Dell faces hurdles in luxury laptop push
Updated at 9:10 a.m. PDT: correcting for refurbished Apple MacBook Air price and refurbished unit discussion.
Dell's ultra-sleek Adamo may be ill-timed and grasping for cachet that's not there.
Gizmodo summarized its review of the Adamo by saying: "Just don't dare buy this computer until Dell comes to their senses and realizes that $2,000+ is absurd for a 4-pound laptop with no graphics muscle."
Though I think Gizmodo misses the mark about "graphics muscle" (ultraportables are not designed or marketed as graphics powerhouses, or anything close to it), the reviewer is right about price--and high price implies cachet. Only Apple (and maybe the ThinkPad x301) can command the kind of cachet that demands $2,500 for a high-end laptop (i.e., the MacBook Air).
From top: Dell Mini Netbook, Apple MacBook Air, Dell Adamo
(Credit: iFixit / TechRepublic)But there's a greater force conspiring against the Dell Adamo and even the Apple MBA: the Netbook.
High-end Netbooks, like the just-announced 11.6-inch Acer Aspire One, are priced well below $700, making it hard to plop down $2,700 for the 1.4GHz Adamo. Yes, the four-pound Dell is a stunning, superior design (0.65-inches thick, machined-aluminum chassis) with better hardware (Core 2 processor, 128GB solid-state drive standard, 13.4-inch 16:9 HD display with edge-to-edge glass) . But is it $2,000 better? In the age of the two-pound $500 "luxury" Netbook, definitely not.
And it's going to get worse. The Netbook's cousin-to-be, the cheap ultraportable, is going to make things even more uncomfortable for the Adamos of the world. A wave of $500-$900 ultrathin MacBook Air-like laptops are expected this summer. If these become popular, they will not only threaten the Adamo but possibly Netbooks too. (The Hewlett-Packard Pavilion dv2 is one of the first of many inexpensive ultraportables to come).
At the very least, this new category of laptops could push Netbooks down into the $100 to $300 price tier, instead of the typical $300 to $500 seen today.
Don't want a Netbook? Even "pricey" ultraportables can be had for under $1,300. A refurbished 1.8GHz MacBook Air with a solid-state drive is available today for $1,299 (not $1,099 as originally stated) direct from Apple (in my experience, many refurbished units are cosmetically new, but not without problems: see comments at bottom.)
Still want to fork over $2,700? Didn't think so.
(See: "Cracking Open the Dell Adamo" at TechRepublic.)
Note: the comment above about refurbished units revises the original text that said many refurbished units are "virtually new." This was stated too simplistically and did not accurately characterize the experience that I have had with refurbished laptops.
Brooke Crothers has served as an editor at large at CNET News, an editor at Dow Jones' Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, and a senior editor at InfoWorld. His CNET blog covers chip technology and computer systems, and how they define the computing experience. He also contributes to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. Follow Brooke on Twitter @mbrookec. 
For many years, laptop makers were concentrating completely on function and not at all on form. All the while, Apple was making sexy laptops, and the PC OEMs assumed Apple would never be a threat.
Well, now the OEMs realize that they can't ignore form any more. So it doesn't specifically matter if the Adamo is a success or a failure or is overpriced or if it hasn't got the best GPU. All that matters is that Dell has made a very serious commitment to improving the design of their laptops. Adamo is merely the first result of that -- there will be many more. Dell will find the right niche/price/performance balance eventually. But at least they will now have options for people who do want some style from their computers.
None of this presents a defense of the Adamo itself. But its still a good thing for Dell, and for us (consumers) because we now have more options.
I agree with you for a distance of it... it is good that Dell finally (finally!) decided to remove head from rectum in the design department. Same with HP. They still have a long way to go, but it is good to see them at least trying to move in the right direction.
There is a problem, though. While Dell and HP are busy (finally!0 concentrating on form, Apple has leap-frogged them in performance (try finding a Dell or HP with DDR3 RAM in it for less than a MBP, for instance).
As for the Adamo? I don't know if it will be the first or last round of Dell's attempts in the netbook arena. I can sum up the reason why I'm not sure about their commitment with one small phrase: "Dell DJ".
Thats easy
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-studio-xps-16?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
All better speced machines with DDR3 half the price.
You can't do math very well... MacBooks also come with DDR3 SDRAM with a starting price of $1299 (compared to Dell's Studio XPS 16 Laptop starting at $1099). Half the price if overstating it a bit, don't ya think!
besides JuggerNaut's commentary, you forgot to bring the cheap Dell up to snuff on the specifications (including OS, and a battery that has any hope of lasting anywhere near as long as the Mac's). Once you bring the Dell up, it costs nearly as much as the MacBook , and doesn't come with iLife. Add MS Office vs. Apple's iWork, and all of the sudde3n "half as much" just reeks of fanboyism.
Apple has been leading in customer satisfaction for years now
while Dell and HP have almost always been last on the list
so yes quality comes at a Price !
Wheres your source?
He doesn't need to pony up the sources because it's pretty widely known that Apple outranks in nearly all customer satisfaction surveys.
But in case you missed it:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10167523-37.html
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2009/02/18/apple-leads-2009-customer-satisfaction-survey/
http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/02/19/apple-leads-2009-customer-satisfaction-survey
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2008/08/apples-customer-satisfaction-up-despite-struggling-industry.ars
Let's face it, even at $1099 Apple is having a hard time offloading these refurb 1st-gen MBAs. They've been on sale for MONTHS now and few people are buying them. Which by definition == overpriced. The market speaks for itself.
Why do I get the suspicion that you're a lot like that "Giampaolo" guy in the Microsoft ads? You know, the one that claims to be tech-oriented, but then settles for far, far less than what he was looking for...
"They've been on sale for MONTHS now and few people are buying them"
And your evidence for this unsupported assertion is... ?
Perhaps if you compared the things with ultra-slim/light laptops in its class (such as the Sony Vaio for instance)?
A "thinking person" would realize:
1) This 1st gen MBA was replaced back in October 2008, six months ago -- which means, they've been out of manufacturing for at least seven months.
2) This same 1st gen MBA is being offered as a discounted _factory_ refurb world-wide with no shortages in each model.
So where is this stock of refurb supplies coming from? Noting supply vs. demand, there are only two realistic possibilities: a) defective MBAs are currently being returned in such great quantities that Apple has large amount of "new" refurbs 7-months after end of manufacturing, and/or b) people simply aren't buying them, thus they're still overpriced by definition.
Oh, c'mon - you're just weaseling now. The consumer doesn't care about just-in-time warehousing or whether or not an item is in or out of manufacture - if it is for sale and fulfills the needs, it gets bought.
Just to play your game: If that particular MacBook Air dies during the warranty period, the consumer gets a brand new one if parts can't be had. So that pretty much removes the argument you had buried in there.
You look at refurb deals from other manufacturers and often stock is depleted in a *single* day. Apple has MBA refurb stock that's 7+ months old... only hardcore fanboys like Random_Walk can say there's nothing wrong there.
For $1,199 you can get a 64GB solid-state drive.
Overpriced is in the eye of the beholder. For that money you get an over 13" monitor and a full sized keyboard in a package that weighs practically nothing. It's simply another option and a matter of choice.
Brooke is right about Apple's refurbished products. The only difference is you don't get the fancy packaging. Buying refurb is a smart move.
At base Dell has a brand problem, and Adamo is another example of Dell getting in its own way.
Adamo was an attempt by Dell to be taken seriously as a design company, and by nearly all accounts they succeeded splendidly on technical grounds. However, a few artsy ads in fashion and lifestyle magazines can't overcome the inertia of years of "everything's on sale" consumer image. They want so much to be the cool kids, but selling fine art at the Dollar Store isn't going to earn that cachet.
Meanwhile, instead of pouring resources into flashy non-starters like Adamo, they could have been making that quality discounter reputation work for them in their netbook and low-end laptop range. They got good momentum with their 9" netbook, but their 10" effort limped under-featured onto the market. Acer's out in front with a new 11" netbook and even has a cheap ultramobile competitor to the Adamo. If Dell had innovated and built their design and innovation credentials there, they might have been able to gain share and mojo, and reshape their brand more to their liking.
Studio , XPS, Etc
The Adamo is a beautiful machine and may help Dell shake its plain vanilla design image (its XPS range is similarly targeted a limited segment). It is unlikely to be a money-maker, but as a flagship for design, may get people to take a look at Dell again. In that sense, it may be a good investment.
All of their machines -- not just Adamo and XPS -- from low end to high end look great now. Why don't they talk about the bigger picture in their advertising instead of "sale of the day." Or maybe do both -- affordable design -- like Target.
However, if people are buying the MacBook Air, the Adamo or anything else enough that the product can be deemed successful, it isn't "overpriced," and the argument that you could sell more at a cheaper price is indicative of nothing, since that is true for any product at any price above $0. It may be subjectively overpriced, but that is a different question, and if you have beyond a 3rd grade education you should be able to distinguish between fact (objective) and opinion (subjective).
If people were buying these refurbs, then we'd only see limited supplies available from current returns (or more likely, Apple would just sell the current returns in-bulk to a 3rd party and not even make factory-direct refurbs available.)
So by your own definition, they're "overpriced".
..."They've been out-of-manufacturing for 7 months for goodness sake and yet Apple is still selling them as factory-direct refurbs."...
I would like to see proof of that?!
i'm typing this on a dirt cheap dell dmiension e310 too, so it's not dell i have the problem with, it's the thought that dell thinks they can charge apple prices for a windows machine.
Netbooks are a curiosity. I've tried them. Company I work at even purchased them for the mobile staff. Want to guess where they are now? Sitting on a shelf gathering dust because they essentially suck. Performance so bad it's not even funny.
"Why should I buy a $1000+ notebook when I can get a $300-$400 netbook?" - Simple, if you want to get your work done, buy a real notebook. The performance of a netbook just is not there. It's not even remotely in the same state-line of a notebook regardless of who makes it.
The only item I agree with is the timing/price of Dell's Adamo.
If you're happy with your netbook, good for you. But don't even try to shove your opinion to other people that don't agree with you. There is more value to me than just cheap price. You didn't figure that out yet.
the MBA is probably the most hated/Loved Laptop in history especially in technology sites and blogs
the funny part most of these haters have never even touched it let alone use it !
- by Maccess April 13, 2009 12:27 AM PDT
- Not to mention that their operating system vendor has been conditioning buyers that PC laptops are supposed to be cheap: $699 for a 17" HP and only Apple's are expensive, right? therefore, Dell's shouldn't be more than $699 too, otherwise they'd be Apple's, which they aren't.
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