Dell pulls plug on MacBook Air rival

Dell calls time on its current range of luxury Adamo laptops
Dell calls time on its current range of luxury Adamo laptops

Dell has canned its MacBook Air rival, the Dell Adamo, after heavy discounting failed to ignite sales at retail.

Dell has informed TechRadar that the current Dell Adamo line of luxury laptops is to be discontinued.

"With the launch of the XPS 15 and 17 laptops in October, we have realigned our premium products under the XPS brand," says Ellen Murphy, EMEA Consumer PR Manager for XPS.

"XPS products are developed to deliver a premium performance experience associated with multimedia activities like video editing, immersive entertainment and casual gaming. The engineering excellence and cutting-edge design Adamo is known for will be incorporated into future products under the XPS brand."

MacBook Air rival

The Dell Adamo was originally unveiled at CES back in January 2009, pitched as a PC competitor to Apple's superslim MacBook Air, for those consumers in the market for a high-end, design-led lappy.

However, the 0.65-inch thin aluminium clad Adamo failed to take off, with Dell now finally calling time on the luxury laptop.

"It's a real shame to see the Adamo get the chop, as this was a machine that deserved far greater success than it achieved," says editor of What Laptop magazine, Alex Bentley.

"Its superior craftsmanship, impressive attention to detail and great usability made it a fantastic ultraportable laptop and few machines have matched its style ever since."

The Adamo weighed in at 4 pounds, a tad heavier than Apple's MacBook Air, although it did feature a slightly larger, higher resolution 13.4-inch screen.

TechRadar expects to see Dell make further announcements of new products in the luxury Adamo line at some point soon. Let's hope the pricing is a little more competitive this time around!

Adam Hartley