• Tweet

In case you hadn’t noticed, Intel has a lot of big plans for future ultrabooks. The company wants to see thin and light laptops thinner batteries, high resolution displays, and cheaper cases, among other things.

But Intel isn’t just focused on making ultrabooks smaller and cheaper. The company is also looking at adding features such as touchscreens and other sensors, as well as wireless charging capabilities. One day you may be able to charge your phone, media player, or other peripherals just by sticking them next to your ultrabook — no USB cable required.

When I first heard that Intel was looking at wireless charging solutions for ultrabooks, my first thought was that you’d be able to charge laptops and tablets without cables. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.

Instead, Intel says you could be able to use a notebook as a charging source. You’ll be able to use spare battery capacity to send out energy to a portable device and charge it without  plugging it in.

While this is a heck of a lot of convenient than lugging around spare USB cables and pulling them out of your bag when needed, there are some tradeoffs involved. Wireless charging isn’t as efficient as wired charging, which means that it will probably take longer to charge a phone while your ultrabook battery will continue to run down.

But Intel is developing software that will let you control wireless charging so that, for instance, you can choose to disable wireless charging when your ultrabook battery level dips below a certain point.

One really cool use wouldn’t be for portable computers at all, though. Imagine never having to change the batteries in the wireless keyboard or mouse you use for your desktop computer, because they automatically charge as long as they’re located near your PC.

via Ultrabook News