Maybe it’s not as bad as selling your executive jewery for 2/3 off on TigerDirect, but Dell is taking $500 off the almost obnoxiously affluent Adamo 13.4-inch ultra-svelte designer laptop. There’s no denying the Adamo is a sweet machine, but Dell missed the boat with this one.

I previously theorized that if Dell was able to at least able to build an image off this machine, then they’d be all the better when the global economy improves and more people want to buy luxury products. Clearly it didn’t work. After the famed launch of Adamo and a flurry of first impressions & reviews, nothing was heard about Adamo. To my knowledge, Dell didn’t do any giveaways or offer any coupons to get these into the public’s hands.

I’d bet dollars to pesos that Dell never intended this as a profit machine: high-end luxury generally means low volume, high margin. Instead Dell was likely trying to build their brand image while the gettin’ was good, before HP completely smashed them into the sidewalk and everyone else started feeding on the remains. That marketing team’s job should have been to get actual owners talking about how awesome this computer is and why Dell isn’t only a cheap or high value PC company anymore. There’s nothing wrong with cheap or high value, but it’s difficult to move into the high end territory with that stigma.

[Hmmm...I wonder if this is what they are doing with the discount?]

Getting off my soapbox, at $1499 this machine is rather well loaded. The 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo SU9300 (a CULV processor interestingly) is a bit pokey, but you won’t be wanting too much with 2GB DDR3 RAM and a 128GB SSD. Between the sexy aluminum chassis and pricey 128GB SSD, the Adamo is worth a look for anyone shopping in that segment.

These should actually start moving decently and we don’t know just how long Dell will be offering this discount, so you might want to get a move on it if you’re interested.

Source: [LogicBuy]

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Dell Latitude E6400 XFR soaked with firehose, image courtesy Dell via Flickr

Not long ago Dell made their first foray into the ruggedized laptop category, taking some of their popular business laptops and turning them into something that belongs in Mad Max. NotebookReview recently got their hands on a Latitude E6400 XFR, the ruggedized version of their 14.1-inch E6400 business notebook, a direct competitor to Lenovo’s ThinkPad T400.

Overall they were quite impressed with the machine. While they didn’t have a tiger chew it up or shoot it with a pistol, the folks at NBR did leave it running in a freezer, splash water on it, and throw it to the ground several times, all without incident. What’s more impressive is the array of ports, high brightness LCD, and blazing performance of a standard voltage Core 2 Duo and NVIDIA discrete graphics. Battery life takes a toll, but Dell planned ahead for that and offers a 12-cell slice battery that should attach across the bottom of the machine. Hit the link below for the full review, or check out posts related to rugged laptops.

Source: [NotebookReview]

We generally report only on Lenovo-related deals here, but this one is too good to pass up. Dell is currently running a deal on a couple of their LCD monitors that make you crazy not to have a slick dual monitor setup.

The first is the G2410, a 24-inch full HD LCD that is a “green” monitor. It is more power efficient, has various dynamic brightness features, is free of certain environmentally bad stuffs, and packaged with carboard instead of styrofoam. It is a 16:9 ratio panel with VGA and DVI-D connectors. How does all that sound for $188 shipped?

If you want to save a little more money or just can’t deal with that many pixels, the G2210 downsizes to 22-inches and 1680×1050 pixels, but with the same green feel-good benefits for $150.

Hit the links below to get the deal from LogicBuy, but hurry! These deals expire today!

30% off + 10% Coupon: Dell G2210 22″ LED Widescreen LCD Monitor $150.57

30% off + 10% Coupon Dell G2410 24″ Full HD LED LCD Monitor $188.37

Yesterday marks the official retirement of Dell’s Mini 9, a 9-inch netbook. You can read Dell’s own memorium here, but really this is just the final nail in the coffin for 9-inch netbooks.

Most people consider Asus’ Eee PC to have started the netbook phenomenom, beginning with the Eee 700 models in late 2007. As you might guess from the name, it sported a 7-inch screen and a measely 800×480 resolution. This quickly gave way to the Eee 900 and similar models from other manufacturers with 9-inch screens in early 2008.

What happened since then? People bought a ton of netbooks, except for the ones with smaller screens and Linux. The 8-9 inch screens were always more popular outside the U.S., but even there the market is giving way to 10-inch and larger screens. Some netbooks, like Lenovo’s IdeaPad S9, didn’t even offer a size advantage with the 9-inch display. In models like the S9, the chassis was the same as the 10-inch version, just with a thicker screen bezel to fill the void left by the smaller screen.

Case in point: NewEgg. NewEgg currently has 51 netbooks listed for sale. Of those, 9 offer a screen smaller than 10-inches and only one is larger than 10-inches. You will see similar situations at major retailers and when you look at the current offerings on PC manufacturer websites, you will be hard pressed to find a 9-inch model.

RIP 9-inch netbook. We hardly knew ye.

Dell joins Lenovo in reporting another bad quarter. Round Rock, Texas-based Dell, Inc. is reporting a Q1 net income of $290 million, which is down 63% from last year. While its net income barely beat analyst expectations, overall revenue didn’t meet expectations.

Something interesting to note here is that desktop sales dropped 34%, while notebooks only lost 20%. I’d be interested to see such a breakdown of the other major manufacturers, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this trend elsewhere.

Michael Dell is quoted as saying they are expecting a “powerful replacement cycle” among Dell’s corporate customers in 2010, which just so happens to be when Windows 7 will be in wide release. Gizmodo thinks this means, “If Windows 7 doesn’t drive sales, I will personally murder Steve Ballmer in the face.” I can’t say I’d blame Dell in that case.

One final note: Dell reported $290 million in income. Lenovo lost almost as much as that. Anyone worried yet?

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A direct competitor to Lenovo’s just-announced IdeaPad U350, Dell today released the Studio 14z laptop. Dell seems to be aggressively going after the education sector, both on the student/consumer and institution side of things. Their official blog post on the launch is littered with school references, but of course the machine is suited for most consumers. It’s pretty clear the Studio 14z is hoping to capitalize on the upcoming “back to school” months.

This is another Consumer Ultra Low Volage (CULV) platform that is reasonably thin & light with a price tag in-between netbooks and “full-size” notebooks. No optical drive is included, to keep the price and size down, but the usual complement of ports and tech components make this a well featured machine.

While most of the CULV’s we see today have 12 or 13.3-inch displays, the Studio 14z is packing a 14-incher with LED backlight and HD resolution (720p). Being a Studio model, it of course comes in a variety of colors to please most anyone. Another mark in the ‘WIN’ column is standard NVIDIA 9400m graphics, which means DisplayPort and HDMI outputs are standard as well.

You can click through the link below for a short hands-on review by the fellas over at NotebookReview, but I will say the biggest lacking here is no integrated memory card reader. You can get an optional one for the ExpressCard slot, but at least built-in SD support should be standard, especially given the target market.

Pricing starts at $649 and the Studio 14z is unavailable now, unlike the IdeaPad U350.

NotebookReview First Look

I know we’ve been talking about netbooks a lot lately, but it’s not my fault – it’s what everyone else is talking about too. Datamation Systems, producer of fine goods related to (physical) technology management, has announced the availability of a multi-bay battery charger for the latest Lenovo and Dell netbooks.

This handsome device certainly makes no claims of form, but hopefully follows through with the function. The beast can swallow 16 spare batteries, keep them charged, and even re-calibrate them for longer overall life. The models just released support the new Dell Latitude 2100 education netbook and Lenovo’s S9 and S10 netbooks, but they also have chargers for most other systems including the XO OLPC.

You can find out more about these stylish & sexy devices at the company’s cleverly named website: www.computerbatterychargers.com

Remember Dell’s netbook designed specially for education? You know, the one announced yesterday? Laptop Mag has already gotten their hands on one and gave it the full treatment.

An interesting note that came out in the hands-on is that since the netbook is a bit larger for ruggedness, they were also able to squeeze in a larger keyboard. It actually looks quite usable. It can even come in a special anti-microbial version, another sign of Dell’s innovation in this space.

You can get the 10.1″ LCD display in a touchscreen version as well, both of which are glossy. The battery life was a bit disappointing, at a bit under 5 hours with the 6 cell. Hit the link below for the full review.

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I have to hand it to Dell, they really stepped outside of the box on this one; at least compared to most PC manufacturers these days. Instead of just re-branding a Mini 9 netbook, they looked at the needs of the education sector and added some well thought out features. Just check out what the Latitude 2100 brings to the table:

• Standard netbook technology (Intel Atom, up to 2GB RAM, 3 or 6 cell, etc)
• XP, Vista, & Ubuntu OS options
• Rubberized case for better handling & durability
• Vent-free bottom cover to better resist spills
• External LED to let teacher’s know if students are using the wireless card
• Remote management capability (Wake-On-LAN, Alert Standard Format, & Systems Management Server)
• Mobile Computing Solution is a piece of hardware that will store, charge, & manage up to 24 netbooks with one Ethernet & power cord (i.e. can push system updates)
• Starting price of $369

Now are these features anything to get excited about individually? No, not really. But when you see a computer company take the initiative to be innovative, at least in an evolutionary rather than revolutionary sense, it is a very good thing. Hit the link at the end for more details and a video from Dell.

Now I do have one concern: the vent-free design to better avoid spill intrusion. Maybe there is no fan vent, but are there keyboard drain holes? I’d be more worried about spills going onto the netbook, but I like where they’re going at least.

When Lenovo released their S10 netbook, and now the S10-2 refresh, they missed the opportunity to do something truly innovative with their unique brand. Maybe they will take this as a wake up call and remember why ThinkPad had the following it did for so long.

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According to a recent report from research firm DisplaySearch, netbooks have taken almost 20% of the notebook market in Q1 2009. Not surprisingly, almost half of all netbooks were sold in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Asia), compared to 26% for North America.

HP is still leading the pack for overall notebook sales, but underdog Acer has moved up from its #3 position to pass Dell for #2. This is no surprise when you consider that Acer’s netbooks accounted for more than 30% of that market.

What is a bit surprising is how bad Lenovo is hurting. They are fifth in sales for Q1 09, falling behind Toshiba even. I have a feeling there will be a radical move of some kind soon, to end the hemorrhaging here. Does that mean a radical new product, or a radical restructuring of the business? Unfortunately it could be either…

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