Dell Adamo 13: CULV Goes Upscale
by Vivek Gowri on July 6, 2010 1:51 AM EST
Dell Adamo 13: Performance
At this point in its life cycle, CULV is a pretty well known quantity - there's nothing really that changes from computer to computer with the same general configuration. The Adamo has the 1.40GHz SU9400 processor, to go along with the GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics chip, 4GB of soldered 800MHz DDR3 memory, and the Adamo's only real hardware uniqueness, the SSD.
Our Adamo review unit has an Intel X-18M G1 80GB solid state drive, while the stock Adamo has a 128GB SSD with a Samsung controller. The Adamo benchmarks pretty similarly to the other CULV units in our test suite, running a bit quicker in the CPU benchmarks, probably due to the SU9400 having a slightly higher clock speed than the SU7300. In the Futuremark benchmark suite, the Adamo was on par with the rest of the CULV ultraportable class. And, as always, GMA 4500MHD is basically useless for anything resembling modern gaming. It's good enough for older games though, and it can handle up to 720p HD video playback (including Flash with the latest drivers).
But the part that doesn't show up in any of our full system benchmarks is the speed of booting, launching applications, and overall perkiness of the system. It's certainly not a powerhouse, but it's quick. The SSD is lightning quick in anything that requires disk access, so overall in the OS, it feels a lot faster than more powerful systems. Not to say that regular CULV systems are slow, but side by side with the Adamo, you can definitely feel the difference. Everything happens just a bit quicker, a bit smoother. It's awesome.
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afkrotch - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
Remember back in the day when the Longhorn Alpha came out? Then those same features showed up in OSX. Then Longhorn got canned and had to be rebuilt all over again. Why not a single word from Mac fans about how they stole Windows features? I'm sorry, but both Apple and MS will steal whatever from each other. Apple is probably the worst of the two. Everything they build is just someone else's work, shined up to be pretty.OSX is the preferred platform in the Art profession? Really? When? 1990s? The only ppl you see bothering with it is stupid college kids or just regular home consumers. Go out into the real professional world and tell me how many ppl still bother. Even all your big companies have long since dumped Apple.
Unix underpinnings. What's the point even mentioning it, when they took all that was great about Unix and threw it out the window. I played with OSX a while ago. Ya, a toy for home. I can't possibly see it being used for any real production work. Right now, I'm a sys ad for our Solaris 10 workstation/servers, Linux google server, Trusted Solaris 8 server, and a couple Windows 2003 servers. Guess what our custom built software is now being created for? I'll give you a hint. It's created by Microsoft.
jkostans - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link
I work for an engineering firm, and no one uses OSX. Linux for some engineering apps, and windows for everything else. This is the way 99% of the world works, get used to it. OSX is not superior to windows. If it was businesses would use it more.mojohacker2010 - Saturday, July 10, 2010 - link
"The Lenovo may be a nice machine but... (other than fanboy nonsense) Windows 7 definitely does play second fiddle to OSX in the majority of serious comparisons"LOL...please cite some sources or you sound just like a fanboy yourself. Rather you sound like a very defensive and angry fanboy. Almost all of the head-to-head comparison articles/tests I've seen show windows 7 beating OSX overwhelmingly...
"Anyhow, one can just do a simple poll of satisfied, hassle free OSX users vs Windows (xp/vista/7). "
Really? So you're gonna compare an ecosystem with billions of users vs. OSX, which no one uses, and use that as an argument? LOL
retrospooty - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
"More reliable? A cheap plasticky Lenovo? Puh-lease. Plus you run the archaic Windows OS on it"Uh.. Yes, Lenovo is the most reliable in the buz, and that included Apple. The X301 rocks. Its solid, lightweight and Has Win7, which is far better than OSX in my opinion.
Also, the MAcbook air is its competition. THe X301 is a thin CULV notebook and has an internal DVD player. Yes, its FAR better than the MAcbook air, or regular 13 inch macbook, or dell.
chrnochime - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
Didn't really want to waste time reading when your name even includes osx. Guess the more patient commenters out there took your bait and wasted their time LOLIvanAndreevich - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
I find it offensive when someone calls a high end Thinkpad "cheap and plasticky". If a Thinkpad and Macbook Pro knock heads I'm sure the Thinkpad would survive more often than not.erple2 - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
The Envy's suck? Huh. I like mine just fine. It runs circles around any MBP that's available today. And runs quite a bit cooler at that. Granted, that's comparing the 15" MBP...The MBP doesn't get that good of battery life in Windows, btw. At least not significantly better than other C2D based laptops with NVidia processors...
adhan - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
I'm not trying to be too much of a fanboy here, but how about a MacBook with Windows running via Boot Camp.sleepeeg3 - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
Both colossal ripoffs.Wander7 - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
thanks for all the comments. I know about boot camp and also the crappier battery life running windows under it. I don't like the Envys because of the bad touchpad ( I have a dm3 now...). My main attraction to the MB Pro are the hardware aspects of the machine and the battery life.I found out Sony makes some nice laptops, but WAY overpriced tho.... I'll just keep waiting.