Dell gives world its first wireless-charging laptop if you buy $580 extra kit

Re: Regardless of the price, the idea is good

I would argue that Regardless of the price, the idea is not good.

I am nobody's eco zealot but I strongly suspect that a charging system such as this will not be anything like as efficient as a proper direct connection, and reduced efficiency means more power consumed.

Yes; you can forget a critical lead but is lugging even more weight around a sensible solution? There is a whole host of things that can be forgotten on a trip (my phone charger is a personal favorite) so I have bought a USB lead that lives with the laptop kit to provide some "business continuity".

Just another gadget for hipsters to rave about; I would put anyone buying one of these in the "having more money than sense" category.

Re: Railway Carriage seats

Look here you plebs. What today you call standard class is in effect the 3rd class of old. That meant wooden benches, no roof and certainly no heating.

Modern carriages are specifically designed to make you suffer for just being plebs and unable to afford 1st class. The seats are rock hard for a reason. It saves the Train Leasing company a few squid on the build but means that they can charge the Train operators more for the latest seat designs which are little more than wooden benches covered in cloth. The Train Operators don't want people to travel all the way from London to say Edinburgh as the ticket brings in less profit than a London to York and a York to Edinburgh. Profit, profit and to hell with the passenger, sorry customer experience. And no you can't have a nice view out of the window. That costs more. Besides aren't you supposed to be spending all the journey with your head down twittering or facebooking or whatever? There is no time to look out of the window!

So Plebs, just think yourself lucky that there is a train at all. If the DoT had its way all the railways would become toll roads. Just think of all those mega profits that would roll into the Treasury then and no subsidies to boot. Quite how the people who work at the DoT would get to work is another matter. Perhaps they'd all move to Shipton-upon-Stour where they could all walk to work in a car free environment while the rest of us choke to death.

That's my cynical view of modern trains after experiencing a Class 700 from Brighton to Bedford last week. Indian Railways 3rd class was more comfortable.

@Khaptain

Right, so when you're traveling you would prefer the hassle of not only taking a wire but adding the charging pad to it. Sorry, I don't see that see that as a convenience.

Plus, let's be honest, a charging pad is nothing more than moving the electric socket to the table surface. It is no more convenient than a docking station, it just sounds sexier.

Until wireless charging can happen from the outlet to anywhere in the room, it will be nothing but a hipster fad that can be advantageously replaced with a wire for a fraction of the cost.

Re: I've never understood this

" A wireless charger might be useful."

no, no it wont . It is a total gimmick , one that uses a lot of extra hardware , and probably power for absolutley zero benefit. look past the hype.

It is NOT WIRELESS - there is still a wire going from the pad to the plughole

note - plughole still required

It is still forgettable - this is not a cure for forgetting your charging wire .

If people thing there are going to be magic charging pads all over the place then no , no there wont , not without standardisation , in which case they may as well standardise a plug on a wire - much cheaper and more likely to be taken up.

Your laptop has a battery for when you need it to be wireless. (same as your wireless mouse)

This is a soluion to a problem that dosent exist.