Dell Adamo XPS review

The 1.4GHz Intel ULV processor is starting to look a little dated with Intel's current generation of Core-series CPUs, and we wonder if the power-efficient Core i3 could fit into this slim chassis. That said, though the Adamo XPS couldn't match the performance of systems with newer CPUs, or even HP's Envy 13, it was perfectly fine for everyday multitasking, and never felt sluggish or underpowered in anecdotal use.

Unfortunately, with a body this thin, there's not much room for a battery. In our video playback battery drain test, the Adamo XPS ran for only 1 hour and 23 minutes, a score we'd expect to see only from the biggest of desktop replacements. Considering this system had an SSD hard drive and a ULV processor, that's especially poor. In anecdotal testing, however, we got a little between 2 and 2.5 hours of general use from the slim battery pack when surfing the Web, working on office docs, and so on.

Dell does include a second, larger battery with the Adamo, but that breaks up the clean lines of the system (and is more than twice as thick as the Adamo itself), and our default is to always test with the battery that fits the overall design best when there are more than one.

Conclusion
While the high-concept Adamo XPS deserves credit for taking some serious design risks, ultimately it fails to live up to its price tag. It's a cool conversation piece, but its pathetic battery keeps it from being terribly useful in day-to-day life.

Additional editing by Nick Hide