First Dell Adamo XPS Prototypes Had Multitouch TouchPads

Still drooling over yesterday’s Adamo XPS pics? I am. But it could have been a very different machine. Early prototypes had LCD touchpads (similar to notebooks like Fujitsu’s N7010 and Sharp’s Mebius), and even a capacitive-touch keyboard. Take a look.

Though running certain apps in a tiny window could actually be pretty useful, Dell ultimately felt the cost didn’t justify the gimmickry. And though the red prototype above put the notebook’s ports into a concealed pop-up panel — and was only just thicker than the final design — it was still deemed too fat.

Perhaps coolest of all, is the glossy purple/blue concept. Not due to the colour, but because it had capacitive-touch buttons. It got ditched over concerns that people wouldn’t react well to a keyboard that doesn’t move, but as you know, Dell kept the heat-sensitive capacitive latch. Lots more pics and background over at: [PC World]

The final version below. See our hands-on for more.