Dell Adamo 13, released in April 2009, is an ultrathin laptop, designed to give competition to Apple’s 13” Macbook Air. The price has been adjusted to be a shade below Macbook Air.
Specifications :
Dell Adamo 13 uses a CULV SU9400 CPU with Core2 Duo, together with 4GB RAM of DDR2-800MHz, 802.11N wireless plus a Samsung SSD, 128GB. Adamo comes wrapped in a machine finish aluminum case. It weighs just about 4lbs together with the AC adapter with the overall thickness as 0.65inches alone. The screen is a 13” 1366×768 pixels and has a nice color range and its finish is high-gloss.
The keyboard has back lit, automatically adjusting to ambient lights. Bluetooth mouse is present, but no integrated optical drive. There are 2 USB ports with 1 USB+eSATA combination port placed at the backside of the machine. A DisplayPort interface for external video, and the Adamo came with a HDMI adapter. The Webcam adjusts itself to variety of ambient light conditions. The computer ships inside a thick plastic like a capsule that fits inside a standard shipping box.
Price and Software :
Adamo 13 is priced at $1500, and is a moderately specified machine. The machine is available in two colors, black and white. The installed OS is Windows 7 Home Premium, which boots at around 40 seconds. Battery life is mediocre, giving in at around 4 hours under Windows and about 20-25% more in Linux. This is not a machine for heavy duties.
Compatibility :
Compatibility with Ubuntu was complete. There were no major issues with Linux, but there were a couple of funny quirks. Pairing the Bluetooth mouse was faster and easier under Linux compared to Windows, although there could have been some way that Lubuntu could actually deactivate the touchpad. Sound worked well, and the max setting is far noiseless in Linux compared to under Windows. The Fn keys operate quite flawlessly with Linux, and allowed adjustments to the screen and ambient lighting levels.