Dell Adamo XPS 13 AX-3601GSL

The Dell Adamo XPS 13 AX-3601GSL is my new favorite laptop for several reasons. My previous Sony Vaio was nice but showing it’s age, being almost six years old. This new model is fast, stylish, and one you’ll actually want to take along with you on trips. It’s a real PC with good performance, compared to the tablets and netbooks which for me, make too many compromises. I wouldn’t use it for a desktop replacement, but it fills the role I think notebooks should fill, and that’s be usable for all but the most heavy duty applications, but light and slim enough so you actually want to take it with you. I’ve owned 8lb notebooks in the past, and they always got left at home. The new offering by Dell weighs in at 3.2 lbs, and features the newest 160gig SSD hard drive (solid state drives are like a flash drive with no heat, sound and no moving parts) which gives much better performance and battery life. The 1.4ghz Intel Core Duo CPU is designed for a compromise of performance and battery life, as do the 13.4 inch screen (1366 x 768) and 4 gigs of RAM, which is more than enough to run the Windows 7 home version that comes with it.

The  AX-3600GSL Adamo XPS isn’t perfect, at $1550 it’s a lot more than the bargain models, and the battery is notoriously difficult to remove if you plan on swapping the high capacity battery which is optional. It can be done, but takes some practice to perfect your technique. What you get is cutting edge hard drive performance and a super slim and elegant form factor. If you attend meetings a lot, just the look of the thing gives a good impression. Because of the slimness of the battery in the AX-3600GSL, you’ll get around 90 minutes real world with the factory unit, and 2.5 to 3 hours with the extended model. The curve of the extended battery actually makes it easier to pick up, and doesn’t add significant weight over the standard one.

Ther AX-3600GSL doesn’t include an optical drive, but an external one is available. There’s many aftermarket drives out there that are compatible, so maybe wait and see if you really need one. You can connect to your PC at home with WiFi and just share that optical drive to install stuff if you need to. When was the last time you handled a CD anyway? There’s two 2.0 USB ports and a 2 megapixel camera which includes facial recognition software for security (optional to use though).

It comes with the standard WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, video is handled by Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD and has an external source for docking to a normal monitor. With the USB ports for a standard keyboard and mouse, it could be a desktop replacement for those who just want one computer. Overall, it’s a very stylish system with the power to get things done on the road or at home. The best price I saw was $1550 (the SSD drive is what makes these more expensive) but it’s literally a laptop you’ll never get tired of taking with you.