No offense to Apple, but the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar hasn't been the game-changer we originally thought it would be. Most people now agree it's a gimmick.
But you know what's not a gimmick? A laptop with built-in wireless charging.
Dell's new Latitude 7285 is being billed as the world's first laptop with wireless charging, which means you'll never have to worry about tripping over a charging cable ever again, despite the fact that it looks like your dad's favorite computer.
Announced at CES in January, the admittedly basic-looking 2-in-1 Windows 10 laptop is finally shipping beginning today.
The laptop starts at $1,200 and comes with some decent hardware, including an Intel Core i5-7Y54 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of SSD storage.
The 12.3-inch touchscreen part of the machine ships with an crisp 2,880 x 1,920 resolution. You'll also find a Windows Hello-ready camera on the front, which'll let you sign into the computer using your face.
And unlike Apple's MacBook, this Dell comes with two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, microSD card slot, SIM card slot, and a headphone jack.
These are all fine, but what about the wireless charging? Well, it's similar to the inductive charging on phones like the Galaxy S8, meaning you need to place it on a wireless charging mat.
Dell says it partnered up with WiTricity to include its "magnetic resonance wireless charging technology" to wirelessly deliver the 30-watts of power required to sufficiently charge up the laptop.
It's impressive! But, now for some bad news. The $1,200 starting price doesn't include the wireless charging keyboard or charging mat. You'll need to purchase them separately for $380 and $200, respectively, which totals up to $580 just for wireless charging. Dell's got a bundle that includes both accessories and saves you $30, but it's still $550 after final check-out.
Final total comes out to $1,750 (before taxes) to live without charging cables. Is it worth it? Not for me (especially with such a boring design), but maybe for you... if you're rich and want to spend money on something you probably don't need.
In the near future, hopefully all of our devices will charge wirelessly. We'll look back at these primitive days of plugging cables into outlets and battery packs and just laugh and roll our eyes.
We're still a ways off from a truly wireless future, though. Sure, some phones have wireless charging and this year's iPhone 8 could also come with wireless charging built in - but safe to say you can wait on purchasing a wireless charging laptop for the time being.
Source: Mashable