If you want a hockey puck of a computer to easily deploy on a desk or behind a monitor, you’ll find plenty on sale, from the Mac Mini to Intel’s bare-bones NUC. But Asus is adding a “why didn’t anyone think of that?” feature to its new Chromebox 5 this year: a built-in 15W wireless charger for your phone and / or earbud case.
Okay, technically, someone did think of that before: you could buy an aftermarket wireless charging “lid” for some Intel NUCs, and Intel even added the feature itself to a few NUCs. But it’s rare, and this is the first time I’ve seen it on a Chromebox. Last generation, Asus simply advertised that its Chromebox 4 could deliver USB-PD power to a phone with a cable, which, well, duh.
Image: Asus
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