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Snow Leopard Evidence of Built-In 3G in Future Macs?

mrklaw said:
why do people that jump on this always tie it in with subsidies? The two aren't connected.

In the UK you can already get the macbook on a subsidy if you take a 3G USB dongle. Having the 3G built in wouldn't make much of a difference.

Unless you'd buy it directly from a mobile operator, which doesn't make a huge amount of sense for a computer IMO - I'd rather buy from a computer store

All this is is a cosmetic change - possibly because Apple realise how popular 3G dongles have become but how ugly they look sticking out of a macbook
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Agreed, for the European market it would be a welcome addition.
 
TuffLuffJimmy said:
It says directly under the image that it is a mockup! What part of that are all you posters not getting?
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I think what most people are doing is seeing the image and when they start reading through the thread they come across the first one or two posts that point out that it is a mock up or photoshop. Instead of reading through the rest of the thread they hit quote or go right to the bottom of the first page and reply. They are not taking the time to read through the whole thread first. Of course their post jump 2,3 or 4 pages back and show up after Arn and everyone else establishes that the image is indeed a mockup. :confused:

This would not happen if people took the time to read through an entire thread. At least read the intro post and a few on the first page then skip to the last page or two to see where things are at or what is currently being discussed.

As far as what the actual thread is about...I would love to see this integrated but I don't know how cost effective it would be for me. If it was a feature that I could turn off or on it would be great. I work outside the country 9 months out of the year. When I return to the US it is for 1 month at a time. I don't want to pay for internet service at home (no actual home anyway). It would be awesome to come back in the country and turn the feature on then turn it off when I leave.
 
pismodude2 said:
With all the crap Apple has WE have had to contend with from AT&T, I think they WE deserve a Kindle-like agreement with the company (unlimited data service with a purchase of a computer).

It might only be internal for the new tablet they're going to announce, which will then be able to contend with the Kindle and tablet PCs, having brought together the best in both of them with the added bonus of Apple's multitouch. Questions? Comments? Personal attacks? Quote me.
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Fixed. :apple:
 
Padaung said:
I think this is exciting. I currently tether my phone to my laptop via bluetooth, but the battery on my phone gets zapped in the process. At the moment 3G internet is a growing force - all the phone shops here in the UK are pushing 3G dongles in their shop windows.
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Why are using such OLD technology with MiFi coming down the pike? David Pogue even wrote an article called Wi-Fi to Go, No Cafe Needed.

This is a joke: I wish you kids would stay up with technology. :)
 
All the people screaming fake remind me of past things released that were claimed to be faked and later proved real. A crappy image or even a doctored one does not disprove a feature in and of itself. Especially if it is labeled a mockup.

I like forward to seeing what bears out over time and if we do in fact get subsidized computers as a result. In this economy, I would love that.
 
UK dongle prices

3G dongles are quite cheap here.

Generally it's about £50 upfront for the dongle, then about £10-£15 a month for a 1-2 year contract. I have 3GB / month allowance on mine (actually belongs to the company) and have never ever gone near using it up.

Some dongles are now coming out with unlimited download allowances for the same price.

Would be nice to have it integrated into the laptop. But it's yet another monthly outgoing, which people are trying to avoid right now.

I've seriously considered dumping the home broadband and going dongle-only for internet (some people do this) as it's about the same price, just much slower download, but much better mobility. Didn't in the end as 17meg/sec ADSL (real speeds) is hard to give up...
 
RedTomato said:
Would be nice to have it integrated into the laptop. But it's yet another monthly outgoing, which people are trying to avoid right now.
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I don't understand how integrating it into the laptop is yet another monthly fee. A data plan is a data plan, whether you use a dongle or have it integrated.
 
satcomer said:
Why are using such OLD technology with MiFi coming down the pike? David Pogue even wrote an article called Wi-Fi to Go, No Cafe Needed.

This is a joke: I wish you kids would stay up with technology. :)
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I would rather use a bluetooth/wife connected phone, which I have with me all the time, than have to carry round, turn on and off, charge the battery, and pay for data on yet another device. The reason I haven't gone for a dongle is because I don't want to have to remember to carry something and plug it in every time I want to go online. The ideal solution is obviously to have it integrated, but, failing that, using something you always carry and can connect to without removing it from your pocket is still one of the most seamless solutions.
 
JCastro said:
As far as what the actual thread is about...I would love to see this integrated but I don't know how cost effective it would be for me. If it was a feature that I could turn off or on it would be great. I work outside the country 9 months out of the year. When I return to the US it is for 1 month at a time. I don't want to pay for internet service at home (no actual home anyway). It would be awesome to come back in the country and turn the feature on then turn it off when I leave.
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I'm in a similar situation. What I did for my iPhone was find a cheap pay as you go data plan. I pay about 8 cents per MB, which works out really cheap for a mobile device.
 
I found something interesting on Apple's website that could potentially be a lead to when 10.5.7 will come out.

When browsing through the store, I came across advertising for The Sims 3 pre-orders.

http://store.apple.com/us (Below the MacBooks)

It says that The Sims 3 will come out June 2nd. Looking at the specs for the game, it says that it will require OS X 10.5.7.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TV928?mco=NzI2NDc0

Could this mean that the very latest we can expect 10.5.7 to come out will be June 2nd? I don't know how likely this would be, but if the update keeps getting delayed from the rumored dates, I think that this could show at least the last possible day.
 
indiecraig said:
I don't understand how integrating it into the laptop is yet another monthly fee. A data plan is a data plan, whether you use a dongle or have it integrated.
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That point was more about people who don't already have a dongle. I do, but I'm not supposed to use it for non-company work. (e.g. personal emails etc)

If it's integrated, but unused, then it's tempting to get the monthly plan :)

Also if it's subsiding the cost of the laptop then you're locked into the monthly contract. (and likely end up paying more than purchase value over the lifetime of the contract)

I bought my iPhone second hand precisely because I've had enough of fixed-term phone contracts, and also the UK o2 iphone contract was extremely poor value for me.
 
Mac OS X 10.5.6 Menu Extra

Well I did some digging. Turns out that there is a WWAN menu extra under /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras in 10.5.6 date 12/08/2008

Definitely not a hoax. What's also interesting is the Verizon.menu extra as well hmmm....

-backdraft
 

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I'm agreement that Apple needs to do this to keep pace with the Jones of the PC maker world out there, since this is something that's been around for at least 3-4 years elsewhere (Sony had it, actually) and now 3G has really come into it's own. I just hope Apple get it right and makes this hardware capable of both in-the-pipes future upgrades as well as those on the drawing board and "just being discussed". Otherwise, it'll be useless and (not unsurprisingly, perhaps) it'll just force users to keep upgrading.

In other news, MikeTheC may have just answered his own point. Hmm... ;)
 
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