I'd love to have a faster OS for my netbook!

Article: "Dell Adamo ultrathin laptop rumors surface"
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/18/dell-adamo-ultrathin-laptop-rumors-surface/

My favorite post, including all of the follow-up coverage which lead up to my purchase of the most amazing laptop ever.

I prereordered the adamo, and I have not regretted it since it arrived two weeks ago.

First off: it turns heads. No questions asked. (Well, actually people do ask "what is that computer", followed by an incredulous "THAT'S a DELL?!?") The black model is absolutely stunning as well as classy. The build quality is amazing - it feels solid (see below in re: engadget's flexing complaint). This is the perfect size laptop - perfect for travel. It's so thin it fits in almost any bag, and it has a small footprint but with room enough for a well sized keyboard and good sized screen. I tried out a VAIO TT, and while it was a nice machine, it was just too small (and paled in comparison to the Adamo's design).

Secondly, it seems as if Engadget got their hands on a preproduction model:
1. The perforated magnetic plate which covers the windows sku stickers etc is quite firmly attached. (See the video where they flex the panel above) In fact, I wondered if Dell had decided against using magnets because I could not figure out how to get it off for a while. In short: it is quite solid on mine. Personally, I am overjoyed they choose to hide the stickers this way because the system looks really sharp without them on the body.
2. The display on mine is covered with mineral glass. Mineral glass is lighter and more durable than regular glass (like that on the MacBooks), but it still has a nice fit and finish look to it.
3. The actual consumer packing features more accessories which were not pictured in the Engadget unboxing (or video): DisplayPort to DVI adapter, cleaning cloth (very necessary), and useless instruction booklet.

In terms of performance, I was pleasantly surprised: I bought the 1.2GHz version with no illusions that this would be a speed demon. However, even in comparison to my HP Blackbird, the Adamo did not appear noticeably slower (on every day tasks, not on stuff like video encoding). In fact, the Adamo boots in about 60% of the time it takes my blackbird. The SSD makes a big difference. HDD access speeds are great (obviously), making operations like loading programs quite fast: although the processor is slower, the SSD is very fast meaning that some programs actually load faster. (My Photoshop CS launches at the same speed on both with a 10 second margin of error.)

I think the compromise of using a slower processor but including the SSD was a good one: the lack of GHz is made up for by the speed of the SSD in everyday tasks (e.g. Word Processing, iTunes Movies/Music, web browsing). The slower processor saves power and only requires the fan to rev up when I am doing some heavier work - unlike Engadget, I rarely hear my processor fan (perhaps another difference between pre-production and production units.) My only complaint is that I see some occasional stuttering when watching a Movie in iTunes and having something like a file transfer or windows update running in the background, but otherwise no complaints (I have not tried downscaling 1080p content and I don't think I should).

In the area of battery life, I am quite satisfied: I've gotten 4hrs pretty consistently out of normal use (Dell's power management settings are pretty reasonable - the screen is still pretty bright).


The bottom line for me is that this is an accessory to my desktop (albeit an expensive one). If you want to use this as your primary computer, I would warn you away unless you restrict your activities to Word Processing, listening to music and watching movies in iTunes, and surfing the web.

What I do is I transfer all the files I need between my Blackbird and my Adamo over my home network. This is not a bad setup: its pretty fast if you use an ethernet cable and wifi is pretty good. What I have taken to doing is copying recorded TV shows from my Blackbird to the Adamo and then watching them on the go - this system works quite well for me.

A hidden bonus which surprised me was Dell's webcam central software: I am pretty sure it embarrasses apple's photobooth. There are so many effects to play around with which follow your face as you move it around: you can have an animated devil and angel on your shoulders, cupid circling you, steam coming out of your ears, or my personal favorite: the werewolf mask (your face even is animated to morph into the face). You can also add wigs, mustaches, hats, etc on top of any other filters you are using, you can add backdrops, and of course add the regular effects (like mirror screen, distorted, etc). Finally, there are voice modulators and even a few "avatars" which replace your image in the video feed and move their heads, mouths, and eyes around as you move yours. (These include a kitten, will smith cartoon, alien, puppy, and others.) My friends who have macs were jealous - a pleasant surprise(I understand you can get this software with other dell laptops.)

I have some unboxing pictures of my retail version if you are curious:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/will4laptop/sets/72157616384392325/

Well, the problem is that Macs really aren't that TV friendly so it stands to reason that they would develop for the many windows users who already have TV tuner cards, which are the main attraction of their product.

The app perfectly with my vista mce tv tuner card. Watching LIVE TV on the iPhone is worth the $10 alone.

The only reason I would get excited about this is if it had "DisplayPort" (meaning the DVI replacement standard supported on the Dell 3008WFP.) "DisplayLink" just sounds like some confusing proprietary branding jargon for "integrated graphics card".
What I would love to see (especially on sony laptops with Blu-Ray drives) would be support for 2560x1600 (dual-link dvi) resolutions such that I could connect a laptop (other than the MacBook Pro) to my 30" display.

Only 2 Things:
#1 GET RID IF THE BULGING PLASTIC CASE. (Sorry for the caps.) I love the aluminum and the clean lines on my 1st gen iPhone and I will not settle for anything.
#2 iSight cam on the front for iChat. Please?!?

But seriously, the plastic is really bad.

I am sorry, but I just do not like the Alienware design language. Alienware pc's look plasticy (read: cheap) and bloated (read: ugly).
They definitely do not merit the high price tag despite the high-end components in them. Sure you can snap together expensive components and shove them into a plastic case, add lights, and call it a high-end product, but it doesn't make it true.
I like what HP Voodoo have going on - high-end components in meticulously designed, high end (read: not plastic!!!), and genuinely innovative, cases.

GPU's, CPU's, even the power-supply are cooled.
What he means when he talks about the entire case is that instead of having a case simply with a grill and a place to mount a cooling system, the cooling system is embedded into the system.
The radiator fins are built right in, and there are copper pipes and liquid cooling hoses actually built into the case in a modular system.
What this means is that you can "daisy-chain" the hoses (connect one to another to another, etc...)
For example, say you get one with 1 video card (Liquid Cooled).
if you buy a new one (provided you get it with the right heat-sink on top, you can simply unplug the hose from one of the walls inside the case, plug it into your new video card, and connect your video card to that nozzle in the case wall. (Sort of like adding a string of christmas tree lights to the middle of your existing setup - you unplug the two already there, then connect one to one end of the new cable, and connect the other to the other end of the new cable, thereby keeping the circuit intact.)

GPU's, CPU's, even the power-supply are cooled.
What he means when he talks about the entire case is that instead of having a case simply with a grill and a place to mount a cooling system, the cooling system is embedded into the system.
The radiator fins are built right in, and there are copper pipes and liquid cooling hoses actually built into the case in a modular system.
What this means is that you can "daisy-chain" the hoses (connect one to another to another, etc...)
For example, say you get one with 1 video card (Liquid Cooled).
if you buy a new one (provided you get it with the right heat-sink on top, you can simply unplug the hose from one of the walls inside the case, plug it into your new video card, and connect your video card to that nozzle in the case wall. (Sort of like adding a string of christmas tree lights to the middle of your existing setup - you unplug the two already there, then connect one to one end of the new cable, and connect the other to the other end of the new cable, thereby keeping the circuit intact.)