Love at first sight -- Dell's new aluminum laptop

We're standing up and cheering at Dell's sexy new fashion accessory, the all-aluminum notebook computer known as 'Adamo by Dell,' introduced March 17.

As anybody who's been paying attention to Dell's Abercrombie-and-Fitch-style ad campaign will tell you, 'adamo' means 'to fall in love' in Latin. And with Adamo's cool machined-aluminum base and choice of smart-looking anodized finishes in onyx or pearl, it's not hard to believe this could happen, even at the $1999 price tag.

A full-featured yet ultra-light and rugged design, Adamo is a sleek fit into the high-end category now owned by Apple's MacBook Air and HP's Voodoo Envy. Theyre light, they're thin, they're braggable. And they're expensive.

That said .....
With all due respect, and we're talking about a LOT of respect, we're wondering if it's time to ask the PC industry a simple question: does aluminum ALWAYS have to be the sexy (read 'pricy') choice? When do we get to see it move downscale, where it can do the most good?

Here's the reasoning. Aluminum makes any computer lighter, more rugged, and especially more energy efficient than plastic, bamboo or any other material you can wrap around a circuit board. Of course these benefits are especially valuable at the high-performance and high-mobility ends of the PC market. But there's another aluminum benefit that, as the climate gets warmer and the world gets smaller, trumps the others: recyclability.

Aluminum clobbers plastic in this category. For comparison, think of the beverage industry. While craft beers still come in glass, aluminum sits proudly at the Joe Six Pack end of the scale -- delivering soda pop and mass-market beer for the millions (billions, actually) -- because it's lighter than plastic and glass and is 99% recyclable, right back into its original form. Forever. That's made aluminum one of the most popular materials for beverage containers in history, at both ends of the market.

When are consumer electronics makers going to follow the beverage industry's lead?
Maybe they are. Apple is already moving in this direction. With their new MacBook, their notebook line is now 100% aluminum, along with their iMac, Mac Pro, monitors and iPods, all the way down to the teeny tiny new $79 iPod Shuffle. And they're promoting their products as certified Green.

Now that Dell is in the game, maybe Dell will fall in love too ... with the industry's most sustainable material for PC enclosures.

As the song goes, we can't wait.

Comments

[refurbished computers]

It's good to know that Dell has initiated yet another stunting Laptop that look it has is just amazing and i admire to get this Adamo.

[cheap computers]

the Adamos are looking pretty cool. I'm waiting to see what the 15" version looks like. The E6500 is a great machine, so the Adamo equivalent will probably put the Macbook Pro to shame. Hopefully they'll offer custom builds. Ditching the SSD and Blueray would make this much more affordable. And boosting RAM.

[Las Vegas Hotels]

Looking good , thanks for the information. everytime i'm staying at one of the hotels in vegas i check first if it has wi-fi in the rooms. i cant check in without knowing it first, well that's me!

[used computers]

I need this computer for my lighter tasks as with the aluminum it has a benefit of high performance and it has the mobility you need to keep your world moving and the design you want to reflect your personal style.