A new idea

[landis]

companies like apple are trying to cram as many features from a computer into a phone, but why has nobody ever tried (to my knowledge) to put the features of a phone into a computer.

if it had 3g, you could get internet anywhere. if you could use it as a phone, have a sim card slot, and have calls from your cell phone forwarded to your laptop.

what about gps? if it can fit in a phone, it can surely fit in a laptop. that would be amazing to use it with google earth or maps.

i think that these are some amazing pro features that companies like apple should consider putting into their PRO notebook.

 

[Thetics]

Actually there are quite a few companies that have wireless broadband cards built into the computer (see sony vaio) now granted this isnt a "phone" plan per say, but it is wireless internet (which you will have to subscribe to much like a cellphone), then you can just use an internet phone program like Skype to make calls. Tada... in fact, your macbook pro takes an express card, i know att, verizon and sprint all have wireless broadband cards that fit in the express slots.

 

[Csmitte]

companies like apple are trying to cram as many features from a computer into a phone, but why has nobody ever tried (to my knowledge) to put the features of a phone into a computer.

if it had 3g, you could get internet anywhere. if you could use it as a phone, have a sim card slot, and have calls from your cell phone forwarded to your laptop.

what about gps? if it can fit in a phone, it can surely fit in a laptop. that would be amazing to use it with google earth or maps.

i think that these are some amazing pro features that companies like apple should consider putting into their PRO notebook.

Portability? I would not want to carry around lappy all over to make calls, or to view whats playing on the way to the theatre? would you really want your MBP on your belt? or in your pocket, NO so you would have to carry around a bag. portability my friend, maybe an OQO mini (if it ran OS X) lol

 

[Thetics]

Actually there are quite a few companies that have wireless broadband cards built into the computer (see sony vaio) now granted this isnt a "phone" plan per say, but it is wireless internet (which you will have to subscribe to much like a cellphone), then you can just use an internet phone program like Skype to make calls. Tada... in fact, your macbook pro takes an express card, i know att, verizon and sprint all have wireless broadband cards that fit in the express slots.

 

[chrmjenkins]

There are laptops out (and coming out) that have cell phone capability. HSPDA blah blah blah

They won't include wireless broadband technologies like 3G because that ties you to a specific carrier. You can buy wireless internet cards from Verizon, Sprint, etc. to put in just about any laptop.

 

[alphaod]

The X300 has a GPS, WWAN, WiMax, WiFi, nice screen, SSD, excellent keyboard, UltraNav (Trackpad and trackpoint), finger printer reader, DVD Burner in a MBA weighted footprint.

 

[mayassa]

I always use Vontage on my laptop when I overseas. Free calls home.

 

[robanga]

It's a reasonable idea with many pitfalls. Indeed the best path here is probably using VOIP.

Outside of that, there has been some of this sort of thing. HTC is doing some interesting covergence devices combining a UMPC with a phone. The "Shift" is like this I believe, as is the HTC "Advantage".

Even the beloved iPhone is a pretty interesting little tablet by most standards.

The problems within North America for this type of thing is carrier certification for voice is a much higher standard than for just data. Every laptop maker would have put their units in another lab for another set of certifications. On a product like that you would have to sell hundreds of thousands more to justify it, and every time you came out with a new model, its back to the labs again.

I do think we will see more of this though. Let's face it most people want their phones in their pockets or purses, but I can see people utilizing voice cellular on laptops too. This would be particularly better if you pop out the sim on your phone and easily pop it in and out of your notebook. If you could add to the notebook additional features like great audio and stereo microphones, so that it could function as a great conference/speaker phone, all the better.