Though a DIY route was recently discovered to bring mobile broadband to the Mini 1000, HP now saves you the effort by offering 3G connectivity out of the box on its Netbook. You can select the HP un2400 mobile broadband module ($199) for service on either AT&T's or Verizon's network. The price seems a bit steep, considering you can find the un2400 module for $149 elsewhere. Also, choosing mobile broadband forces you to opt out of either SSD offered in favor of the 60GB 4200rpm drive, which adds $55 from the default 8GB SSD option. Why an SSD and WWAN are incompatible is a mystery to me. While I await an answer from HP, care to posit a theory below?
Dell Mini 9--now with 3G in the U.S.
(Credit: Dell)The Inspiron Mini 9 can now be ordered with built-in mobile broadband, Dell announced Tuesday.
Just last week, CEO Michael Dell confirmed the company was signing up more wireless providers as partners on its new line of Netbooks, but gave no specific date. Dell has offered 3G capability with Vodafone for European customers since the device's September launch.
Now U.S. customers get their turn. For $125 more, the 9-inch Netbook can now be configured with embedded WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network). But right now, AT&T is offering a $120 rebate to those who sign a new two-year service contract.
The new wireless offer is only available on new Windows XP versions of the Mini 9.
Starting this month, five Hewlett-Packard business notebooks will be come packaged with Sprint's mobile broadband network.
The HP Compaq 2710p convertible notebook, 6510b, 6910p, 8510p notebooks and 8510w mobile work station, are the first offerings from HP to be eligible for embedded Sprint service. Prices for the five models range between $959 and $2,049. HP says to expect additional models to be added later this year.
The companies will jointly market the notebooks, which will have access to Sprint's 3G EV-DO network beginning sometime in October. Customers who sign up for a one- or two-year service agreement will get one free month of service from Sprint.
Years from now, your children will laugh about how you had to "stay in range" of a Wi-Fi signal in order to stay connected to the Internet when you were young.
The Hewlett-Packard's Compaq nc6400, with integrated UMTS/HSDPA connectivity, marks another step toward that inevitability.
(Credit:
Hewlett-Packard)
The laptop has built-in WWAN (wireless wide-area network) connectivity that enables users to connect to the Internet via cell phone tower instead of only WLAN (wireless local-area network, or "regular Wi-Fi"). It connects via WLAN also, but you no longer need to get upset when the independent cafe you are trying to support has spotty Wi-Fi.
While the nc6400 will work with other EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Environment) networks, HP has partnered with Cingular Wireless to offer wireless UMTS/HSDP technology on its laptop. The technology is better known in layman's terms simply as "3G," referring to third-generation mobile-network technology enabling faster data transfers.
The HP Compaq nc6400 comes weighs about 5.1 pounds. It features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 14.1-inch screen. (A privacy screen comes with the laptop.) It also has Bluetooth, in addition to the WLAN and WWAN.
The notebook can run Windows Vista, but some hardware upgrades may be necessary, according to HP specs. If you get a laptop with 512MB of RAM, for example, you may need to upgrade to 1GB in order to get full Vista effects when the time comes.
Based on my own Cingular 8525's 3G vs. Wi-Fi performance, I am skeptical as to whether the HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) that Cingular uses really is as fast as regular broadband, but at least this is a step in the right direction. (In full disclosure, I was told by a Cingular phone representative that my slow 3G connection could be because my local tower might not be completely 3G-ed yet.) Cingular officially says in statements that its 3G network is available in 65 U.S. metropolitan areas.
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