(Credit: Dell)

Just over two months after Dell first showed off Adamo at the Consumer Electronics Show, the company says the notebook will be available for order starting Tuesday.

Adamo is Latin for “to fall in love with” or “covet.” And of course that’s what Dell hopes consumers will do when they see the sleek lines and extra attention to design details it’s showered on this notebook.

It also adds up to an incredibly high price tag, one that seems entirely out of touch with the current economic reality. Debuting a $1,999 Windows PC right now is questionable at best, but make no mistake: whether Dell actually sells a lot of these makes little difference to the company, even if it won’t say that publicly. The Adamo itself is not a guaranteed money-maker as much as it’s a statement about how Dell wants to be perceived from now on.

“This is not necessarily a product that’s designed to sell a lot of units. It’s much more a showpiece product to demonstrate Dell’s commitment to upgrading the level of design in its products,” said Stephen Baker, an analyst for the NPD Group who keeps tabs on the electronics retail and PC industries.

Dell thinks differently when it comes to packaging for the Adamo.

(Credit: Dell)

It’s safe to say that it’s achieved that here. Whether the approach is too heavy-handed is more of a matter of personal opinion, but for Dell, it’s clearly the most emphasis on design of any PC it’s made. Every conversation with Dell about Adamo up to now has been entirely about the design and materials used, despite completely respectable interior specs. (For more on that, be sure to check out CNET’s first hands-on review of the Adamo.)

The company is certainly proud of what its designers have come up with: unibody construction; superthin profile, .65 inches at its thinnest; etched aluminum; and a razor-thin bezel around a 13.4-inch glass wide-screen display. Proud, even if Adamo’s design inspiration isn’t disguised all that well, especially when it comes to the packaging–iPod circa 2007, anyone?

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