So what’s this Dell is now teasing? (Click to enlarge)

Puzzlingly, it’s a new 9.99mm-thin Adamo XPS laptop that looks remarkably like a MacBook Air.

And that’s all we get. No info. No specs. Not even a full-frontal photo to ogle. The reason is that it’s merely a concept – the physical product might not even exist.

Released from Texas yesterday to mark the media’s obsession with the totally meaningless, entirely man-made 09/09/09 date, it’s a glimpse of what might come in the future. An even more streamlined Adamo with graceful silver curves to contrast with the existing model’s angular edges. Apparently it’s “as beautiful as today’s date is unique”. Right.

It looks to me like Dell trying to take on Apple by being more like Apple. Perhaps Jobs could have used it to liven up the lame presentation yesterday…

So it was with some pleasure that I could finally get my hands on a production model at Dell’s Versailles-based event today. And I have to say, it’s a very impressive piece of kit.

Dell makes much of the fact that the body is machined from one piece of metal (rather similar to our old friend the Apple MacBook Pro) and in the hand it feels extremely well made. It’s rock solid to the touch and exudes class.

As with the MacBook, there’s no way for users to replace the battery – according to Dell, though, so far none of its customers have expressed any concern about this, and “it’s only a ten minute job”. It’s just that you’ll need a Dell engineer to do that job…

Nevertheless, this does mean Dell can be innovative when it comes to the battery design (apparently, the cells themselves resemble ketchup sachets) and some recompense comes in the form of a sleek underside complete with a plaque explaining what you’ve just bought. I’ll deftly ignore the fact this will likely be ruined by asset stickers if, as is rather likely, the Adamo is to be used in a company.

The attention to detail stretches to other areas of the Adamo too. Note that the holes at the back of the machine are square, not round; this makes the manufacturing process far more difficult (I’m assured magnets are involved to remove the squares) but also results, Dell claims, in superior air flow

We hoped this would mean the fan rarely needed to kick in, but playing back a standard-resolution video in Windows Media shattered this dream. It’s only a low level of noise, but it’s enough to be noticeable.

In return, at least the Adamo is quite responsive. From our previous experience with laptops using a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo SU9300, it’s just enough to run as a main computer, and the 2GB of DDR3 RAM is ample for the supplied Windows Vista Home Premium. A 128GB solid state disk helps to reduce stutters too.

It proved pleasant to use in other ways too. The keyboard is a pleasure to type on, the trackpad responsive and the 13.4in screen glossy and sharp. It didn’t have the punch of the very best screens, but few will complain.

The problem for Dell is the price. At £1,434 (£1,649 inc VAT) it’s around £250 more expensive than the 2.13GHz MacBook Air. We’ll look forward to getting the Adamo in the PC Pro Lab to see if it can justify that premium.