Dell's new detachable is the world's first wireless charging laptop

Dell is now selling the the world's first wireless charging laptop, but that capability comes at a steep price. The base price of the Dell Latitude 7285 is $1,200, but that doesn't come with wireless charging. That feature is enabled through the use of a wireless charging keyboard for $380 and a $200 charging mat. That makes the whole package a $1,780 laptop.

This price point is not unheard of for convertible laptops and tablets. A new Surface Pro with a Core i7 processor starts at $1,600. The new Dell Latitude uses Y Series processors, though, which are less powerful but allow for fanless designs and longer battery life.

This base configuration comes with a Core i5-7Y54, a step below the already underpowered i7 Y Series chips. It also has 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. At $1,200, the price isn't too terrible, although still arguably overpriced with these chips and without a keyboard. The price bump from the wireless charging add-on, though, makes this only practical for technology enthusiasts who really love wireless charging.

So will wireless charging start to take the PC world by storm? Possibly, but Dell doesn't seem to be doing a great job heralding the technology. There is no doubt great convenience in being able to bring a laptop home, plop down on a desk and immediately have it start charging. Wireless charging can be slower than wired charging, though, and laptops have large batteries. That could be one reason it's taken so long for a product like this to come out. Should China suppliers join the fray with their own cheaper wireless charging laptops, the technology could find a nice niche of consumers willing to give it a try.