Dell had a line of ultrathin laptops called the Adamo that seemed to be competing with the MacBook Air, but due to low sales numbers, the last model from the Adamo line, the Adamo XPS, was discontinued back in February. However, with Intel’s push behind its Ultrabook category of laptops, Dell may be jumping back into the pool with their Ultrabook model around the time of CES 2012.
Dell Adamo XPS
Dell had some great hardware designs for the Adamo line, as can be seen above. However, due to high prices for components, and disappointing performance from those components and batteries, people just weren’t keen to shell out so much for an underperforming laptop. But now that Intel is helping manufacturers make thin and light Ultrabooks with great battery life, graphics, and computing performance, Dell may have more success with an Ultrabook line this time around.
In addition, Intel will be announcing availability of their next-generation, 22-nanometer, Ivy Bridge processor which will be powering many (if not all) Ultrabooks for released around spring of 2012, around the time of CES, allowing Ultrabook manufacturers to adopt it for their fall 2012 products. So while the timing for Dell’s possible Ultrabook would be coincidental, it would make sense for Dell to take advantage of Ivy Bridge’s USB 3.0 support and more powerful graphics performance.
Dell has had some really interesting hardware designs, like the Inspiron Duo with the 360-degree, horizontally swiveling screen, or the Adamo XPS above. It would be nice to see more innovative designs pop up in the Ultrabook category to add a little bit more variety to the more conventional, MacBook Air-like designs from Asus and Acer. Lenovo and Toshiba had Ultrabook models that looked a tad different from the Acer and Asus models, but not as different as the aforementioned Dell products. Dell might be able to win over some Ultrabook shoppers if they can get the pricing right.
Via Electronista, CNet
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