Silk purse, sow's ear, etc.
Hardware specification aside, it's hard to imagine how the combination of Dell and Vista could conceivably create anything remotely likely to attract would-be Macbook Air buyers...
Dell is definitely taking a page from Apple with the imminent launch of its Adamo ultra-portable laptop. Not only does the PC giant have the anticipated mobile pinned as a Macbook Air killer, Dell has been as tight-lipped on details as the Cupertino-based cult. Dell's been seriously milking the Adamo intrigue business for …
Erm, that thing isn't competing with the Macbook Air at all! It looks more like a badly-executed (and slightly thicker) clone of my old black 13-inch MacBook -- except that It doesn't run OSX, and I'll bet you won't be able to buy it for anything like the $1299 I paid for the MacBook!
All I've had from Dell is laptops that overheat and die.
This is based solely from owning an XPS M1710 which almost survived being kicked around in a campervan going around NZ for two weeks before its notably flawed graphics cooling failing back in Oz. I probably broke some horrific quarantine laws importing the two pounds of filth that are probably clogging it up back into the country.
I'm personally bored of netbooks - they're simple commodities that ably do the limited job they were designed for. More innovation in the laptop front is to be credited.
Still bored of Vistabashing though. Vista's fine now, leave the poor thing alone. Bashing Vista still isn't getting you laid, you know.
Not the machine - it's fine enough, for a Dell.
I mean all the flaming from non-mac owners at 'Mac fanboys'.
The only reason that guy is running Vista on his Air? He's been conditioned by the Microsoft borg over so many years, he must now be fully assimilated... does he also run a betamax video recorder and can't get the hang of his 6lb portable carphone?
Running Bootcamp is like sullying a virgin: disproportionately desirable by some weirdos, a necessity of circumstance for others. Bootcamp is for people who like to appear shiny and expensive on the outside, while being inadequate/dirty on the inside.
Paris, because...
I might not have got my XPS M1330. Still, that thing's going well - and I was a naysayer for many years after being dumped-on at work with an Inspiron D610. Crap performance, crap screen, crap design...
Thankfully I left that job and got over my hatred of Dell laptops. I also now have a Mini 9 running linux.
It looks well thought out and vents well, expands well, hopefully performs well. But I'm sure it'll be 30% more than my XPS was ..... and that was as much as I wanted to pay.
For the haters, I'm sure you'll be able to make a Hackintosh out of it ;-)
It's like MacDonalds trying to market a Gordon Ramsay range.
The teaser site is contrived and the wording used is clumsy and ill-conceived. It smacks of second-year student project thought. Which is about par for the course for that bunch.
Dell really should stop any pretence at being an aspirational brand and just stick to what they're already bad at - plastic bricks.
The only whorthwhile alternative to the Air is Lenovo's offering, which is some detail areas is a mile better. And they're retreating like the French in a handbag fight; the UK presence will be decimated pretty soon by the way.
I don't really care what its like.
If they wanted a high-end product they should have "invested" in a separate company which produced these things.
I wouldn't buy high-end stuff made by a mail order company. Even the "E" in their logo is falling over.
Luxury requires a track-record. That's why "own brand" products generally compete on price: you have to ditch the baggage of the rest of the products with the same branding if you want premium status.
Paris could have told you that.
Did I mention that when I viewed the website I got the "gimme your details" form blinking through the flash presentation? I've never had that before.... not a good start.
A bad workman blames his tools, or he is a tool, take your pick. There's nothing wrong with Vista at all. There were certainly issues in the early days but they've been fixed.
This may or may not be a nice machine. The Mac Air is certainly nice but flawed: 1 usb slot FFS! OS X is just an operating system, a tool for doing a job in the right hands. It's no better or worse than Vista though at least on Vista you stand a chance of finding the software you need is available. Remember the OS X user base, and hence developer base, is tiny.
I have had nightmares with Dell over the years. These days I pay for the Dell On-Site Warranty and those nightmares are now theirs. My machine goes wrong and they have to come out and fix it which they do. They fixed my XPS M1330 only the other week. Try getting that kind of service from Apple. A mate bought a £2k Mac laptop a few years ago and it packed in after a year and few months outside the warranty. The cost to fix it was ludicrous. He went back to PCs.
I've put my name down for further details, not that I intend to buy but I am curious so I guess the ad worked in my case.
i hate it that you cant remove the battery !!!
e.g.
Shit i just spilt lemonade on my laptop What do i do
REMOVE THE BATTERY
ermm i cant !! wait let me get my screwdriver whilst the innards corrode away !!!
yes removing the batter and taking apart and cleaning every surface with a damp cloth will revive a dead Vaio ... hmm i wonder how i found out !!
@Tedious (AC)
Your "mate bought a £2k Mac laptop a few years ago and it packed in after a year and few months outside the warranty"
Packed in after A YEAR+ OUTSIDE of warranty!
So if he had paid for AppleCare he'd have had 3 years cover. Just like you pay Dell.
So who is the biggest tosser, your mate? Or is it you for having such a tosser as a mate?
seriously... that is awful! no style whatsoever... place one next to a MBA and noone would even notice it...
adamo - even has a crappy name! Cant compare it to a mac anyway, so for PC rivals, id much rather an XPS1330 from dell, or if we are talking £1k+ pc's a Sony TZ series or at a push a Toshiba R600...
the teasing from the advert is something akin to visiting a strip bar on the promise of something amazing, only to be confronted with some toothless, lazy eyed, old hag who has been a fingerprint magnet for many a year!!!
just flipped the page back and had a shufti at the power adapter...
I take it noone on the design team has ever used a plug socket before??
dare I say it, Apple has hit the nail on the head perfectly with their design... integrated cable tidy and the plug is no wider than a standard plug with the ability to fit into a crowded mains splitter, the dell affair with its bonkers girth will consume the 3 spaces on a uk 4 way gang! and possibly even take up both sides of a normal domestic twin wall plate!