Combining portability, power and polish isn’t easy, but Dell’s Adamo notebook is confidently leading the way.

It would be easy to fall head over heels for Dell’s Adamo notebook before you even turned it on or opened it up. Highly anticipated in its arrival by consumers and designers alike, the first glance at a Dell Adamo notebook does not disappoint. The exterior design of the Adamo is, in a word, sleek. Eye-catchingly sleek. For the user that is both highly mobile but also conscious of the way in which their notebook represents them, Dell provide a  high-end, luxury machine, that sets a ‘world thinnest’ uniform 1.64 cm from the table and weighs in under 2 kilograms for superior portability.

Dell have matched the MacBook Air design with the Adamo’s super lightweight unibody aluminium case, delivering both the dependable strength and heat-blocking features of the MacBook, whilst maintaining a luxury aesthetic with the Adamo that is unmatched in the notebook class. Available in Dell’s own black ‘Onyx’ or white ‘Pearl’ colour schemes, a variety of designer touches – such as the gloss-finished lid designs (etched with a wave pattern in the Pearl for the more adventurous) which are uncomplicated by Dell branding – give the Adamo a visual sophistication. Even the brushed-metal vents on the rear of the keyboard tray are stylized in smooth geometric arrangements.

What distinguishes the Adamo further from the majority of its notebook competitors is the balance it achieves between its size and its power and functionality. Though slightly heavier than the MacBook Air, the Adamo has a larger edge-to-edge, 13.4 inch glass screen with a battery-saving LED (as is all the backlighting in the Adamo) 16:9 HD display. This supports dense graphics and colour for the serious gamer, DVD and general viewer, though it is somewhat susceptible to glare.

This large screen is supported by powerful internal features which, again, belie the common conceptions about small laptops with emphasised manoeuvrability. Powered by a lithium polymer laptop battery, which is lighter, has an improved life cycle to previous lithium laptop batteries, and provide up to 5 hours usage on a full charge, the Adamo’s Intel Centrino 2 Processor Technology and Intel Core 2 Duo Processor give this lightweight notebook impressive function speed.

Utilized by many major notebook developers such as Mac and Toshiba, the development of the Intel Centrino 2 Processor allows the Adamo system components to communicate more effectively than before, enabling uncompromised multi-tasking (even with intensive, energy-draining software), whilst the improved bandwidth (1066 MHz from 800) permits high-end gaming and multimedia HD applications. The laptop-specific Intel Core 2 Duo Processor in the Adamo is a low-voltage edition for energy conservation, however the 128 GB solid state drive and 2 GB memory is comparable to the best notebooks on the market. The two USB ports, a USB eSATA port for improved interaction with external hard-drives, a headphone jack and an unprecedented SIM card slot (negating the need to dedicate a USB port to wireless internet access) all add to the impressive and diverse functionality of the Adamo range.

With its numerous stylistic and dimensional innovations, and the internal power to support intensive application and software use unlike many notebooks, the Adamo is  not a cheap laptop. Price-wise, the Adamo falls into about the same range as the MacBook Air, if slightly more expensive, but  it should be available for under $4,500. However, as you type on the scalloped, flat keys designed for quicker typing or use the innovative metal touch pad before closing up the glossed lid and throwing it into your bag, you realize that the balance between luxury design, deceptive power and ultimate portability is what sets the Adamo apart from the cheaper alternatives.