Measuring 13.4 x 10.7 inches and tipping the scales at just over three pounds, the new machine is just four-tenths of an inch in thickness, yet packs a host of high-tech goodies. With the Adamo XPS, however, Dell is clearly aiming to appeal to trend-conscious consumers looking for gadgets with more than a modicum of visual appeal.

"I think when you see Adamo for the first time, it's just a stunning, elegant, minimalist form," said Dell Senior Vice President Alex Gruzen. "We think the Adamo XPS will inspire an emotional connection with anyone who sees it."

Faster Boots

Under the hood, the Adamo XPS sports a 1.4GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 13.4-inch high-definition display and 4GB of DDR3 memory. What's more, the machine's 128GB solid-state drive runs cooler than traditional hard drives and also boots up faster.

On the wireless side, the new laptop offers both high-speed Wi-Fi (802.11n) and Bluetooth, together with the requisite location-awareness technology for delivering local maps that show users where they actually are in real time. Dell's design team also did not compromise when it came to providing wired connectivity options, such as display and audio ports, two USB 2.0 connectors, and Ethernet connectivity via a dongle.

"So even though you have a very thin product, the user has the ability to stay connected -- either through the landline or wireless, and still have enough ports to really be productive," said lead designer Nicolas Denhez.

Dell also has improved upon its initial Adamo design by making the battery that ships with the XPS both removable and user replaceable. In another twist, Dell said Thursday that the Adamo XPS, which will ship at prices starting at $1,799, includes a preinstalled copy of the 64-bit edition of Windows 7.

Sculpted Keys

Though visual appeal was high on Dell's list of potentially lovable features, designers also took time to incorporate a few other little things for consumers to appreciate. For example, the Adamo XPS features a capacitive sensor on the lid that enables the user to open the latch by simply swiping a finger across it.

Once opened, the body of the Adamo XPS automatically elevates so that the keyboard becomes angled to enhance cooling . The machine's design team also managed to find a way to sculpt the individual keys so that every key cap is "a little bit scalloped," which makes typing very comfortable, Denhez noted. In other words, each key has had a series of curved projections cut along the edge.

With the Adamo XPS, Dell's goal is to carve out a niche in a struggling consumer market that has been very much price driven of late, with higher-priced systems not selling very well. "We are looking at a $700+ average selling price for this quarter," noted Mika Kitagawa, a principal analyst at Gartner.

Though Kitagawa has no detailed data on sales of the inaugural Adamo, she said she imagines that Dell's unit shipments would have to be quite small. "Design is becoming a more important purchase criterion," Kitagawa noted, "but consumers are not yet willing to pay a big price premium for it."