Dell to release laptop featuring wireless charging

[jammiescone]

https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/laptops/matthew-wilson/dell-is-selling-the-first-wireless-charging-laptop-but-the-convenience-will-cost-you/

 

Dell is planning to release the Latitude 7000 series this year featuring wireless charging technology. The first implementation of this will come in the form of the 12 inch Latitude 7285, which will actually be a tablet by default with the keyboard, which contains the charging technology, being sold as an optional extra. Later down the line they plan to sell the 7000 series as a 13 inch 2 in 1 product with keyboard included.

 

As it stands, the tablet will set you back $1,199, but to add the WiTricity wireless charging tech you'll need to spend a further $549.99 on the keyboard, bringing the total to $1750.

 

With the specs being an i5-7Y54, a 128GB SSD and 8GB of RAM, the price tag for me pushes this into the realm of nonsensical.

 

Is $550 a worthwhile price for simply ditching the wire? And is wireless charging tech valuable in a laptop? I can see it being useful once the technology becomes more widespread, perhaps on trains and planes built into tables, but the way I use my laptop currently (usually in bed) the wire isn't really an issue.

 

 

[MageTank]

When I saw the title, I was expecting a wireless charging pad, kinda like the Samsung wireless phone charging pads, not an overpriced, underpowered 2in1 tablet. The idea of a wireless charging pad would interest me, as those DC jacks almost always fail first on my units, but the idea that I'd have to use a dock-like feature for a keyboard? No thanks.

 

Hopefully they can make an ultra-light, portable deskpad-like wireless charging pad for laptops. Bonus points if it's adopted as some kind of universal standard, with some sort of wireless data telling the pad how much power it needs. I am not an engineer, so don't ask me how this would be possible, I just know that the scientists better get to work on it!

[JoostinOnline]

I don't quite understand what the wireless charging is.   Is it just attaching it to the keyboard that makes it charge?  And if so, then how is that any different from using a wire?

[captain_to_fire]

15 minutes ago, jammiescone said:

As it stands, the tablet will set you back $1,199, but to add the WiTricity wireless charging tech you'll need to spend a further $549.99 on the keyboard, bringing the total to $1750.

 

At that price someone could just buy a more powerful Dell XPS 15.

[jammiescone]

4 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

Is it just attaching it to the keyboard that makes it charge?

Its 'final form' will be a 13 inch 2 in 1 laptop rather than the tablet format it's coming out in initially, but yes the wireless charging tech is housed in the keyboard, so you couldn't just charge the tablet portion on its own. I guess the idea is that in the future of coffee shops with built in wireless charging in their tables you'll be able to drop in with your laptop and charge while you work and drink, but for now we don't have anything like that infrastructure in place so it doesn't really make sense yet!

[ARikozuM]

Damn, I only have $2000 in my bank account ... and I'm not paying $2000 for a laptop without a Trackpoint and touchscreen.

[Doobeedoo]

I mean cool adition. Though depends how fast is and price will be there. 

[potoooooooo]

People keep getting hung up on the price, but of course it's expensive, it's an untested first gen technology. Of course it's expensive. You don't put something new like that in a position where everyone who wants it can get one. You keep it out of the masses' hands so you can make sure it actually makes sense.

 

A lesson apple should probably learn someday. An example of why you would want to do what dell is doing is the touchbar. It's a useless gimmick, but now they're committed so they can't get rid of it.

[Drak3]

22 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

Damn, I only have $2000 in my bank account ... and I'm not paying $2000 for a laptop without a Trackpoint and touchscreen.

What if it were a gift for someone that doesn't care about one or both of those things?

[ARikozuM]

Just now, Drak3 said:

What if it were a gift for someone that doesn't care about one or both of those things?

I wouldn't mind then, but I would never buy it for myself.

[Drak3]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

I wouldn't mind then, but I would never buy it for myself.

Well, someone's birthday is coming up...

 

 

Certainly not mine, I was born in the beginning of the year, but someone...

[ARikozuM]

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

Well, someone's birthday is coming up...

Certainly not mine, I was born in the beginning of the year, but someone...

I'd buy a Dell laptop box and stuff a Lenovo Thinkpad with a horribly drawn Dell logo on the front. 

Just for laughs:

[Drak3]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

I'd buy a Dell laptop box and stuff a Lenovo Thinkpad with a horribly drawn Dell logo on the front. 

Just for laughs:

That'd actually make for a pretty good gift.

 

Now I wish it was my birthday.

[ionbasa]

In case some of you are wondering what the charging mat look like, Business Insider has posted some pictures on their article here: http://www.businessinsider.com/dell-latitude-7825-wireless-charging-laptop-is-worlds-first-2017-7

 

There is also a CNET article here: https://www.cnet.com/news/dell-laptops-coming-soon-with-witricity-wireless-charging/

 

Some interesting takeaways:

Quote

In the case of the above mentioned Dell laptops, WiTricity says about 30W of power were being transmitted to the laptops, allowing you to quickly charge the battery.

So, it's only pushing 30W of usable power to the laptop. It also cannot be used on a metal surface or a metal desk (since that interferes with it), per Business Insider:

Quote

 If you want to use the wireless charging mat on a metal surface, you'd have to place it two inches up on a non-metallic stand. 

 

While it's cool to have this available as an option to just drop your laptop down on your desk and have it charge wirelessly, there are some caveats, including range, interference, etc. It also consumes more power than traditional charging methods and costs in efficiency. Inductance charging isn't perfect, Colorado State University did a comparison between two competing standards and found that currently, the efficiency tops out around 65%. 

 

https://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com/blog/112/wireless-power-standards-force-efficiency-trade-offs

 

Dell is probably better off just doing a normal charging brick with a better efficiency. I'm not saying their isn't a use case for wireless charging, just that it may have some issues. Dell is definitely being optimistic though, and any industry push can spark competition and innovation, i'll give them credit for that. 

Edited July 19, 2017 by ionbasa

[System Error Message]

what frequency will the wireless charging pad use? If it is microwave its gonna be significant enough to cook you. If its higher than visible light you could expect radiation damage.

[ionbasa]

25 minutes ago, System Error Message said:

what frequency will the wireless charging pad use? If it is microwave its gonna be significant enough to cook you. If its higher than visible light you could expect radiation damage.

From what I'm seeing it's ~10Mhz. It's not technically induction, its electromagnetic resonance. It operates in the non-radiative near field.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiTricity

[System Error Message]

1 minute ago, ionbasa said:

From what I'm seeing it's ~10Mhz. It's not technically induction, its electromagnetic resonance. It operates in the non-radiative near field.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiTricity

well thats safe i guess. In that case i wonder how many watts you can get from it. As long as it doesnt heat up though it should be safe.

[ionbasa]

Just now, System Error Message said:

well thats safe i guess. In that case i wonder how many watts you can get from it. As long as it doesnt heat up though it should be safe.

Depends on the application. Look at their website: http://witricity.com/technology/

http://witricity.com/technology/consumer-electronics/

For Automotive applications (EV/Hybrid) They claim 11+ KW at 91% efficiency. 

For Consumer Electronics, anywhere from 5W to 30+ Watts with undisclosed efficiency.

[System Error Message]

Just now, ionbasa said:

Depends on the application. Look at their website: http://witricity.com/technology/

http://witricity.com/technology/consumer-electronics/

For Automotive applications (EV/Hybrid) They claim 11+ KW at 91% efficiency. 

For Consumer Electronics, anywhere from 5W to 30+ Watts with undisclosed efficiency.

but i want 1KW to power my PC wirelessly

[Kirrr]

There was already a wirelessly charged Dell laptop in 2010. The Latitude Z has the wireless option az a charging mat. Nothing new here. Oh and the price was also 2000 USD.

 

On The wireless dock:

[NumLock21]

 

[Bananasplit_00]

It looks pretty nice and the size is just around what I would like but at $2000 I'd rather get another god damn desktop and carry it around 

[Mr.Meerkat]

On 2017-7-19 at 9:02 AM, Drak3 said:

Well, someone's birthday is coming up...

 

 

Certainly not mine, I was born in the beginning of the year, but someone...

Mine and Linus's?  

 

I mean my Bday is only 2 days earlier than Lord Sebastian's