Dell Readies Rival To Apple Air Notebook

Dell is ready to release its answer to Apple’s ultra-thin Macbook Air, after reports suggest that the razor-thin Adamo XPS notebook will hit the shelves on 22 October, with prices starting at $2,000 (£1,224).

According to a report from Business Week, the Adamo XPS notebook, the follow-up to the company’s Adamo ultra-thin device released in March, measures 0.39 inch thick (the world’s thinnest) and includes a heat-sensing strip on the lid of the screen, which when swiped opens up the notebook automatically. Dell first previewed the XPS through a specially created website in September.

On the company’s website, the Adamo product page offers few details about the new device, with just a few photos of the XPS model in razor-thin profile. At roughly half the thickness of the Adamo notebooks released earlier this year, the XPS measures less than 1 centimetre (or four-tenths of an inch) thick.

For comparison, the Apple Air is three-quarters of an inch at its thickest point. The Air retails for $1,499, the same price point as the Adamo models launched in March. “This isn’t going to be a high-volume product for us, but it’s going to be a product that says, ‘Wow! Dell did that. What else does Dell have?'” Ronald G. Garriques, head of Dell’s consumer division, told Business Week.

The current Adamo notebooks come in a choice of pearl- or onyx-colored casing. The “Admire” model, sporting a 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with Centrino technology, 2GB of 800MHz DDR3 dual-channel memory and a 128GB solid-state drive, starts at $1,499 (£918), while the 1.4GHz “Desire” with 4GB of memory and a 256GB solid-state drive starts at $2,299 (£1,410). The Desire model also features mobile broadband capability.

Shared features include a 13.4-inch, 16:9, high-definition (720p) WLED display; a full-size keyboard with back-lighting and scalloped, metallic key cap design; an integrated 1.3-megapixel camera and integrated digital microphone; and a 5-hour battery life capacity through using Li-Polymer cells.

Dell is also offering two luxury packages, “Jet-Setter” and “Entrepreneur”: The Jet-Setter package, which costs $1,849, (£1,132) includes a pearl-colored Adamo, Tumi notebook case, an Adamo external DVD-RW drive, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, and one year of Adamo premium service.

The Entrepreneur package includes the Pearl Adamo notebook, external DVD-RW drive and one year of premium service offered for $1,699 (£1,040).