Shortly before I left for the Dominican Republic, the other hinge on my laptop went south, which means both hinges are now broken, forcing me to literally hold in place my laptop’s LCD when I’m using it. Not fun.

It’s time for a new laptop.

As I was researching laptops yesterday, I learned that there are rumors swirling on the Internets that Dell is slated to release a new ultraportable laptop to compete with the MacBook Air. There are a lot of articles about this strewn about, like this one, or this one, to name just a couple. Very intriguing. Although I don’t think any specs have been confirmed yet, thanks to a mishap–or viral advertising campaign by Dell–some Google-cached pages from Dell’s website suggest that it will have a 13″ LCD. And it may even be lighter than the MacBook Air (which is pretty darn light). This site even seems to confirm the Adamo’s weight, but it’s probably just speculation at this point. In any event, if those predictions are true, I have to say that I’m very, very interested in this laptop.

I’ve been hooked on the thin-and-light/ultraportable category of laptops for some time now. In fact, I like to tell myself that my current laptop, a Gateway 200ARC, was sort of a pioneer in the thin-and-light category. It weighs only 4.5 lbs and is one-inch thick, which is pretty much the dictionary definition of a thin and light. What’s interesting is that this laptop was released back in 2004, long before thin and light really ever became a category. Nowadays, you can scarcely find a serious laptop manufacturer that doesn’t have its own thin and light or ultraportable line. If the Adamo turns out to be a stinker, I may just consider getting the hinges repaired and getting a few more years out of my Gateway.

So, to sum up, while I was determined to purchase a new laptop before I fly back to Seattle on Sunday, the rumors about the Adamo, plus some less-than-stellar reviews about the Latitude E4300, which I was seriously considering, have made me hold off on purchasing a new laptop… for now. Just have to keep the wallet closed until mid January, when Dell (hopefully) introduces Adamo to the world at CES 2009.