Get A Charge Out of Dell's New Laptop-Wirelessly

Dell is releasing a “pretty” new  laptop-the Latitude Z-soft touch case in black cherry, and only 14 mm thin, competing with all the others out there for thinness and coolness. But this little beauty rivals them all in that it is the first known laptop to be able to charge wirelessly.

The wireless charging is achieved through an  inductive pad that’s built into a laptop stand which can execute  a full  recharge in almost the same time  as a standard-issue cabled charger, according to Dell. Phones such as the Palm Pre have such wireless charging systems but no PC has had one until now.

Dell dubs this their “wireless eco-system”. Not only can the the Latitude Z charge without wires, but it will also be able to dock without them. A smaller separate adapter hooks up the laptop with any monitor, whether it be one in a cubicle, or in a conference room. Each costs $199.00.

Dell also brings touch sensitive controls to its Latitude Z right on the screen bezel. Virtually invisible sliding touch controls are located on the right side of the bezel and appear when contact is made. Any controls can be customized and placed there, such as screen brightness, volume, or easy access to specific applications. When controlling an application the right side of the bezel can be used as a sort of touchpad for scrolling.

Dell also introduces “instant-on” to the Z. Instead of waiting for Windows to boot up, the computer uses a second smaller motherboard and a separate ARM processor. Then,

through a separate, non-Windows interface, it allows e-mail, contacts, calendars, and a Firefox-based Web browser to be accessed right away. E-mail, contacts, and calendars are always running in the background and are constantly being synced.

Basically the ARM processor allows an end-run-around of Windows and does not access the ports or motherboard. With this  “secondary” processor such as seen in smartphone technology, there is  less draw on the power as it runs in the background.

Other companies such as Device VM, Phoenix, and even HP Lenovo and Asus have introduced similar systems with touch screens and end-run arounds.   We just did not expect it from Dell.