Testing the Hypothesis Part 2 (9A)

Who: After these interviews, I did find people who fell outside the boundaries of my opportunities. I interviewed a couple of high school students who really didn’t feel the need of wireless charging. A lot of high schools are now permitting students to use laptops, but the students I interviewed don’t really seem to have a problem with their laptops going low on battery.  This is mainly because students use their laptops for shorter bursts of time, and they also are still primarily doing paper/ pencil work, so their laptops aren’t as needed. I also did interview one teacher who gave me an interesting response as to why she could use wireless charging on her laptop. Sometimes she just wants to put grades into the gradebook on her laptop while being on the couch at home. The next two interviewers were two graphic design major students. One brought up an interesting aspect I hadn’t thought about. One of them doesn’t use a laptop, but rather the iPad pro to fulfill their needs. They said for them specifically the portability, and the fact they can draw and design on it makes it way better than a laptop. The other graphic design student said that while they are using a laptop, if they had money they would switch towards an iPad or a Surface Pro.

                In looking up these last two products brought up by the graphic design students there could be a case that tablets offer better battery life, are even more portable than laptops, and for specific purposes would be better to use because of the stylus features that are integrated within these products. They also come integrated with Wi-Fi already so charging features could potentially be integrated within the tablet’s software.

What: I realized throughout the interviews that the need is more based on practicality. Some of the people I interviewed told me that the main reason they didn’t have the need was based on the efficiency of the laptop battery or the amount of time on the laptop. This could be true as there could be a difference between a real “need” vs having a nice “perk”. Sort of like the wireless headphones. Are they nice, absolutely, but will it kill you if you don’t have them, absolutely not. The real dilemma is how much more efficient will laptops be, or will people continue to use laptops. There is also a transition as I stated, where people are using tablets instead of laptops because of the portability and specialization. Though laptops are portable, an argument could be made that a tablet that has similar specs, are thinner, and lighter would be a consumer’s choice any day of the week.

Why: I would say there is a reason that some may not even want to use laptop chargers as they don’t have laptops altogether. However, with the high school student interviews I would say the main reason they brought up the unwanted need is that they aren’t required to use laptops all the time. If they eventually did have to use the computer (like in college), their need would then be like those in college. Like the teacher there would be more convenience for the high school students being able to charge their laptops wirelessly to do their work.

	Inside	Outside
Who:	Teachers	High school students, graphic designs majors
What:	To be able to have wireless laptop charging.	Some students don’t have to use the laptop all the time. Some people base their PC use from their job/ occupation and would be better suited with a tablet than a laptop altogether
Why:	To be able to have the comfort of being able to do grading in a casual setting. More convenient than wired option.	Some based on needs would rather have a tablet than laptop Also there is point that schools other than college still use paper and pencil more than laptops for work.