to allow PC makers to roll out attractive, sleek laptops that are not priced in the stratosphere, like the $1,999 DELL Adamo or $1,799 MacBook Air.

Let's step back for a minute and examine Intel's ULV lineup. Intel low-power mobile processors have been around for a long time but gained prominence with the introduction of ultra-thin luxury laptops such as the MacBook Air and the ThinkPad X300. The newest ULV chips, for instance, power Dell's LAPTOP and the update to the ThinkPad X300, the X301. (The Adamo uses Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 and SU9400 processors.)

So, what is the new line of ULV chips due this summer for inexpensive ultraportables? These processors will be a departure from Intel's strategy to date of putting ULV chips into sleek luxury laptops only. The new chips will target the price segment well below the $1,800-and-up luxury laptop market. Prices for these ultra-thin laptops would range between $600 and $1,300, according to Intel.

The processors--at least according to Intel's theoretical game plan--will not compete with the Atom processor that powers Netbooks, which fall below the $500 price point.

But this will be tricky and potentially not clear to customers. For instance, is a $700 Atom-powered Hewlett-Packard Mini 1000 Netbook with built-in broadband Verizon wireless and an 80GB hard disk drive better or worse than a not-so-full featured Pavilion dv2? We'll have to wait and see how this shakes out.