Dell Adamo 13: CULV Goes Upscale
by Vivek Gowri on July 6, 2010 1:51 AM ESTDell Adamo 13: Display Analysis
The LCD display of the Adamo is pretty sweet. It has a Gorilla Glass screen, which is an alkali-aluminosilicate thin sheet glass that is used to protect screens on mobile devices. Gorilla Glass is also used on the Motorola Droid, the Dell Streak, and a device from Apple that nobody's ever heard of, the newly released iPhone 4. Basically, this means that even with such a thin display which may not offer the most protection for the screen, this chemically hardened glass covering will ensure that the screen sustains no scratches or damage of any kind.
Which is all pretty cool, but what about the quality of the panel itself? The first impression is that this thing gets BRIGHT. At maximum brightness, you're looking at a white level of 389 nits. That's just about on par with the Apple MacBook Pro line, which have some of the higher quality notebook displays we've tested recently.
However, the display falls off after that, with contrast ratio just about average and unspectacular color accuracy. And though the white level is pretty high, the black level is just as high, so at the upper brightness levels, the screen can appear washed out. Colour accuracy and colour gamuts are pretty mediocre but aren't terrible. Really though, the screen's brightness is it's trump card, and overall, the display looks pretty good, even with the reflective glass covering the display.
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sidaja - Monday, August 23, 2010 - link
Did you ever find a good computer to buy? I'm in the same boat - looking for a Windows alternative to the MBP.JohnMD1022 - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
And I must admit that, generally, their notebooks are a cut above most of the desktops I see.But the Dell desktops we see in our shop are pretty much junk.
It tends to color one's opinion.
stimudent - Tuesday, July 13, 2010 - link
We call them Packard Dell's in our labs.Freddo - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
Still cost $2000 here in Sweden. But it sure is a beautiful laptop, I would have considered it if it had HDMI and if it was possible to get an old non-SDD hard drive to lower the price.beginner99 - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
999$ for an C2D CULV with useless GMA and a non-trim ssd? Well, people that go for looks tend not to know much about the interor so it's probably good opportunity for dell to get 2 year old hardware sold for a high price.JarredWalton - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
FWIW, Vivek actually liked the design enough that he bought the laptop for his own use. Obviously, opinions on aesthetics are just that, but it does look nice and runs well enough. I believe he bought it off eBay with the X25 SSD for $700 or so; getting a different SSD is possible but I'm not sure if anyone does the requisite 1.8" form factor with a higher performance + TRIM model.rtothedizzy - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
I think OCZ has released their new lineup in 1.8" form recently.Jvboom - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
Pricey and underpowered. It's a shame too, the thing looks amazing. If it performed half as well as it's design looks I would definitely get one as my next laptop.mrjminer - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
Yea, I wish they'd toss some sort of discrete graphics in there.erple2 - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
Then it would also be significantly thicker than 0.65"...Discrete GPU requires beefier cooling which requires more space. More space than 0.65" can give.