Dell discontinues Adamo laptop, leaving MacBook Air with one fewer competitor

Summary: Our sister site CNET is reporting that Dell is killing off its Adamo ultraportable laptop, a few weeks after it dropped prices on the MacBook Air rival.Ultraportable notebooks have taken it on the chin lately -- or at least PC versions.

Our sister site CNET is reporting that Dell is killing off its Adamo ultraportable laptop, a few weeks after it dropped prices on the MacBook Air rival.

Ultraportable notebooks have taken it on the chin lately -- or at least PC versions. HP also instituted price cuts on its Envy 13, though Samsung introduced its 9 Series laptop at CES, which presumably will compete with the MacBook Air. (Just not on price, as it will cost a few hundred dollars more.)

Ultraportables have no doubt suffered due to the success of netbooks, which are similarly svelte and cost far less. It also didn't help that they lacked faster processors that would make it easy for power users to choose them over a slightly bigger, but brawnier laptop. Though not productivity tools in the traditional sense, tablets may have stolen the sexiness cachet from ultraportable notebooks as well.

Topics: Apple, Dell, Hardware, Laptops, Mobility

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11 comments
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  • RE: Dell discontinues Adamo laptop, leaving MacBook Air with one fewer competitor

    Just another reason to never take anything Dell puts out seriously. They never stick with any of their "me too" products, and the suckers who invest in them are left holding the bag.

    BTW - my Dell Jukebox MP3 player is still going strong. ;)
    ejhonda
    • RE: Dell discontinues Adamo laptop, leaving MacBook Air with one fewer competitor

      @ejhonda ... I know exactly what you mean. My Dell Axim is another example of an abandoned product. It still works and I have a ton of accessories for it. If it had only made calls too.
      vince7@...
  • RE: Dell discontinues Adamo laptop, leaving MacBook Air with one fewer competitor

    Lol its because what idiot buys something like this or even worse a mac airbook? Things that do nothing cost a ton and are useless for work or play.
    Fletchguy
  • RE: Dell discontinues Adamo laptop, leaving MacBook Air with one fewer competitor

    I'm liking Toshiba's Portege R700 in this category, after being very happy with the R500 I've been using the past couple of years.

    Anything else I should be looking at or is that top dog for full-powered small/light in the Windows world?
    jimoro
  • RE: Dell discontinues Adamo laptop, leaving MacBook Air with one fewer competitor

    Actually the Air is a great tiny notebook. I have a larger, more powerful notebook but never took it anywhere due to its size and poor docking. I take the Air everywhere. No, it's no monster gaming machine, but it's very effective for my uses (email, IM, word processing, and web).
    vulcan666
    • RE: Dell discontinues Adamo laptop, leaving MacBook Air with one fewer competitor

      @vulcan666 You're a perfect example of this particular market niche. You're not looking at the MBA as your main computer, but rather a lightweight, svelte, laptop that isn't a huge deal to cart about or dock. The webizens of this and other tech venues continue to think Apple makes computers for techies. Quite the contrary, Apple changing their name a few moons ago from "Apple Computers, Inc." to just "Apple, Inc." should have been a clue. They are a brilliant 'consumer electronics company'. Sure, their products use CPUs, RAM, SSDs, and all the other tech acronyms but they make easy to use, sleek (for those of you who still have a functioning soldering iron 'sleek' is an important part of a consumer electronics device's appeal), and frankly, when comparing Apples to Apples, technically excellent products for average folks.
      Notebooks are getting their lunch eaten by iPads and iPod touches. Heck, even my aging black MacBook is often my second choice for a web search. My iPhone, which is handily in my pocket is more often than not my mini brain for web searches, quick email check, et al. After all, I have to pull my skinny butt up out of my LazyBoy and climb the stairs to my home office to use my MB. My iPhone I simply pull out of my pocket while watching TV.
      "Who is that actress?" is our favorite game watching old movies. Yank out the iPhone, do a quick search and twenty minutes later we're discussing, well, you know how that goes. The world wide web should be re-named 'digression hell'. But, I digress.
      dheady@...
      • Someone that gets it

        A refreshing change in Talkback.
        Richard Flude
  • Adamo would have had to compete to be considered a competitor.

    The Adamo sucked from the start, on both price and design... It never competed, therefore, it never was a competitor, and thus the reason it is going buh bye. I would love to know how many Adamos were sold pre-closeout liquidation... LOL.
    i8thecat
  • RE: Dell discontinues Adamo laptop, leaving MacBook Air with one fewer competitor

    Agreed, Dell is falling behind on their product lines, even with ones like the XPS. Asus and others have much better hardware for the price. This place shows you why: <a href="http://www.asusreview.net/" target="_blank">Asus Review</a>
    droshi
  • Nobody cares about &quot;me too&quot; products

    Until Dell learns that, they will continue their fast descent into irrelevance.
    MSFTWorshipper
  • Good on ya, Sean!

    Congratulations on saying "one fewer". You're one of the few people out there who seem to know the difference between a number and an amount.
    LeonBA