Dell ships ultra-thin Adamo laptop

The Adamo is a whisker thinner than the MacBook Air

Dell is now taking orders for its Adamo laptop, which it claims is the world's thinnest at about 16.4mm thick.

Adamo was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, and is the first product in an entire Adamo line that will feature new design aesthetics, according to Dell.

The laptop is available to pre-order today from the Adamo By Dell web site, and will start shipping worldwide from 26 March.

With a 13.4in widescreen display and measuring just 0.65in (16.4mm) thick, the Adamo has been compared to Apple's MacBook Air, claimed as the thinnest laptop when it launched in early 2008. However, the Adamo is significantly heavier at about 1.8kg.

Dell makes much of the Adamo's "premium craftsmanship and design", which includes a chassis milled from a single piece of aluminium featuring precision detailing, and a scalloped backlit keyboard.

The system is based on Intel Core 2 Duo processors, and is available in two configurations: the Base has a 1.2GHz SU9300 chip and 2GB memory for £1,649, while the Enhanced has a 1.4GHz SU9400 and 4GB memory and costs £2,249. Both have a 128GB Flash drive instead of a hard drive as standard.

Connectivity includes 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an Ethernet port, plus two USB ports, a combined USB/eSATA port for high-speed storage devices, and an external display port.

Despite the Adamo's thin design, Dell claims a battery life of up to five hours from a full charge. The laptop ships with Windows Vista Home Premium Edition.