Dell have launched a trial series of laptop, the Latitude Z business laptop, that uses a notebook stand to charge the laptop wirelessly. A coil is included in the notebook stand and a corresponding coil is included in the bottom of the laptop which charge up the laptop battery in the same amount of time, which is what Dell management refer to a Inductive Charging.What isnt immediately obvious in the glossy brochure is that this special laptop charging stand is an optional extra and is not supplied as standard with the Dell Latitude Z business laptop.
Clearly this development has big implications for the traditional laptop charger market.It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to Dell’s latest advance, but early commentators have not been enthusiastic about this advance.Firstly, it is a significantly higher cost option when compared to the traditional laptop charger.Secondly, the new laptop stand with a coil in it is much heavier than a laptop charger so is not ideal for people often on the move.Most significantly, many people will have fundamental reservations about using electromagnetic fields to power devices in their offices and homes, since the long-term effects of electro-magnetic radiation are still very much the topic of serious scientific debate.
In Laptop Power UK’s view, the traditional laptop charger is here to stay for a while.Dell’s inductive charging stand appears to solve few problems, and creates others.It is a more expensive solution, a heavier solution and one that raises questions over the safety of using electromagnetic fields to charge laptops.As people become more cost concious as laptops have plummetted in price and as laptops are increasingly being used by children, we doubt whether the electro-magnetic stand will replace the humble little laptop adapter.We think Dell’s latest advance may fall into the category of ’solving a problem that doesnt exist’.We will see whether we are correct….
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