Nothing New in Dell's Sexy Offerings

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 30, 2009 8:15 AM CDT
Nothing New in Dell's Sexy Offerings
The Dell Studio One is seen in this promotional image.   (Photo: Business Wire)

Dell is desperate to expand its chunk of the consumer PC market and shed its reputation for stodgy design, so Walt Mossberg decided to take a look at two of its flashier offerings: the ultrathin Adamo laptop, and the Studio One 19 touch-screen desktop. They’re not bad machines, he concludes, but they’re not exactly groundbreaking, either. The Adamo is just a belated competitor to the MacBook Air, while the desktop is aping HP’s TouchSmart series.

At $699 the Studio One is much cheaper than the $1,200 TouchSmart, but has a smaller screen. Dell says that’s so it can be used as a kitchen kiosk, but Mossberg found it cluttered up his counter. The Adamo, meanwhile, is thinner than the MacBook Air, but about a pound heavier, has a shorter battery life, and costs $200 more. And both machines run Windows Vista, a big mark against them. (More tech review stories.)

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