Dell puts a price to the Adamo

After first showcasing it at the Consumer Electronics Show over two months ago, and months of teasers, Dell has finally lifted the veil of secrecy surrounding its Adamo range by officially announcing the first product in its new luxury line (See: Dell launches luxury laptop line Adamo)

Adamo, which comes from Latin, means, ''fall in love with'' or ''covet'', is exactly what Dell wants customers to do - fall in love with its new luxury rather than Apple's offerings. Apple has demonstrated that there's a lot of money at the high-chic end of the market, and now Dell wants a piece of that pie.

Of course, all this exclusivity doesn't come cheap. Debuting a $1,999 Windows PC right now is questionable at best, but make no mistake: whether Dell actually sells a lot of these makes little difference to the company, even if it won't say that publicly.

The Adamo itself is not a guaranteed moneymaker as much as it's a statement about how Dell wants to be perceived from now on. Marking a change from its earlier specifications-focussed approach, Dell is now placing equal, if not more, emphasis on looks and desirability of its products.

The Adamo is an aluminum shell wrapped around 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with 2GB or DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD and a 13.4? edge-to-edge 720p glass display (you also get WiFi N, Bluetooth, 2x USB and a USb/eSATA port, DisplayPort and Gigabit Ethernet port). This system comes with 64-bit Vista Home Premium and offers up to 5 hours of battery life. One could get better specifications for $2,000, but it's hard to find anything that's more stylish.

The product, which comes in onyx and pearl exteriors, is Dell's attempt at notebooks with "gotta have it" appeal, a Dell spokesman said, which are in the same vein as Apple's MacBook Air. Pre-orders start from today with the first notebook scheduled to be shipped on Saturday.