According to Laptop Magazine, the standard battery has been upped from 4- to 8-cells (previously a $99 option), the keyboard "no longer acts like a trampoline", and the price has been dropped $100 (now $799) to boot. Core specs (Core 2 Solo SU3500 CULV, 2GB RAM, 320GB) remain the same.

Of course, the battery adds a little extra heft, but with the current 4-cell model being sold at about $749, the update seems like a decent deal. [Laptop Magazine]

Sleek and sexy, this $467.78 netbook looks good enough to slice cake with. Its design mimics that of Apple's MacBook Air, right down to hidden monitor-out and USB ports. No word on how the lack of an optical drive is being dealt with though.

The specifications don't have anything worth getting excited about except for that last item:

• Atom 1.6GHz processor
• 2GB RAM
• Intel 945 chipset
• 12.1-inch 1,280 x 800-pixel resolution
• 320GB HDD
• Two USB ports, mini-HDMI port, 2-in-1 headphone/mic jack
• 802.11b/g, 10/100 Ethernet
• Six-cell battery
• Windows 7 RC1 with Vista Home Premium license

Yes, the iiView A2 runs Windows 7 RC1, but comes with a Vista Home Premium license so that you can upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium when the time is right. iView explains that this OS decision was made because Vista just doesn't "provide an adequate experience" on netbooks. (Does it provide an adequate experience on anything?)

This is the best looking netbook I've seen so far and a great deal for those craving the style of Apple's line, but dreading the price tag. All that's left is the wait until the iiView A2 hits US shelves. [CNET]

The entry-level Dell Adamo—with 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive—now costs the same $1,500 as its 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air counterpart—which has no 128GB SSD. The top of the line, however, has only been reduced to $2,230, with a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, and built-in 3G connectivity. That's still more expensive than Apple's $1,800 higher end, although the latter only has 2GB RAM and no 3G built-in.

Next: The Moon turning to blood, dogs cohabiting with cats, trumpets playing, hell freezing over, the dead walking among us, and George Lucas writing and directing the next Star Trek. [Dell via Electronista]

Both suspects were filmed by authorities rummaging through luggage bound for Miami on July 7th. They also switched luggage tags in a futile attempt to hide their crimes. The pair faces up to 4 years in prison if convicted—giving them plenty of time to swap stories with this guy. [Daily News via Gothamist via The Consumerist / Image via Flickr]

In their review of June's upclocked, marked-down MacBook Air, MacWorld noticed some odd benchmark results. Compared to the Late 2008 MacBook Air, clocked at 1.86GHz, the new top-end model, clocked at 2.13GHz, couldn't quite keep up. This is odd, since the rest of the specs have remained basically static, and the only difference between the processors is clock speed.

Confirming their suspicions, they found the June 2009 1.83GHz Air to be markedly slower than the Late 2008 1.83GHz model, despite nearly identical specs. So, what the hell?

The obvious answer here would be some kind of firmware change, since it doesn't make sense from a hardware perspective. MacWorld speculates that the newer Airs could have more aggressive thermal management features, which throttle the processor when it gets too hot—a theory somewhat supported by the fact that high-stress benchmarks showed a proportionally greater performance decrease than easier ones.

Another possibility in the same vein: Underutilizing faster processors simply gives Apple better power consumption and heat results. Problem is, that doesn't explain why the matched processors perform differently. Also, Apple's whole pretense that the new Airs are faster than the old ones would have been a intentional, egregious lie.

Until these benchmarks are replicated and examined, we'll have to remain a little bit skeptical. But if they can be, then Apple's got some splainin' to do, I think. [MacWorld via MacRumors]

Apple stores have discounted nearly every MacBook in stock, and while the markdowns aren't huge, they're worth a look: MacBook Airs have been discounted anywhere from $400 to $800, which means the previous base model is now $100 cheaper than the most affordable new version. The 2.66GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro is discounted by $500, bringing it below the new model's $2500 starting price. 13-inch unibodies get $100-$300 markdowns, which, given the latest units' advantages, might not be worth it.

You'll want to stop by or call your local store on this one, since these offers depend on remaining inventory, and might not hold in every location. [AppleInsider via Ars]

The 13-inch MBP gets the backlit keyboard, SD card slot and the option to be loaded with up to 8GB of RAM, just like its new big brothers.

Furthermore, the MacBook Air's base price just got dropped down to $1,499. It'll be $1799 with a 256GB SSD, which is $700 cheaper than before.

Apple Updates MacBook Pro Family with New Models & Innovative Built-in Battery for Up to 40 Percent Longer Battery Life

SAN FRANCISCO, June 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today updated the aluminum unibody MacBook® Pro line to include 13-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch models featuring Apple's innovative built-in battery for up to 40 percent longer battery life. Each MacBook Pro includes an LED-backlit display with greater color intensity, the innovative glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad, an illuminated keyboard, an SD card or ExpressCard slot, a FireWire® 800 port and state of the art NVIDIA graphics. Starting at just $1,199, the MacBook Pro line is more affordable than ever, with some models up to $300 less than the previous generation. The industry's greenest notebook lineup, every Mac® notebook achieves EPEAT* Gold status and meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements, setting a new standard for environmentally friendly notebook design.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090608/SF28883)

"Across the line, all of our new MacBook Pro models now include Apple's innovative built-in battery for up to seven hours of battery life, while staying just as thin and light as before," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Starting at just $1,199, the aluminum unibody MacBook Pro is more affordable than ever and sets a new standard for environmentally friendly notebook design."

The new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models include Apple's innovative built-in notebook battery for up to seven hours of wireless productivity on a single charge without adding thickness, weight or cost. Using Adaptive Charging and advanced chemistry first introduced with the 17-inch MacBook Pro earlier this year, the built-in battery delivers up to 1,000 recharges before it reaches 80 percent of its original capacity-nearly three times the lifespan of conventional batteries.** The longer battery lifespan equals fewer depleted batteries and less waste.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is a significant upgrade at a lower price than the original aluminum MacBook it replaces. With the same sleek and durable design popular with consumers, students and professionals, all 13-inch MacBook Pro models now include a seven hour built-in battery, an SD card slot, a FireWire 800 port, an illuminated keyboard and an improved LED-backlit display with 60 percent greater color gamut. Featuring the powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is available in two models: one with a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive priced at $1,199, and another with a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive priced at $1,499.

The perfect balance of performance and portability, the 15-inch MacBook Pro now features a seven hour built-in battery, an SD card slot, an improved LED-backlit display with 60 percent greater color gamut and 4GB of RAM across the line at an entry price $300 less than before. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro is available in three models: a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 250GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics for a new entry price of $1,699; a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 320GB hard drive, and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT graphics for $1,999; and a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 500GB hard drive, and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT graphics for $2,299.

The 17-inch MacBook Pro, which includes an eight hour built-in battery, an ExpressCard slot, a brilliant LED-backlit display, 4GB of RAM and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT graphics, has been updated to include a faster 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a larger 500GB hard drive for $2,499, which is $300 less than before.

All MacBook Pro systems feature Apple's revolutionary aluminum unibody design and for the first time can be upgraded with up to 8GB of RAM, and up to a 500GB hard drive or up to a 256GB solid state drive. The 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models can also be upgraded to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. All MacBook Pro systems include a next generation, industry-standard Mini DisplayPort to connect with the 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Display.

Apple today also updated the incredibly thin and light MacBook Air®, making it more powerful and more affordable. Measuring just 0.16 to 0.76-inches thin and weighing just three pounds, the MacBook Air is available in two models starting with the new entry price of $1,499 for a 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 120GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, and a 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 128GB solid state drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics for $1,799.

Every Mac notebook achieves EPEAT Gold status and meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements, setting a new standard for environmentally friendly notebook design. Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. All MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models contain no brominated flame retardants and use internal cables and components that are PVC-free. The built-in battery design results in less waste and depleted batteries can be replaced for $129 or $179, which includes installation and disposal of your old battery in an environmentally responsible manner.

Every MacBook Pro comes with Apple's innovative iLife® '09 featuring iPhoto® for managing photos, iMovie® for making movies and GarageBand® for creating and learning to play music. Every Mac also runs Leopard®, the world's most advanced operating system, featuring Time Machine®, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; Spaces®, an intuitive feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; Mail with easy setup and elegant, personalized stationery; and iChat®, the most advanced video chat.

Pricing & Availability

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro, 15-inch MacBook Pro, 17-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are now available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Mac OS® X Snow Leopard™ will be shipping in September 2009, and any new Mac system purchased without Snow Leopard from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller between June 8, 2009 and the end of the program on December 26, 2009, is eligible for the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-To-Date upgrade package available for a product plus shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Users must request their Up-To-Date upgrade within 90 days of purchase or by December 26, 2009, or whichever comes first. For more information please visit www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate.

The 2.26 GHz, 13-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes:

· 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;

· 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;

· 1066 MHz front-side bus;

· 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB;

· NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;

· 160GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

· a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

· Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);

· built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

· Gigabit Ethernet port;

· built-in iSight® video camera;

· two USB 2.0 ports;

· one FireWire 800 port (FireWire 400 compatible);

· SD card slot;

· one audio line in/out port, supporting both optical digital and analog;

· glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;

· built-in, 58WHr lithium polymer battery; and

· 60 Watt MagSafe® Power Adapter.

The 2.53 GHz, 13-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

· 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;

· 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;

· 1066 MHz front-side bus;

· 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB;

· NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;

· 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

· a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

· Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);

· built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

· Gigabit Ethernet port;

· built-in iSight video camera;

· two USB 2.0 ports;

· one FireWire 800 port (FireWire 400 compatible);

· SD card slot;

· one audio line in/out port, supporting both optical digital and analog;

· glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;

· built-in, 58WHr lithium polymer battery; and

· 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options for the MacBook Pro include the ability to upgrade to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, a 250GB 5400 rpm, 320GB 5400 rpm or 500GB 5400 rpm hard drive, a 128GB or 256GB solid state drive, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare® Protection Plan.

First, let's focus on what the X340 gets right. It's a 13-inch (16x9, 1366x768) laptop that weighs just 2.86 pounds with its 4-cell battery. It measures .78 inches at its thickest point and .24 inches at its thinnest. (The MacBook Air measures but .76 inches at its thickest point and .16 at its thinnest.) In real life application, the X340 seems a tad bulkier than specs might reveal because the tapering isn't as dramatic as the Air's. But it's still thin.

The 1.4GHz Core2 Solo processor is quite a bit faster than your average Atom, and its HDMI I/O port and draft n Wi-Fi are a welcome addition to such a tiny machine.

OK, now for the bad stuff.

The keyboard feels dreadful. Not only are the keys...mushy...the center of the keyboard literally bends while you type. It's frightening to watch and extremely disconcerting as you wonder if they next keypress will greet your fingertips with a charged circuit board.

As for the remainder of the machine, it doesn't feel much better. The only way to describe the plastic body is "cheap." Not only does the glossy black finish reveal a strange, flecked iridescence under light, tap on the palm wrests with your knuckle and something about the hollowness of the pitch assures you that it could easily crack under a moderate amount of pressure.
Molding the trackpad into the case...that was a bad idea. The surface simply doesn't feel lacquered as a working trackpad. Literally, it feels unfinished, like someone on the assembly line went on break instead of gluing on the proper touch sensitive rectangle.

When you hold the Air, it's an incredible sensation not just because of its size but because of how sturdy it feels at its size. The X340 misses the pleasure of this dichotomy and gives us what I'm willing to wager is the most fragile laptop I've ever put my hands on.

Performance
Believe it or not, while the X340 is burdened by Vista's heavy footprint, it's quite usable. General navigation seems infinitely faster than running Vista on a true netbook, like the Dell Mini 12. The benchmarks support the fairly fluid experience of the OS.
The X340 is clearly closer to a netbook than the MBA in performance, but that performance gap between netbook and X340 is definitely noticeable in your general day to day experience of loading apps.

The X340's graphics chip is the Intel GMA X4500MDH. All you really need to know is that this architecture is nowhere near as good as NVIDIA's 9 series stuff, like the 9400M. And it's not powerful enough for heavy gaming (the 9400M is already scraping the barrel pretty hard). You can see the two platforms side by side here:

Still, MSI claims that the system can handle smooth 1080P playback. Can it? In a word, no. Neither HD web content (like Vimeo) nor 1080P MPEG4 played back smoothly on the system. The Blu-ray quality MPEG4 probably never broke 15fps.

In reality, the X340 performs up to most of my expectations (since I never believed it could handle 1080P clips anyway). Just don't expect it to be some sort of dream multimedia machine. In that regard, the X340 is like a netbook on steroids—fine for general use, just not juiced up enough to handle the next tier of graphics-intensive operations.

The battery lasted 1 hour, 43 minutes - ouch*
You could probably stretch the life beyond two hours with a few tweaks, like gimping the processor or squinting at the screen, but if you're planning on watching a movie during your next flight, it'd better be from the 90-minute Pauly Shore Archives.
*MPEG 4 playback, Wi-Fi on, screen at full brightness, "balanced" performance. You can purchase an 8-cell battery that should hit 3 hours for a bit more weight

The Sad Conclusion
I should be thrilled with the X340. It's lighter than many netbooks that have smaller screens. While not as tailored as the MacBook Air, hey, it's damn close. It also runs Vista at a reasonable speed.

The problem is, I just can't look at this machine, as thin and light as it may be, and feel good about dropping nearly $1000 to make one mine. If the X340 were much cheaper (unlikely) or sturdier (quite feasible), there's a good chance I'd be thrilled in this review. I just can't imagine showing this machine off to a friend, or getting extreme satisfaction when pulling it out of a bag. And if I've lost those attributes, I might as well settle for a somewhat thin full-blown laptop for less money, or a very light netbook for even less money.

But if you're looking purely for the lightest way to fit a 13-inch screen into your bag that's waaayyyy cheaper than the Air, and you only want to use a computer for 1 hour and 34 minutes at a time, then I'm not stopping you.

Extremely light and thin form

Runs Vista adequately

Short battery life

Weak for multimedia applications

Unreasonably poor build quality

[Additional research from Geekbench]

According to the the company (via the NYT), the new laptops will be most closely comparable to the Dell Adamo, MacBook Air and Voodoo Envy. They'll be a bit thicker, but still under an inch; they'll have slower processors, but not Atoms; they'll be light, but not feather-light. This concerted effort of "buts" means that these almost ultrathin (semiultrathin? kindathin?) laptops will ship in at less than half the price of their expensive cousins, some even dipping below the $600 threshold.

This wouldn't be a revolutionary category, but it would be an attractive one: ultrathin laptops, as recently exemplified by the Adamo, are already rife with compromise, as they're slow, they don't have optical drives, contain wimpy video hardware and they're not very expandable. They just represent the wrong kind: a compromise with a singular, obsessed focus on weight and size, with no regard for price. A re-balancing of the formula, like the one Intel is predicting, would be more than welcome. [NYT]

Hope as I may, this video is way, way too dumb to be some kind of viral ad for Lenovo. So, guy, here's some of that attention you wanted, I guess! [Macenstein]

Sefer's friend Bullent tells Macenstein:

He was sitting on the chair in the front [of the airplane]. Seat number seven. (3-4 chairs from the business class). He has his MacBook Air with him, he was watching a movie. When the plane began to land, he closed his MacBook Air, and put it in the skin. A couple of minutes [later] there was the crash."

Apparently Sefer broke his neck the accidentand his MacBook was bent all to hell. Miraculously, several operations have given Sefer the ability to walk, and sturdy unibody construction prevented his new MacBook Air from completely biting the dust. Despite their injuries, both "booted up" and are expected to recover. [Macenstein]

The Adamo is both a compliment and an insult to Dell engineering. It's possibly the most beautiful computer Dell has ever manufactured, but I'm not sure that Dell has caught up to competitors in either aesthetics or power. There have been lots of qualitative Adamo reviews out there, but we got the first of the units that will actually ship to customers, so it's time for real benchmarks. As it happens, performance is really what's at stake here.

Design

On one hand, the Adamo is a laptop built from as many parts aluminum as testosterone. It's decorated with three different finishes of black metal, including a classy matte grain that makes up a majority of the case, but then Dell tops all that blackness off with two more touches of black plastic (keyboard and mouse buttons) and tempered glass (in front and behind the screen) to add a bit of gloss to the mix.

The resulting cacophony of darkness tugs at my heart strings, activating long dormant man-DNA. Add a Batman logo, and I could see the Dark Knight shaping parts of this machine by hand, cave condensation dripping on the keyboard.

But batarangs lack polish. The Adamo has a utilitarian geometryit's a block with four rounded edges, which is fine, but that block features a bottom panel with a disconcerting gap in metal...leading to nightmares of the lithium polymer battery leaking all over my lap. (Note: Dell uses two of these gaps for service/repair tool access.)

And the 13.4-inch, 720p (1366x768) screen is so difficult to fold open that it feels like you're bending a car door the wrong way. Its picture is quite pretty thoughyou'll notice sharpness is better on this screen than on the MacBook Air's.

The trackpad feels smaller than it should on a device with this footprint, and its multitouch gesture shortcuts, like pinch zooming, were often activating when I didn't want them to. (If you find the gestures useless, as I did, you can just disable them.)

The backlit keyboard is alrightthe concave keys are a bit soft for my taste but perfectly passable. And the touch controls above the keyboard, while pleasant on the eyes, aren't really integral enough or pretty enough to justify their existence. Wouldn't it be neat if Dell used this space for a superfluously beautiful battery gauge or something? Why not? I really don't need more buttons to skip through my music.

And while the Adamo is athletically trim (a crazy .66 inches), at 4 pounds, it's half a pound heavier than the Voodoo Envy, and a full pound heavier than the Lenovo X301 and the MacBook Air, not to mention most netbooks. (Apparently it's no coincidence that the Adamo drew inspiration from luxury products like Bentleys.)

So is the Adamo thin? Yes. Light? No.

It's not quiet either. Even with our 128GB SSD configuration, the Adamo is rarely a silent machine. The fan, incidentally hidden behind some of the most stylish vents I've ever seen, runs almost nonstop during basic operation.

Still, there are a few points of clever design. Sticking all of the ports in the back of the system is a bit old school, but it also allows for a slimmer side profile. The two USB ports, ethernet jack and DisplayPort aren't much to speak of, but the inclusion of an eSATA/USB port means that your expansion drives can be just as fast as internalsgood news, since there's no DVD drive. All this junk in the trunk is literally topped off by speakers. (Yup, they're behind the monitor.)

The only part we were unable to test was the optional integrated HSDPA 3G. You can see, however, that it's super easy to pop an AT&T SIM into the side of the computera solution that's far more elegant than using a USB stick, and makes use of a larger integrated antenna.

Performance

Our test system was a beefed-up, $2600 Adamo, featuring a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (3MB L2 cache), 4GB RAM (800MHz), 128GB SSD and integrated 3G. $2000 only buys you a 1.2GHz processor and 2GB of RAM, but you still get the 128GB SSD.

On paper, the MacBook Air is faster (faster processor, faster front side bus, and double the L2 cache). We ran GeekBench to test the theory. (It proved true.)

But these differences are really somewhat minor performance nitpicks. The biggest mistake Dell made with this system, by far, was the inclusion of Intel's GMA X4500HD GPU. Nvidia's GeForce 9400M (which you see in MacBooks etc) would have made a better fit. Nvidia claims their integrated GPUs dominate Intel's. Here's a comparison of the two GPUs that pretty much proves that Nvidia is right:



And here we see those principles applied in 3DMark testing. (Note, the 301 and Adamo have the Intel GPU, the MacBook Air has the Nvidia GPU):

I don't know that the X4500HD GPU is a complete dealbreaker for the Adamo...actually scratch that, it is a dealbreaker. Because if you're looking to work on graphics intensive programs or do light gaming, this simply cannot be the system for you. Also, keep in mind that Nvidia's upcoming Ion platform is pretty much an just Intel Atom processor with a 9400M. In other words, $400 netbooks will soon be outperforming this $2,000+ machine in 3D tasks if Dell doesn't tweak their platform.

However, if you're only looking to email, use programs like Excel and surf the web, the Adamo's support for up to 4GB of RAM may be a bigger benefit than the 9400M. (Since the MacBook Air supports a max of 2GB of RAM, it's a point to keep in mind if you're comparison shopping.)

Battery Life

Dell will tell you that the Adamo has a "5+ hour battery life," achieved through a non-removable lithium polymer battery. I tested the system with power saving (lower performance), medium screen brightness, wi-fi on and Bluetooth off. And I was able to play back a high-def WMV for just over half Dell's claim.

Total Run Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes

I find that, in real world use, it's very common for laptops to achieve only half their battery rating. The Adamo is clearly no exception. At least the laptop can make it through a full-length movie.

The Dark Knight Returns

The Adamo is a bit of a strange beast. It's not as feathery as the Lenovo X301 or the MacBook Air, and even with that extra pound of heft, it's (overall) not as powerful as the MacBook Aira computer that's incidentally cheaper than the Adamo in its base configuration.

The Adamo has a few fantastic features: Integrated 3G, eSATA, and a butt that just won't quit. And its aluminum body, especially in black, simply looks sharp.

Just don't dare buy this computer until Dell comes to their senses and realizes that $2000+ is absurd for a 4-pound laptop with no graphics muscle. Show some restraint and wait for the sequel. If it's anything like the Batman franchise, there will be many. [Adamo]

Unique, stylish design

Very thin

Nice selection of ports and extras

It's the heaviest system in its class by a pound

Mediocre battery life

Weak GPU

[Additional benchmarking sources here, here, here, here, here, and here]

Yes, today the MacBook Air is much, much lamer, but the Eee brand name is marginally more cool.

The Asus Eee PC (1008HA), a 10-inch netbook, is just 1-inch thick and 2.8lbs in weight. It also features the beveled design of the MacBook Air, with its curving chassis that thins around the edges. Asus isn't the first netbook manufacturer to go after a thin design, as MSI did the same thing with their X-Slim. But Asus takes the cake for most convincing press shot.

Unfortunately, the processor, price and release date are still unannounced. So crank up the Macarena and enjoy the pics. [lilliputing]

Home Entertainment
• Westinghouse 47" 1080p HDTV for $899 plus free shipping (normally $1,499).
• Sharp Aquos 46" 1080p LCD HDTV for $1,429 (normally $1,799).
• Pioneer 5.1 Surround Sound Home Theater System for $168 (normally $299).

Gaming
• 80 GB Playstation 3 for $319.99 plus free shipping (normally $399. Use coupon code PLDWH47D$6BT2J. Valid through 2/25.)

Movies
• Blu-ray Action 3-pk with Casino Royale, Black Hawk Down & Hellboy for $33.95 plus free shipping (normally $97.86).
• Blu-ray Comedy Bundle with Superbad, You Don't Mess With the Zohan and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby for $40.95 plus free shipping (normally $117.87).
• Firefly - The Complete Series on DVD for $21.99 plus free shipping (normally $49.99).

Computing
• Apple 13.3" 1.6GHZ MacBook Air for $1,149 (normally $1,249.99. Use rebate form).
• Apple 13.3" 1.8GHZ MacBook Air for $1,399 (normally $1,649.99. Use rebate form).
• HP 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $179.99 plus free shipping (normally $338).
• Lenovo 3000 N500 15.4" Laptop for $399 (normally $499).

Storage Devices
• Kingston 2GB SD Flash Card for $4.55 plus free shipping (normally $19.99).
• Kingston 32GB DataTraveler Flash Drive for $59.97 plus free shipping (normally $99).

Miscellaneous
• $300 Gas Coupon with any product $99.99 and up (normally $300 - deal is limited to the first 2,000 customers).

Hobomodo
• Dunkin Donuts Dark Roast Ground Coffee for $0
• 2 Jack In The Box Tacos for $0 (Valid only on 2/24.)
• Subscription to Soap Opera Digest for $0
• Neru Patch for Foot and Leg Discomfort for $0

Save $300 on a Sony® BRAVIA® HDTV. Turn your 1040 into 1080p from Sony.

The white is marred by a supremely tacky lidin and of itself, and for the style that it's trying to evoke, the essence of the rapidly fading (if not already dead) monogram bag.

But! Like I said, the form factor itself, exposed more crisply than ever by Brian Solis, is gorgeous, and I kind of want to take the black one on a date where we'd eat foie gras and chocolate truffles. To make the body of the laptop itself thinner than the Air, Dell gave it a meaty ass, which is where it stuffed all the portstwo USB, DisplayPort, Ethernet, power. The keyboard looks like it'll fantastic to type on as well.

Performance is still a remaining question, but it really only matters insofar as it doesn't spoil the experience, kind of like going out with a model. [Brian Solis via Electronista]

Through the glory of Google translate:

It is understood that Apple is producing more than the current MBA size MacBook Air (15-inch?).

Of course the idea is interesting to consider. While the system would lose some of its trademark portability, there would be much more room to work with for componentsbe they for video processing, battery life, 3G connectivity or just an optical media drive.

Then again, in a scenario without any extra performance, it's hard to tell exactly who would be interested in such a machine (that, in accordance to Apple pricing, would crush $2,000 with base options). Would you? [Apple.pro via AppleInsider]

The NYT visually quotes Tatelman, Dell's VP of consumer sales of marketing, with a reaction of his "mouth [gaping] open and his eyes [darting] away." Tatelman followed with:

I think we need to get some iconic products out there, so people associate Dell’s brand with other things.” Namely, that’s goodbye to clunky, and hello to sleek.

And an analyst says that Dell could "shave $400 off the MacBook Air price pretty easily." And a Hackintosh Adamo? We're excited. Sign us up for duty, Admiral. [NYTimes]

Engadget also has further details on the Adamo, saying it will be marketed as the world's thinnest laptop some time around February, featuring a black and silver color scheme. [Engadget]