The MacBook Air is so small you could fit it in a manila envelope. And Dell might be working on a notebook that could -- hold your breath -- fit in an even smaller manila envelope.
That's what New York Times writer Ashlee Vance is speculating, at least. He dug through Dell's trademarks and found a teaser ad of a mystery product called "Adamo." Then he read a rumor claiming Dell is working on a subnotebook that will rival the MacBook Air.
And what really got Vance scratching his head was when he interviewed Dell's vice president of marketing, Michael Tatelman. Vance asked him about whether Dell has an Air-like product, and in response Tatelman's mouth gaped open and his eyes darted away.
Vance's read? That must mean Dell is working on something even thinner and lighter than the Air.
Not a bad assumption. Samsung is already marketing its X360 subnotebook as a competitor to the Air. (The product's slogan is "Lighter than air.") And the X360 is slightly lighter, but still a little thicker than the Air. I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see Dell one-up Apple by offering a laptop both thinner and lighter.
On top of that, Dell's super-thin notebook would probably cost substantially less -- by $400, estimates Roger Kay, an endpoint technologies analyst.
A thinner, lighter and cheaper MacBook Air? Heck, I would buy one. I would just hope that it's hackable to run OS X.
Dell’s Mystery ‘Adamo’ Could Be Thinner Than Air [NYT]
Photo: Dell
