Laptops

You might have seen some of the online buzz about the Adamo XPS on sites like Gizmodo, CNET and Engadget since our recent announcement.  I wanted to take moment and provide some insight into this addition to our Adamo product line-up. Like Lionel mentioned, the Adamo brand has always been about providing cutting-edge innovation, premium design, craftsmanship, and luxury to the high-end consumer. This started with the original Adamo Thirteen which utilized authentic materials throughout including an aluminum frame and glass display assembled with Swiss watch-like craftsmanship. With the original Adamo, we worked to deliver this at a mere 16.4mm high and that helped make it the world's thinnest laptop at the time.

 We wanted to build on that. That's why we decided to take some of the knowledge gained during the Adamo Thirteen development and push it even further. The result is the Adamo XPS a laptop that is 9.99mm. To give you an idea of how thin 9.99mm is, most cell phones today are thicker. The current iPhone is 12.3mm thick and a common USB port, found on most computers these days, is 7.5mm.

To arrive at a product this thin, we had to really start from the ground up. The traditional 'clamshell' laptop design just would not work. Over lots of late nights brainstorming, sketching, and prototyping we finally arrived our unique hinge design which results in an angled keyboard that is similar to a traditional desktop keyboard.

This angled keyboard allows for more efficient cooling, improved acoustics, and most importantly it folds into the display essentially disappearing when the laptop is closed. When you want to open the system again just swipe your finger across the cover and the keyboard pops open. Very cool and very James Bond! I've seen that GottaBeMobile.com mentioned that the latch does require power to open, which is true. If you find yourself needing to open the system for some reason without power (or if there's a technical issue with the battery and AC adapter), we've provided an override tool that does the trick. We've also included a 'hot swap' feature that allows you to switch batteries while in sleep mode without turning off your system.

The engineering team needed to be really creative in order to maintain the 9.99mm height. Lessons learned from Adamo Thirteen included unique mounts that allowed us to remove the metal casing surrounding the Solid State Drive. The team also split the motherboard into multiple pieces to allow the other components to be in the same plane. That is, in a traditional laptop the motherboard sits at the bottom, the keyboards and other component sits on top. All of this was too tall for the Adamo XPS so we effectively put the keyboard, and other components at the same level as the motherboard to minimize height. The team also needed to relocate the I/O ports (USBx2, audio, Display Port, and power) to the LCD since the palm rest was thinner than the ports.

Beyond making it thin, we didn't want to compromise on hardware. It sports a Core 2 Duo 1.4GHz ULV processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD drive and a slick 13.4 inch HD display. If you want to see more photos, Brian Solis posted some good ones on his blog, or you can check out the Adamo XPS set on Dell's Flickr page.

With its ultrathin yet sturdy design, aluminum enclosure, diamond cut logos, metal keycaps, and wing-inspired design accents we set out to make the Adamo XPS simply breathtaking. A lot of effort went into designing the next product under the Adamo brand.  We hope you like the Adamo XPS.

As you may have read, Dell has partnered with the color experts at OPI to bring 26 classic nail polish colors to the Dell Design Studio. Starting today, you can personalize your Dell Studio, Inspiron or Mini laptop with your favorite OPI color at Dell.com, whether for yourself or a holiday gift for the color lover in your life. 

Many of OPI’s top selling colors including I’m Not Really a Waitress, Big Apple Red, Princesses Rule!, Louvre Me Louvre Me Not, Cajun Shrimp and Green-wich Village are now available. Looking for something bright? Check out Need Sunglasses? yellow, In My Back Pocket orange (Alyssa Kolsky Hertzig’s at Allure Magazine’s favorite) or my personal favorite Teal the Cows Come Home. Want to make a statement with some shimmer? Try Happy Anniversary, Smitten with Mittens or Holiday Glow.

You can view all the 26 options online and check out the full set of images on our Flickr site. Let us know what you think!

Also, check out the inspiration from OPI behind some of your favorite shades:

La Paz-itively Hot!

“Inspired by the lifestyle and culture I equate with South America – a passion for music, for love, for life – this color expresses the kind of wild abandon that makes me want to take off my shoes. And dance on the beach.  With the wind in my hair. What can I say – it’s a hot color, not for the shy.” - Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI

I’m Not Really a Waitress

“Living in LA puts me in the heart of the entertainment industry, where you can see celebs and celebutantes just by grabbing a latte.  My inspiration behind I’m Not Really a Waitress, OPI’s best-selling shade of all time, is the response you hear from every would-be actress who is waiting tables until her big break comes along. Created for the OPI Hollywood Collection, this is one shade that’s totally ready for its close-up!” - Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI

Big Apple Red

“Who doesn’t love New York? It has everything – fashion, theatre, four distinct seasons, energy, excitement, and the best bagels anywhere. Hands down. The place where the official color of fashion is black, this city offers big buildings, big ideas, big beauty – and big inspiration. For this big color.” - Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI

Today we expanded the Dell Design Studio to include the Inspiron Mini 10 and Mini 10v. This means that you can order a Dell Inspiron Mini that is distinctly and uniquely yours because for $85 you customized it with one of more than 200 original works of art and designs. For example, to celebrate the upcoming World Series, Yankee and Philly fans should check out their respective team design options (I will be checking out the Cardinals in anticipation of next season). Remember - each team has three design options ranging from the conservative "classics" to the edgy "die-hards."

Another favorite category will be the (PRODUCT) RED artwork, which generates a $20 contribution to the Global Fund in the fight to eliminate AIDS in Africa. We recently updated this collection adding new artists like Ben Grieme and Emil Kozak. Ben's designs are based on details found in his own photography - he will zoom in on one small element in an image until it's unrecognizable in its original form. Emil on the other hand has an eye for detail, and then subtly works in another, almost subliminal layer that often contains obscure references, or codes and hints.

Here's perspective from Ben Grieme: "(PRODUCT) RED challenges us to think differently about ourselves and how our responsibilities towards others affects all of us as whole. It asks for personal responsibility towards ourselves, our world, and to share ownership of worlds plight. In this series of work, I ask the viewer to give new life and meaning to the objects presented in their hues by adding the contexts of their own lives to the work.  Mirroring the challenge set forth by (PRODUCT) RED to give life to a cause by sharing ownership, I hope to give life to the work through sharing ownership of the pieces with you all."

The Art section of the Design Studio currently houses the "Illuminations" collection, organized by guest curator Gordon Hull (check out the interview with Gordon - it definitely provides some interesting perspective.) I took my daughter on a tour recently and she picked out Rainbow Cloud Colorful light by   Kamau Patton as her favorite, while I lean more toward Jim Drain's Wellwell.

We moved several of the most popular designs and artists like Derek Welch (Horizonte del Infinito) and Korakrit to the Classics section. Amazingly enough, designs by our inaugural artist, Mike Ming, remain some of the most popular, and can be found there as well.

We will of course continue to offer several color options on the Inspiron Minis, the most popular being Passion Pink, which generates a donation to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. However, in the next week or so we will unveil an expanded palette created in conjunction with the color experts from OPI, with unique choices like Dear Santa, Smitten with Mittens and Pompeii Purple. As we moved closer to announcing our relationship with OPI, there were two reactions inside Dell: the women were excited and the men confused (most had to be told about OPI, leading nail lacquer supplier worldwide). I advised one of my more skeptical male colleagues to do some quick market research with his wife, which he did. Within a couple of minutes of hitting send on an email to her, she responded with her current top three colors, plus what their 11-year old daughter prefers. She definitely validated that this program resonates with women everywhere.

By expanding our personalization options to include the Inspiron Mini devices, we are allowing people to customize a Mini for Me (not to be confused with Mini Me). So have fun, make it unique and ensure Inspiron Mini is never confused with someone else's no matter where your travels take you.

From the FCC to you, today, we introduced another product in our rugged line-up.

The Latitude XT2 XFR is the industry's smallest 12.1-inch rugged convertible tablet PC and is the first with a multi-touch display. It's designed for demanding environments and meets the needs of our customers in the military, police, border patrol, field service organizations, first responders and government field case workers.

How do we know it meets their needs? Earlier this year we made it a priority to work with customers across each vertical segment in our Global Public business to create purpose-built technology solutions. The XT2 XFR continues this commitment and is another example of an industry-first product that was developed based on customer feedback. It can be mounted into first-responder vehicles or easily carried by field-service and industrial-manufacturing workforces to perform in tough environments.

The Latitude XT2 XFR adds to Dell's Rugged Mobility Solution offering that includes the fully rugged Latitude E6400 XFR that Patrick blogged about earlier this year and the semi-rugged Latitude E6400 ATG laptops we brought to market in 2007. It is available with a range of accessories and services that include mobile rugged docking and mounting solutions with mobile broadband pass-through, as well as end-to-end services.

We understand that reducing total cost of ownership is a priority for larger organizations, that's why we are committed to providing our customers with long lifecycles, stable image, tools and service offerings to simplify IT management, so they can focus on their mission. The XT2 XFR continues this tradition.

To see more Latitude XT2 XFR images, click on this Flickr set. See below for an overview video and a short video that shows the kinds of tests we do on the Latitude XT2 XFR and all of our ruggedized products.

This is one of those days I really enjoy as a Dell employee. Today in New York, Alex Gruzen and Ed Boyd are unveiling an update to our Dell Design Studio, and it’s pretty amazing – a phrase I don’t use lightly. If you’re the kind of person who likes to make a personal statement or share your passions, you’ll want to click on over to the new Dell Design Studio to see some cool new ways to personalize your Dell laptop.

Just in time for the Major League Baseball playoffs, Dell is unveiling more than 90 unique designs that tie back to all 30 of the MLB teams. Starting today, baseball fans can declare their support choosing one of three designs for each team that range from “understated” to “loud and proud”– we call them classic, fan, and die-hard. Sharing these designs internally has lead to some interesting revelations. In my group alone, colleagues have claimed the Seattle Mariners, the Baltimore Orioles, the Toronto Blue Jays and my favorite – the Red Birds of St. Louis. We have posted images ALL of the MLB designs on Dell’s Official Flicker account, and of course you can “try them on” in the Design Studio with several Dell laptop models including the Inspiron 14,15, and 17 laptops, and the Dell Studio 15 and 17.

We are also announcing a unique relationship today that resonates with most of my female colleagues. We are partnering with OPI, the world’s No. 1 maker of high-fashion nail lacquer. Starting next month, you will be able to personalize your Dell laptop or Inspiron Mini with one of 20 OPI classic colors, like “I’m Not a Waitress” and “Princesses Rule!” plus six Holiday Collection colors like “Dear Santa.” We have posted a few sample images in the Dell Flicker account, and the full collection will be revealed next month.

We also are continuing to update and expand the original artwork and design collection in the Dell Design Studio. Today we are unveiling the Illuminations collection, organized by Curator Godon Hull of Surface to Air New York, which features cool new designs created just for Dell from a cadre of hip young international artists. We’ve also added several new (PRODUCT) RED designs that generate a donation to the Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa. Finally, past best-sellers have been move to the Classic section.