Certified Wireless USB in Dell Latitude Z & Precision M6500

Whether it's Wireless USB video kit, hard drive or docking station, you will find out a bulky USB dongle that acts as a bridge between the remote unit and the host. The oversized USB stick - called Host Wire Adapter (HWA) - is actually the Wireless USB host. Having the HWA built into a notebook removes the risk of the dongle breaking, and most importantly, significantly increases the transfer throughput. Unfortunately, only the current state-of-the-art Dell notebooks (i.e. Latitude Z and Precision M6500) offer WUSB optionally (420 UWB mini card) for $50 extra.

Particularly interesting is the Z600, which is touted as a minimalist notebook without any cable clutter (even battery charing is wireless for this model). So Dell offers a WUSB docking station alongside with the said UWB module for $349. What's not so cool about the station is the omission of an Ethernet port, and the interfaces only include a DVI port, analog stereo, and 4 USB jacks. Having said that, this really seems over-priced considering its features. Interested early adopters should check with Dell whether the so-called UWB module is WUSB certified. If so, it's logical other more competitively priced docks should work with the Z600 or other Dell notebooks with built-in WUSB modules.

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